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+# @extenddb/dev
+
+A DynamoDB-compatible server for local development and CI, installed from npm.
+One function call starts it on localhost: no Docker daemon, no JVM,
+no AWS account, no configuration. Any AWS SDK, CLI, or tool that talks to
+DynamoDB works against it unchanged.
+
+The server is a single native binary (Rust, SQLite storage) downloaded for
+your platform at install time. Linux binaries are statically linked and run
+on any distribution; macOS (Intel and Apple silicon) and Windows are also
+supported. Node 18 or later.
+
+## Getting started
+
+```bash
+npm install --save-dev @extenddb/dev
+```
+
+```js
+// quickstart.mjs -- run with: node quickstart.mjs
+import { start } from "@extenddb/dev";
+import { DynamoDBClient, ListTablesCommand } from "@aws-sdk/client-dynamodb";
+
+const server = await start({ memory: true });
+// server.endpoint    -> "http://127.0.0.1:53211" (ephemeral port)
+// server.credentials -> { accessKeyId, secretAccessKey }
+// server.region      -> "us-east-1"
+
+const client = new DynamoDBClient({
+  endpoint: server.endpoint,
+  region: server.region,
+  credentials: server.credentials,
+});
+await client.send(new ListTablesCommand({}));
+
+await server.stop();
+```
+
+From CommonJS, use `const { start } = require("@extenddb/dev")` and wrap the
+calls in an async function (top-level `await` is ESM-only).
+
+## Options
+
+`start(options)` accepts:
+
+| Option | Default | Description |
+|---|---|---|
+| `storage` | `"file"` | `"file"` persists between runs; `"memory"` vanishes on stop. |
+| `memory` | `false` | Shorthand for `storage: "memory"`. |
+| `dbPath` | data dir | SQLite file location (file mode only). |
+| `port` | ephemeral | Fixed port instead of an OS-assigned one. |
+| `binary` | bundled | Path to an `extenddb` binary, overriding the bundled one. |
+| `startupTimeoutMs` | `15000` | How long to wait for the server to become healthy. |
+
+The returned object carries `endpoint`, `port`, `credentials`, `region`,
+`storage`, and `stop()`, which shuts the server down and resolves when the
+process has exited.
+
+## Use in a test suite
+
+Ephemeral ports mean parallel test shards never collide. With Vitest:
+
+```js
+// globalSetup.mjs
+import { start } from "@extenddb/dev";
+
+export default async function () {
+  const server = await start({ memory: true });
+  process.env.DDB_ENDPOINT = server.endpoint;
+  process.env.AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID = server.credentials.accessKeyId;
+  process.env.AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY = server.credentials.secretAccessKey;
+  process.env.AWS_REGION = server.region;
+  return () => server.stop();
+}
+```
+
+Each account's data is isolated, so suites that need clean separation can use
+distinct credentials rather than distinct servers.
+
+## What it supports
+
+The DynamoDB API surface for application development: tables, items,
+expressions, queries and scans (including parallel scan), secondary indexes,
+transactions, batch operations, TTL, streams, backup and restore, and vector
+indexes with `SearchVectors`. Behavioral differences from the service are
+documented in [Differences from DynamoDB](https://github.com/ExtendDB/extenddb/blob/main/docs/differences-from-dynamodb.md).
+
+## Note
+
+This package is built for local development and CI. The server speaks plain
+HTTP on 127.0.0.1 and seeds AWS's documented example credential, printed at
+startup; whoever holds it can do anything. Do not expose it beyond localhost
+and do not keep real data in it. For a durable, TLS-terminated deployment,
+use [`extenddb/extenddb-postgres`](https://hub.docker.com/r/extenddb/extenddb-postgres).
+
+ExtendDB is an independent open source project managed by Amazon Web
+Services. It is not Amazon DynamoDB and does not contain any DynamoDB source
+code. "DynamoDB" is a trademark of Amazon.com, Inc. ExtendDB is a clean-room
+implementation that speaks the DynamoDB wire protocol.
+
+More at [extenddb.org](https://extenddb.org) and
+[github.com/ExtendDB/extenddb](https://github.com/ExtendDB/extenddb).
+Licensed under Apache-2.0.