diff --git a/plugins/catalog-backend/package.json b/plugins/catalog-backend/package.json
index fca79aef1b..253959c61b 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-backend/package.json
+++ b/plugins/catalog-backend/package.json
@@ -12,7 +12,8 @@
     "test": "backstage-cli test",
     "prepack": "backstage-cli prepack",
     "postpack": "backstage-cli postpack",
-    "clean": "backstage-cli clean"
+    "clean": "backstage-cli clean",
+    "mock-data": "./scripts/mock-data"
   },
   "dependencies": {
     "@backstage/backend-common": "^0.1.1-alpha.6",
diff --git a/plugins/catalog-backend/scripts/mock-data b/plugins/catalog-backend/scripts/mock-data
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7edc8c422b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/catalog-backend/scripts/mock-data
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env sh
+curl \
+--location \
+--request POST 'localhost:3003/locations' \
+--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
+--data-raw '{
+    "type": "github",
+    "target": "https://github.com/spotify/backstage/blob/master/plugins/catalog-backend/fixtures/two_components.yaml"
+}'
diff --git a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/database/DatabaseManager.ts b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/database/DatabaseManager.ts
index bc7c7b8dae..f0fbe92600 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/database/DatabaseManager.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/database/DatabaseManager.ts
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ import Knex from 'knex';
 import path from 'path';
 import { Logger } from 'winston';
 import { CommonDatabase } from './CommonDatabase';
-import type { Database } from './types';
+import { Database } from './types';
 
 export class DatabaseManager {
   public static async createDatabase(
@@ -31,4 +31,18 @@ export class DatabaseManager {
     });
     return new CommonDatabase(knex, logger);
   }
+
+  public static async createInMemoryDatabase(
+    logger: Logger,
+  ): Promise<Database> {
+    const knex = Knex({
+      client: 'sqlite3',
+      connection: ':memory:',
+      useNullAsDefault: true,
+    });
+    knex.client.pool.on('createSuccess', (_eventId: any, resource: any) => {
+      resource.run('PRAGMA foreign_keys = ON', () => {});
+    });
+    return DatabaseManager.createDatabase(knex, logger);
+  }
 }
diff --git a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/service/standaloneServer.ts b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/service/standaloneServer.ts
index 2fd4afc7cd..79cf72df4d 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/service/standaloneServer.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/service/standaloneServer.ts
@@ -16,8 +16,13 @@
 
 import { Server } from 'http';
 import { Logger } from 'winston';
-import { StaticEntitiesCatalog } from '../catalog';
 import { createStandaloneApplication } from './standaloneApplication';
+import { DatabaseEntitiesCatalog } from '../catalog/DatabaseEntitiesCatalog';
+import { DatabaseManager } from '../database/DatabaseManager';
+import { DatabaseLocationsCatalog } from '../catalog/DatabaseLocationsCatalog';
+import { LocationReaders } from '../ingestion/source/LocationReaders';
+import { IngestionModels, DescriptorParsers, HigherOrderOperations } from '..';
+import { EntityPolicies } from '@backstage/catalog-model';
 
 export interface ServerOptions {
   port: number;
@@ -30,25 +35,28 @@ export async function startStandaloneServer(
 ): Promise<Server> {
   const logger = options.logger.child({ service: 'catalog-backend' });
 
-  const entitiesCatalog = new StaticEntitiesCatalog([
-    {
-      apiVersion: 'backstage.io/v1beta1',
-      kind: 'Component',
-      metadata: { name: 'c1' },
-      spec: { type: 'service' },
-    },
-    {
-      apiVersion: 'backstage.io/v1beta1',
-      kind: 'Component',
-      metadata: { name: 'c2' },
-      spec: { type: 'service' },
-    },
-  ]);
+  const db = await DatabaseManager.createInMemoryDatabase(logger);
+
+  const entitiesCatalog = new DatabaseEntitiesCatalog(db);
+  const locationsCatalog = new DatabaseLocationsCatalog(db);
+  const ingestionModel = new IngestionModels(
+    new LocationReaders(),
+    new DescriptorParsers(),
+    new EntityPolicies(),
+  );
+  const higherOrderOperation = new HigherOrderOperations(
+    entitiesCatalog,
+    locationsCatalog,
+    ingestionModel,
+    logger,
+  );
 
   logger.debug('Creating application...');
   const app = await createStandaloneApplication({
     enableCors: options.enableCors,
     entitiesCatalog,
+    locationsCatalog,
+    higherOrderOperation,
     logger,
   });