aathena

Type-safe AWS Athena client for TypeScript.

Scaffold a project straight from your AWS account with npx aathena init
1:1 type mapping from AWS Glue to TypeScript, including native Parquet/ORC arrays, maps, and structs - no CAST() or JSON.parse
Run queries concurrently with parallel(), with automatic detection of injected-projection partitions (including those hidden behind Presto/Trino views)

Built on @aws-sdk/client-athena and sql-render. See the examples/ directory for working projects.

Quick Start

1. Install

npm install aathena

2. Initialize

npx aathena init

init walks you through a complete setup: picks an AWS region, picks a Glue database, lets you multi-select tables, probes each for partition requirements (following Presto/Trino views to their underlying tables), auto-runs generate, and writes a runnable src/main.ts that imports and invokes every scaffolded query. See CLI Reference for the full sequence and flags.

3. Run it

npx tsx src/main.ts

If any scaffolded query needs partition values, main.ts passes REPLACE_ME placeholders with a note at the top of the file. Replace them with real values, then run.

Every row is typed 1:1 against your Glue schema. Scalars land as native TypeScript (Date for timestamps, bigint, number, string), and Parquet/ORC arrays, maps, and structs parse back recursively - even nested. Hover any field in your editor to see the exact column type, with no CAST() in SQL and no manual JSON.parse:

// Glue: event_id bigint, created_at timestamp, tags array<varchar>, metadata map<string,int>, address struct<city:string>, items array<struct<qty:int>>constresult=awaitgetEvents(athena,{rowLimit: 33});constrow=result.rows[0];row.eventId;// bigintrow.createdAt;// Daterow.tags;// string[]row.metadata;// Record<string, number>row.address.city;// string - direct struct field accessrow.items[0].qty;// number - nested array of struct

Write Queries

Your scaffolded queries live under tables/{database}/{table}/{query-name}.sql. Open the file init (or add) created and shape it to your needs. Placeholders use {{name}} syntax. Types are inferred from SQL context:

WHERE status ='{{status}}'-- quoted -> stringLIMIT {{rowLimit}} -- LIMIT/OFFSET -> positiveIntWHERE price >= {{minPrice}} -- comparison -> number

For stricter validation, annotate with -- @param:

-- @param status enum('active','pending','done')-- @param rowLimit positiveInt-- @param startDate isoDateSELECT*FROM events
WHERE status ='{{status}}'AND created_at >='{{startDate}}'LIMIT {{rowLimit}}

Generates:

interfaceDefaultParams{status: 'active'|'pending'|'done';rowLimit: number;// validated > 0startDate: string;// validated YYYY-MM-DD}

See @param types in Reference for the full annotation list.

Run Queries

Every generated query accepts a client and its typed parameters:

import{createClient}from'aathena';import{eventsDefault}from'./generated';constathena=createClient();constresult=awaiteventsDefault(athena,{status: 'active',rowLimit: 99});

createClient() reads aathena.config.json automatically; pass an explicit config to override (createClient({ region: 'us-east-1', database: 'analytics' })) - useful in tests or when the project root isn't on disk.

client.query() retries StartQueryExecution with exponential backoff + full jitter when Athena responds with TooManyRequestsException / CONCURRENT_QUERY_LIMIT_EXCEEDED. Up to 6 attempts. Applies to every call, generated or inline, including tasks dispatched by parallel().

Debug: export rendered SQL

Pass { exportTo: <path> } as the optional third argument to dump the rendered SQL (with parameter values substituted) to disk. The query still executes; missing parent directories are created, and the file is overwritten on each call. Forwarded directly to sql-render.

awaiteventsDefault(athena,{status: 'active',rowLimit: 99},{exportTo: './debug/eventsDefault.sql'},);

`parallel()`

parallel() runs multiple queries concurrently with a bounded cap that respects Athena's per-account active-DML quota. Tasks are passed as thunks (() => query(...)) so the helper can gate when each query actually starts.

import{createClient,parallel}from'aathena';import{getUsers,getOrders}from'./generated';constathena=createClient();const[users,orders]=awaitparallel([()=>getUsers(athena,{rowLimit: 99}),()=>getOrders(athena,{from: '2022-02-02'}),],{concurrency: 'auto',client: athena},);

Concurrency resolution

concurrency accepts a number or 'auto'. With 'auto', the cap is resolved in this order:

AathenaConfig.maxConcurrency if set
Live AWS Service Quotas lookup (L-D405C694 DML, L-FCDFE414 DDL)
Region-aware conservative fallback (50% of AWS-documented default, clamped to [5, 25])

The live lookup uses @aws-sdk/client-service-quotas, an optional dependency loaded via dynamic import. It requires the servicequotas:GetServiceQuota IAM permission; without it the lookup fails silently and the fallback is used.

