Docs or PR should be updated: For anyone having trouble getting the aws-node-rest-api-with-dynamodb-and-offline working: It should include a stage env for the db in the serverless config as per this suggestion otherwise cant start DB https://github.com/99xt/serverless-dynamodb-local/issues/225#issuecomment-498023248 `Serverless: Skipping start: DynamoDB Local is not available for stage: dev` It may then suggest java runtime (JDK) is also needed if not already installed https://stackoverflow.com/questions/52524112/how-do-i-install-java-on-mac-osx-allowing-version-switching