diff --git a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/database/DefaultProcessingDatabase.test.ts b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/database/DefaultProcessingDatabase.test.ts
index 129e92cc0e..1e96c13dc5 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/database/DefaultProcessingDatabase.test.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/database/DefaultProcessingDatabase.test.ts
@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@ import { DateTime } from 'luxon';
 import { applyDatabaseMigrations } from './migrations';
 import { DefaultProcessingDatabase } from './DefaultProcessingDatabase';
 import {
-  DbRefreshKeysRow,
   DbRefreshStateReferencesRow,
   DbRefreshStateRow,
   DbRelationsRow,
@@ -68,10 +67,6 @@ describe('Default Processing Database', () => {
     await db<DbRefreshStateRow>('refresh_state').insert(ref);
   };
 
-  const insertRefreshKeysRow = async (db: Knex, ref: DbRefreshKeysRow) => {
-    await db('refresh_keys').insert(ref);
-  };
-
   describe('updateProcessedEntity', () => {
     let id: string;
     let processedEntity: Entity;
@@ -103,6 +98,7 @@ describe('Default Processing Database', () => {
               resultHash: '',
               relations: [],
               deferredEntities: [],
+              refreshKeys: [],
             }),
           ).rejects.toThrow(
             `Conflicting write of processing result for ${id} with location key 'undefined'`,
@@ -122,6 +118,7 @@ describe('Default Processing Database', () => {
           relations: [],
           deferredEntities: [],
           locationKey: 'key',
+          refreshKeys: [],
           errors: "['something broke']",
         };
         const { knex, db } = await createDatabase(databaseId);
@@ -148,6 +145,7 @@ describe('Default Processing Database', () => {
               ...options,
               resultHash: '',
               locationKey: 'fail',
+              refreshKeys: [],
             }),
           ).rejects.toThrow(
             `Conflicting write of processing result for ${id} with location key 'fail'`,
@@ -179,6 +177,7 @@ describe('Default Processing Database', () => {
             relations: [],
             deferredEntities: [],
             locationKey: 'key',
+            refreshKeys: [],
             errors: "['something broke']",
           }),
         );
@@ -233,6 +232,7 @@ describe('Default Processing Database', () => {
             resultHash: '',
             relations: relations,
             deferredEntities: [],
+            refreshKeys: [],
           }),
         );
 
@@ -255,6 +255,7 @@ describe('Default Processing Database', () => {
             resultHash: '',
             relations: relations,
             deferredEntities: [],
+            refreshKeys: [],
           }),
         );
 
@@ -314,6 +315,7 @@ describe('Default Processing Database', () => {
             resultHash: '',
             relations: [],
             deferredEntities,
+            refreshKeys: [],
           }),
         );
 
@@ -405,6 +407,7 @@ describe('Default Processing Database', () => {
               processedEntity,
               resultHash: '',
               relations: [],
+              refreshKeys: [],
               deferredEntities: [
                 {
                   entity: {
@@ -1402,55 +1405,4 @@ describe('Default Processing Database', () => {
       },
     );
   });
-
-  describe('setRefreshKeys', () => {
-    it.each(databases.eachSupportedId())(
-      'should set keys, %p',
-      async databaseId => {
-        const { knex, db } = await createDatabase(databaseId);
-
-        await db.transaction(async tx =>
-          db.setRefreshKeys(tx, {
-            refreshKeys: [{ entityRef: 'location:default/root-1', key: 'foo' }],
-          }),
-        );
-
-        const rows = await knex<DbRefreshKeysRow>('refresh_keys').select();
-
-        expect(rows.length).toBe(1);
-        expect(rows[0]).toEqual({
-          entity_ref: 'location:default/root-1',
-          key: 'foo',
-        });
-      },
-    );
-  });
-
-  describe('deleteRefreshKeys', () => {
-    it.each(databases.eachSupportedId())(
-      'should delete keys, %p',
-      async databaseId => {
-        const { knex, db } = await createDatabase(databaseId);
-
-        await insertRefreshKeysRow(knex, {
-          entity_ref: 'location:default/root-1',
-          key: 'foo',
-        });
-
-        let rows = await knex<DbRefreshKeysRow>('refresh_keys').select();
-
-        expect(rows.length).toBe(1);
-
-        await db.transaction(async tx =>
-          db.deleteRefreshKey(tx, {
-            key: 'foo',
-          }),
-        );
-
-        rows = await knex<DbRefreshKeysRow>('refresh_keys').select();
-
-        expect(rows.length).toBe(0);
-      },
-    );
-  });
 });
diff --git a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/database/DefaultProcessingDatabase.ts b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/database/DefaultProcessingDatabase.ts
index de8d18aad6..11b723a117 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/database/DefaultProcessingDatabase.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/database/DefaultProcessingDatabase.ts
@@ -33,7 +33,6 @@ import {
   UpdateEntityCacheOptions,
   ListParentsOptions,
   ListParentsResult,
-  RefreshKeyOptions,
   RefreshByKeyOptions,
 } from './types';
 import { DeferredEntity } from '../processing/types';
diff --git a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/modules/core/FileReaderProcessor.ts b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/modules/core/FileReaderProcessor.ts
index 1763a17acb..59795589b2 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/modules/core/FileReaderProcessor.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/modules/core/FileReaderProcessor.ts
@@ -25,7 +25,6 @@ import {
   LocationSpec,
   processingResult,
 } from '../../api';
-import { stringifyEntityRef } from '@backstage/catalog-model';
 
 const glob = promisify(g);
 
diff --git a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/modules/core/PlaceholderProcessor.ts b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/modules/core/PlaceholderProcessor.ts
index 5b6ed31f4d..8a1891fe0c 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/modules/core/PlaceholderProcessor.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/modules/core/PlaceholderProcessor.ts
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
  */
 
 import { UrlReader } from '@backstage/backend-common';
-import { Entity, stringifyEntityRef } from '@backstage/catalog-model';
+import { Entity } from '@backstage/catalog-model';
 import { JsonValue } from '@backstage/types';
 import { ScmIntegrationRegistry } from '@backstage/integration';
 import yaml from 'yaml';
diff --git a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/modules/core/UrlReaderProcessor.ts b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/modules/core/UrlReaderProcessor.ts
index 61bb8fed99..7b62690341 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/modules/core/UrlReaderProcessor.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/modules/core/UrlReaderProcessor.ts
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
  */
 
 import { UrlReader } from '@backstage/backend-common';
-import { Entity, stringifyEntityRef } from '@backstage/catalog-model';
+import { Entity } from '@backstage/catalog-model';
 import { assertError } from '@backstage/errors';
 import parseGitUrl from 'git-url-parse';
 import limiterFactory from 'p-limit';
@@ -30,7 +30,6 @@ import {
   LocationSpec,
   processingResult,
 } from '../../api';
-import { locationSpecToLocationEntity } from '../../util';
 
 const CACHE_KEY = 'v1';
 
diff --git a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/processing/ProcessorOutputCollector.ts b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/processing/ProcessorOutputCollector.ts
index 56988569cf..033dfd4ae3 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/processing/ProcessorOutputCollector.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/processing/ProcessorOutputCollector.ts
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ export class ProcessorOutputCollector {
     } else if (i.type === 'error') {
       this.errors.push(i.error);
     } else if (i.type === 'refresh') {
-      this.refreshKeys.push({ key: i.key, entityRef: i.entityRef });
+      this.refreshKeys.push({ key: i.key });
     }
   }
 }