Options

Option	Default	Description
`concurrency`	`5`	`number` or `'auto'`
`client`	-	Required when `concurrency: 'auto'` and `maxConcurrency` is unset
`kind`	`'dml'`	`'dml'` or `'ddl'`, selects which quota to probe
`reserveHeadroom`	`1`	Subtracted from the resolved quota
`mode`	`'all'`	`'all'` rejects on first failure; `'allSettled'` returns per-task settlements

Error handling

import{AathenaError,QueryTimeoutError,QueryFailedError,QueryCancelledError,ColumnParseError,}from'aathena';try{constresult=awaiteventsDefault(athena,{status: 'active',rowLimit: 99});}catch(err){if(errinstanceofQueryTimeoutError){console.log(`Timed out after ${err.timeoutMs}ms: ${err.queryExecutionId}`);}elseif(errinstanceofQueryFailedError){console.log(`Athena error: ${err.athenaErrorMessage}`);}elseif(errinstanceofAathenaError){// QueryCancelledError, ColumnParseError, or anything else aathena threwconsole.log(`aathena error (${err.name}): ${err.message}`);}else{throwerr;}}

All four specific classes extend AathenaError, so catching the base is enough when you don't need to discriminate.

Advanced

Partition projection and views

Athena tables with partition projection type=injected require a static WHERE predicate on the partition column. Without it, queries fail at runtime with CONSTRAINT_VIOLATION.

init and add inspect each selected table's Glue Parameters for projection settings and scaffold the SQL with:

-- @param <col> string annotations
WHERE <col> = '{{<col>}}' predicates
REPLACE_ME placeholder values in src/main.ts plus a note at the top

When the target is a Presto/Trino view (detected via TableType === 'VIRTUAL_VIEW' or the presto_view / trino_view parameter flag), aathena decodes the view's ViewOriginalText, extracts FROM / JOIN table references, and probes those underlying tables recursively. Max traversal depth is 3 levels with a visited set to defuse cycles. If a view's references cannot be parsed or the probe hits the limit, a note is written into the scaffolded SQL so you know to add the predicates by hand.

Example output for a view over a partitioned table:

-- Starter aathena query. Edit or delete as needed.-- See README for placeholder and parameter syntax.-- View 'analytics.events' traced to: analytics.events_raw-- @param tenant_id string-- @param rowLimit positiveIntSELECT*FROM events
WHERE tenant_id ='{{tenant_id}}'LIMIT {{rowLimit}}

Cross-database queries

By default every query runs against config.database. When a SQL file lives in tables/{other-db}/... (different from config.database), generate automatically emits an explicit per-query binding so it routes to that database at runtime:

// generated/queries/sales/events/default.ts (config.database is 'marketing')exportconstdefault_=createQuery<Events,DefaultParams>('tables/sales/events/default.sql',schemaDef,{database: 'sales'},);

You don't write this yourself - add <db>.<table> and generate handle it. For ad-hoc inline queries use client.query(sql, { database: 'sales' }).

Query statistics

Every QueryResult includes a statistics block from Athena (cost tracking, queueing visibility, cache hits). Pass { includeRuntimeStats: true } for input/output row counts via an extra GetQueryRuntimeStatistics API call.

constresult=awaitathena.query<Row>(sql,{includeRuntimeStats: true});result.statistics.totalExecutionTimeInMillis;// 8128result.statistics.resultReused;// trueresult.statistics.runtime?.outputRows;// 99

Field	Notes
`engineExecutionTimeInMillis`	Engine execution time
`totalExecutionTimeInMillis`	Wall time Athena took
`queryQueueTimeInMillis`	Time spent waiting in the queue
`queryPlanningTimeInMillis`	Planning + partition retrieval
`servicePreProcessingTimeInMillis`	Preprocessing before engine
`serviceProcessingTimeInMillis`	Result publication
`dataScannedInBytes`	Drives query cost
`dpuCount?`	Capacity-reservation workgroups only
`resultReused?`	True if served from result cache
`runtime?.inputRows` / `inputBytes`	Opt-in via `includeRuntimeStats`
`runtime?.outputRows` / `outputBytes`	Opt-in via `includeRuntimeStats`

CLI Reference

Command	Purpose
`aathena init`	Interactive project scaffold. Fills config from AWS, picks tables, probes partitions, runs generate, writes `src/main.ts`.
`aathena add <table>`	Scaffold a new query under `tables/{database}/{table}/<name>.sql`. Accepts `db.table` for cross-database tables and prompts to resolve mismatches.
`aathena generate`	Re-run codegen (fetch Glue schemas, produce typed query functions). Runs automatically after `init` and `add` unless `--no-generate`.
`aathena help`	Show all flags.

