# Partition Key

> The field whose value determines which shard or partition a record belongs to.

Record: `lex:partition-key`
Kind: artifact
Layer: [Performance Core](https://banes-lab.com/records/layer/performance-core.md)
Canonical: https://banes-lab.com/ontology/lexicon#lex-partition-key

## category

- [Scalability / Performance / Optimization](https://banes-lab.com/records/lex-category/scalability-performance-optimization.md)

## referenced-by

- [Sharding](https://banes-lab.com/records/arch/sharding.md)