diff --git a/.changeset/hungry-apples-sparkle.md b/.changeset/hungry-apples-sparkle.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6cfad2d2da
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/hungry-apples-sparkle.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'@backstage/catalog-model': patch
+---
+
+Deprecated the `EntityRefContext` type which had limited use.
diff --git a/packages/catalog-model/api-report.md b/packages/catalog-model/api-report.md
index 4b19c799d8..87de76b640 100644
--- a/packages/catalog-model/api-report.md
+++ b/packages/catalog-model/api-report.md
@@ -70,7 +70,10 @@ export class CommonValidatorFunctions {
 export function compareEntityToRef(
   entity: Entity,
   ref: EntityRef | EntityName,
-  context?: EntityRefContext,
+  context?: {
+    defaultKind?: string;
+    defaultNamespace?: string;
+  },
 ): boolean;
 
 // @public
@@ -218,7 +221,7 @@ export type EntityRef =
       name: string;
     };
 
-// @public
+// @public @deprecated
 export type EntityRefContext = {
   defaultKind?: string;
   defaultNamespace?: string;
@@ -391,7 +394,10 @@ export const ORIGIN_LOCATION_ANNOTATION =
 // @public
 export function parseEntityName(
   ref: EntityRef,
-  context?: EntityRefContext,
+  context?: {
+    defaultKind?: string;
+    defaultNamespace?: string;
+  },
 ): EntityName;
 
 // @public
diff --git a/packages/catalog-model/src/entity/ref.ts b/packages/catalog-model/src/entity/ref.ts
index 1996616077..0cc1c21f90 100644
--- a/packages/catalog-model/src/entity/ref.ts
+++ b/packages/catalog-model/src/entity/ref.ts
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@ export function getEntityName(entity: Entity): EntityName {
  * The context of defaults that entity reference parsing happens within.
  *
  * @public
+ * @deprecated type inlined, will be removed in a future release.
  */
 export type EntityRefContext = {
   /** The default kind, if none is given in the reference */
@@ -82,7 +83,12 @@ export type EntityRefContext = {
  */
 export function parseEntityName(
   ref: EntityRef,
-  context: EntityRefContext = {},
+  context: {
+    /** The default kind, if none is given in the reference */
+    defaultKind?: string;
+    /** The default namespace, if none is given in the reference */
+    defaultNamespace?: string;
+  } = {},
 ): EntityName {
   const { kind, namespace, name } = parseEntityRef(ref, {
     defaultNamespace: ENTITY_DEFAULT_NAMESPACE,
@@ -149,7 +155,12 @@ export function parseEntityRef(
  */
 export function parseEntityRef(
   ref: EntityRef,
-  context: EntityRefContext = {},
+  context: {
+    /** The default kind, if none is given in the reference */
+    defaultKind?: string;
+    /** The default namespace, if none is given in the reference */
+    defaultNamespace?: string;
+  } = {},
 ): {
   kind?: string;
   namespace?: string;
@@ -238,7 +249,12 @@ export function stringifyEntityRef(
 export function compareEntityToRef(
   entity: Entity,
   ref: EntityRef | EntityName,
-  context?: EntityRefContext,
+  context?: {
+    /** The default kind, if none is given in the reference */
+    defaultKind?: string;
+    /** The default namespace, if none is given in the reference */
+    defaultNamespace?: string;
+  },
 ): boolean {
   const entityKind = entity.kind;
   const entityNamespace = entity.metadata.namespace || ENTITY_DEFAULT_NAMESPACE;