What is a Weaviate collection and how is it structured?

A Weaviate collection, formerly called a class, is a set of objects with a shared schema defining properties, vectorizer settings, and index configuration. Each object has properties like text, numbers, dates, or references to other objects, plus one or more vector embeddings. Collections define the data model up front, similar to a table in relational databases, with strong typing on property values. Weaviate supports cross-references between collections, enabling graph-like queries that combine vector similarity with structural navigation across related objects.