`aathena init`

Runs interactively by default, then:

Resolves the AWS region from --region, the AWS_REGION / AWS_DEFAULT_REGION env vars, or a select prompt (common commercial regions plus a Custom fallback for typing one in); lists Glue databases and Athena workgroups; inherits the workgroup's default output location when available
Writes aathena.config.json and adds node_modules/ to .gitignore (the generated/ directory is committed by default; delete it or add it to .gitignore yourself if you prefer to regenerate on every build)
Lets you multi-select which tables to scaffold starter SQL for
Probes each selected table (and any Presto/Trino view it points at) for injected-projection partitions that require WHERE predicates
Writes tables/{db}/{table}/default.sql with LIMIT {{rowLimit}}, plus the right -- @param / WHERE lines
Runs generate to produce typed query functions under generated/
Writes a runnable src/main.ts that imports and calls every scaffolded query (single call for 1 table, parallel() demo for 2+)

Flags:

--region, --database, --workgroup, --output-location, --tables a,b,c - non-interactive overrides
--tables-dir <path> - override the SQL scaffold root (default tables); persisted to config.tablesDir
--out-dir <path> - override the codegen output directory (default generated); persisted to config.outDir
--example-path <path> - override the runnable starter file (default src/main.ts); the from '../generated' import is rewritten to point at --out-dir from the chosen location
--no-sample - skip SQL scaffolding
--no-generate - skip the auto-generate step
--no-example - skip writing the example file
--force - overwrite aathena.config.json and regenerate the example file to reflect the current selection. SQL files are always preserved because you may have edited them.

`aathena add`

npx aathena add events # tables/{config.db}/events/default.sql
npx aathena add sales.events # cross-db; interactive prompt resolves mismatch
npx aathena add events --from-schema # embed Glue column list as a comment block
npx aathena add events --name daily # scaffold daily.sql instead of default.sql

add always probes partitions (even without --from-schema) and auto-runs generate unless --no-generate.

Flags:

--name <query-name> - query filename (default: default)
--from-schema - include Glue column list as a comment block
--force - overwrite an existing SQL file
--no-generate - skip the auto-generate step

`aathena generate`

Re-runs codegen: fetches Glue schemas for every SQL file under tables/ in parallel and produces generated/types/{database}/{table}.ts, generated/queries/{database}/{table}/{query}.ts, and a barrel generated/index.ts. Run it after editing SQL files or when upstream schemas change. Surfaces a one-line info when a query directory's database differs from config.database and a per-query binding is emitted.

Reference

Configuration

aathena.config.json lives at your project root. init writes it for you; edit as needed afterwards. Both the CLI and runtime walk up the directory tree to find it.

{
"region": "eu-west-1",
"database": "sampledb",
"workgroup": "primary",
"outputLocation": "s3://my-bucket/athena-results/",
"tablesDir": "./tables",
"outDir": "./generated",
"codegen": {
"indent": 2
},
"query": {
"timeout": 300000,
"pollingInterval": 500,
"maxPollingInterval": 5000
}
}

Field	Default	Description
`region`	AWS default	AWS region
`database`	required	Primary Athena database (used when a query's directory doesn't specify otherwise)
`workgroup`	-	Athena workgroup
`outputLocation`	-	S3 path for query results (optional if workgroup has a default)
`tablesDir`	`./tables`	SQL files directory
`outDir`	`./generated`	Codegen output directory
`codegen.indent`	`2`	Number of spaces used to indent generated TypeScript files (matches Prettier / Google / Airbnb / Angular / NestJS defaults). Clamped to `[1, 8]`
`query.timeout`	`300000`	Query timeout in ms (5 min)
`query.pollingInterval`	`500`	Initial poll interval in ms
`query.maxPollingInterval`	`5000`	Max poll interval in ms
`maxConcurrency`	-	Override for `parallel({ concurrency: 'auto' })` when Service Quotas is unreachable

Type mapping

Glue column types map 1:1 to TypeScript:

Athena	TypeScript
`varchar`, `string`, `char`	`string`
`integer`, `int`, `smallint`, `tinyint`	`number`
`bigint`	`bigint`
`double`, `float`, `real`	`number`
`decimal`	`string` (preserves precision)
`boolean`	`boolean`
`date`	`string` (`YYYY-MM-DD`)
`timestamp`	`Date`
`json`	`unknown`
`binary`, `varbinary`	`string` (Base64 encoded)
`array<T>`	`T[]`
`map<K, V>`	`Record<K, V>`
`struct<a:T, b:U>`	`{ a: T; b: U }`

Regular columns are nullable (T | null); partition keys are always non-null. See Quick Start step 3 for a typed-access demo that covers scalars and nested complex types.

