diff --git a/src/com/latacora/backsaws/dynamodb.clj b/src/com/latacora/backsaws/dynamodb.clj
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..25ebbba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/com/latacora/backsaws/dynamodb.clj
@@ -0,0 +1,98 @@
+(ns com.latacora.backsaws.dynamodb
+  (:require [clojure.data.json :as json])
+  (:import java.util.Base64))
+
+(defmulti decode
+  "Given a DynamoDB map encoded data structure, returns a simplified clojure data structure."
+  (fn [encoded]
+    (-> encoded first key keyword)))
+
+(defmethod decode :BOOL [v]
+  (:BOOL v))
+
+(defmethod decode :S [v]
+  (:S v))
+
+(defmethod decode :SS [v]
+  (set (:SS v)))
+
+(defmethod decode :N [v]
+  (json/read-str (:N v)))
+
+(defmethod decode :NS [v]
+  (set (map json/read-str (:NS v))))
+
+(defmethod decode :M [v]
+  (reduce-kv (fn [m k v]
+               (assoc m k (decode v)))
+             {}
+             (:M v)))
+
+(defmethod decode :L [v]
+  (mapv decode (:L v)))
+
+(defmethod decode :NULL [v]
+  nil)
+
+(defmethod decode :B [v]
+  (.decode (Base64/getDecoder)
+           (:B v)))
+
+(defn encode-bytes [^bytes input]
+  (new String (.encode (Base64/getEncoder) input) "utf-8"))
+
+(defprotocol IDynamoDBEncode
+  (encode [this]))
+
+(extend-protocol IDynamoDBEncode
+  (Class/forName "[B")
+  (encode [this]
+    {:B (encode-bytes this)})
+
+  Number
+  (encode [this] {:N (json/json-str this)})
+
+  String
+  (encode [this] {:S this})
+
+  Boolean
+  (encode [this] {:BOOL (if this true false)})
+
+  clojure.lang.IPersistentVector
+  (encode [this]
+    {:L (mapv encode this)})
+
+  clojure.lang.IPersistentList
+  (encode [this]
+    {:L (mapv encode this)})
+
+  clojure.lang.IPersistentSet
+  (encode [this]
+    (cond
+      (every? number? this)
+      {:NS  (mapv json/json-str this)}
+
+      (every? string? this)
+      {:SS (mapv identity this)}
+
+      (every? bytes? this)
+      {:BS (mapv encode-bytes this)}
+
+      :else
+      (throw
+       (ex-info
+        "Cannot encode set, is invalid."))))
+
+  clojure.lang.IPersistentMap
+  (encode [this]
+    {:M (reduce-kv (fn [m k v]
+                     (assoc m k (encode v)))
+                   {}
+                   this)}))
+
+(comment
+  (decode {:M {:foo {:S "asd"} :bar {:N "333"} :baz {:L [{:S "asd"}]}}})
+
+  (decode {:N "2"})
+
+  (decode {:M (:Item result)}))
diff --git a/test/com/latacora/backsaws/dynamodb_test.clj b/test/com/latacora/backsaws/dynamodb_test.clj
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b488279
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/com/latacora/backsaws/dynamodb_test.clj
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+(ns com.latacora.backsaws.dynamodb-test
+  (:require [com.latacora.backsaws.dynamodb :as ddb]
+            [clojure.test :as t]))
+
+
+(def test-val
+  {:string "asd"
+   :number 333
+   :stringset #{"this" "is" "a" "string" "set"}
+   :list [1 "string" 3]
+   :numberset #{1 2 3 4}
+   :bytes (.getBytes "foo")
+   :bool-true true
+   :bool-false false})
+
+;; hand encoded to spec
+(def encoded-val
+  {:M {:string {:S "asd"}
+       :number {:N "333"}
+       :stringset {:SS ["this" "is" "a" "string" "set"]}
+       :list {:L [{:N "1"} {:S "string"} {:N "3"}]}
+       :numberset {:NS ["1" "2" "3" "4"]}
+       :bytes {:B "Zm9v"}
+       :bool-true {:BOOL true}
+       :bool-false {:BOOL false}}})
+
+(t/deftest test-decode
+  (t/is (= #{1 2 3} (ddb/decode {:NS ["1" "2" "3"]})))
+  (t/is (= "foo" (ddb/decode {:S "foo"})))
+  (t/is (= 3 (ddb/decode {:N "3"})))
+  (t/is (= 3.33 (ddb/decode {:N "3.33"})))
+  (t/is (= #{"foo" "bar"} (ddb/decode {:SS ["foo" "bar"]})))
+  (let [eb {:B "Zm9v"}]
+    (t/is (= eb (ddb/encode (ddb/decode eb)))))
+  (t/is
+   (= (dissoc test-val :bytes)
+      (dissoc (ddb/decode encoded-val) :bytes))
+   "Encode and decode are identical, except bytes, for which equality doesn't work"))
+
+(t/deftest test-encode
+  (t/testing "booleans"
+    (t/is (= {:BOOL true} (ddb/encode true)))
+    (t/is (= {:BOOL false} (ddb/encode false))))
+  (t/testing "lists"
+    (t/is (= {:L [{:N "1"} {:N "2"} {:N "3"}]} (ddb/encode [1 2 3])))
+    (t/is (= {:L [{:N "1"} {:S "string"} {:N "3"}]} (ddb/encode [1 "string" 3]))))
+  (t/testing "map"
+    (t/is (= {:M {:bar {:S "baz"} :foo {:N "2"} :nested {:M {:another {:S "value"}}}}}
+             (ddb/encode {:bar "baz" :foo 2 :nested {:another "value"}}))))
+  (t/testing "sets"
+    (t/is (= {:NS ["1"]} (ddb/encode #{1})))
+    (t/is (= {:SS ["foo"]} (ddb/encode #{"foo"})))))