An attribute is the basic unit of a record schema. Assignments from attributes (also known as key-value pairs) describe records in the Dgraph.
For a data record, an assignment from an attribute provides information about that record. For example, for a list of book records, an assignment from the Author attribute contains the author of the book record.
Each attribute is identified by a unique name within each data set. Because attribute names are scoped within their own data sets, it is possible for two attributes to have the same name, as long as each belongs to a different data set.
Each attribute on a data record is itself represented by a record that describes this attribute. Following the book records example, there is a record that describes the Author attribute. A set of these records that describe attributes forms a schema for your records. This set is known as system records. Each attribute in a record in the schema controls an aspect of the attribute on a data record. For example, an attribute on any data record can be searchable or not. This fact is described by an attribute in the schema record.