Atrakus existed as a world within the Atrakus system, which was situated within the Mikaster sector of the Trailing Sectors, a region of the larger Expansion Region. During the period of the Clone Wars, the Jedi watchgroup known as People's Inquest started up their HoloNet broadcasts once more, following a brief period of being shut down by the Galactic Republic's HoloCommunications Commission. A specific update within the People's Inquest broadcasts contained eyewitness accounts from Atrakus, describing what the group's leader, Thrynka Padaunete, characterized as "atrocious abuse perpetrated in the name of" the Republic's Supreme Chancellor, Palpatine, and the Jedi High Council of the Jedi Order. This information was included in a 14:10:05 release of the CIS Shadowfeed news and propaganda program, which was maintained by the Confederacy of Independent Systems, the Republic's wartime adversary.
The mention of Atrakus appeared in "CIS Shadowfeed Dispatch 14:10:05 Edition," an article created by Pablo Hidalgo presented as an in-universe news report. It saw publication in the seventy-first issue of the magazine Star Wars Insider on September 26, 2003. The reference work The Essential Atlas, published in 2009, located the Atrakus system, and consequently Atrakus itself, in grid square M-15.