`@param` types

Annotation	TypeScript	Validation
`string`	`string`	SQL injection check
`number`	`number`	Finite number
`boolean`	`boolean`	`true` / `false`
`positiveInt`	`number`	Integer > 0
`isoDate`	`string`	`YYYY-MM-DD`
`isoTimestamp`	`string`	ISO 8601
`identifier`	`string`	SQL identifier
`uuid`	`string`	RFC 4122 UUID
`s3Path`	`string`	`s3://bucket/path`
`enum('a','b','c')`	`'a' \| 'b' \| 'c'`	Whitelist

Generated export names

The barrel at generated/index.ts re-exports every query under a JS-safe identifier:

latest.sql -> latest
default.sql (JS reserved word) -> aliased as <table>Default, e.g. eventsDefault
Two queries with the same filename across tables -> aliased as <table>{Query} on both sides

So a scaffolded tables/sampledb/events/default.sql shows up as:

import{eventsDefault}from'./generated';constresult=awaiteventsDefault(athena,{rowLimit: 33});

Directory structure

project/
├── aathena.config.json # project root marker, written by 'init'
├── tables/ # SQL files you edit
│ └── sampledb/ # database
│ └── events/ # table
│ ├── default.sql
│ └── daily.sql
├── generated/ # codegen output, committed by default
│ ├── index.ts # barrel re-exporting every query under a JS-safe name
│ ├── types/ # one file per table, mirroring the Glue schema
│ │ └── sampledb/
│ │ └── events.ts
│ └── queries/ # one file per SQL, binding it to its types
│ └── sampledb/
│ └── events/
│ ├── default.ts
│ └── daily.ts
└── src/
└── main.ts # runnable example, written by 'init'

Nested grouping under a table (e.g. events/cart/add.sql) works too - codegen walks the whole tree under tables/.

Requirements

Node.js >= 20
AWS credentials resolvable via the default provider chain (env, shared config, SSO, IAM role, etc.)
IAM permissions:
- athena:StartQueryExecution, athena:GetQueryExecution, athena:GetQueryResults (runtime)
- athena:ListWorkGroups, athena:GetWorkGroup (init)
- glue:GetDatabases, glue:GetTables, glue:GetTable (init, add, generate)
- servicequotas:GetServiceQuota (optional, enables parallel({ concurrency: 'auto' }))
- Your query's S3 read + output-bucket write permissions

For LLMs

Two machine-readable summaries are maintained for AI consumption, following the llms.txt convention:

llms.txt - curated API reference and usage guide
llms-full.txt - full packed source, auto-generated on each push

License

MIT

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
.github/workflows		.github/workflows
.vscode		.vscode
examples		examples
src		src
tests		tests
.gitignore		.gitignore
LICENSE		LICENSE
Makefile		Makefile
README.md		README.md
SECURITY.md		SECURITY.md
eslint.config.mjs		eslint.config.mjs
llms-full.txt		llms-full.txt
llms.txt		llms.txt
package-lock.json		package-lock.json
package.json		package.json
tsconfig.json		tsconfig.json
tsup.config.ts		tsup.config.ts
vitest.config.ts		vitest.config.ts

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aathena

Quick Start

1. Install

2. Initialize

3. Run it

Write Queries

Run Queries

Debug: export rendered SQL

`parallel()`

Concurrency resolution

Options

Error handling

Advanced

Partition projection and views

Cross-database queries

Query statistics

CLI Reference

`aathena init`

`aathena add`

`aathena generate`

Reference

Configuration

Type mapping

`@param` types

Generated export names

Directory structure

Requirements

Related

For LLMs

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aathena

Quick Start

1. Install

2. Initialize

3. Run it

Write Queries

Run Queries

Debug: export rendered SQL

parallel()

Concurrency resolution

Options

Error handling

Advanced

Partition projection and views

Cross-database queries

Query statistics

CLI Reference

aathena init

aathena add

aathena generate

Reference

Configuration

Type mapping

@param types

Generated export names

Directory structure

Requirements

Related

For LLMs

License

About

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Resources

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`parallel()`

`aathena init`

`aathena add`

`aathena generate`

`@param` types