diff --git a/plugins/catalog-backend/migrations/20260403000000_add_location_entity_ref.js b/plugins/catalog-backend/migrations/20260403000000_add_location_entity_ref.js
index f34240ce76..507c3a8e64 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-backend/migrations/20260403000000_add_location_entity_ref.js
+++ b/plugins/catalog-backend/migrations/20260403000000_add_location_entity_ref.js
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ exports.up = async function up(knex) {
   // Step 1: Add column as nullable so the schema change itself needs no data.
   await knex.schema.alterTable('locations', table => {
     table
-      .text('location_entity_ref')
+      .string('location_entity_ref')
       .nullable()
       .comment(
         'The entity ref of the corresponding Location kind entity, e.g. location:default/generated-<sha1hex>',
@@ -126,7 +126,7 @@ exports.up = async function up(knex) {
     // MySQL: MODIFY COLUMN rewrites the column definition.
     // SQLite: knex recreates the table to enforce the NOT NULL constraint.
     await knex.schema.alterTable('locations', table => {
-      table.text('location_entity_ref').notNullable().alter();
+      table.string('location_entity_ref').notNullable().alter();
     });
   }
 };
diff --git a/plugins/catalog-backend/report.sql.md b/plugins/catalog-backend/report.sql.md
index 56340ad620..62a384adc2 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-backend/report.sql.md
+++ b/plugins/catalog-backend/report.sql.md
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@
 | Column                | Type                | Nullable | Max Length | Default |
 | --------------------- | ------------------- | -------- | ---------- | ------- |
 | `id`                  | `uuid`              | false    | -          | -       |
-| `location_entity_ref` | `text`              | false    | -          | -       |
+| `location_entity_ref` | `character varying` | false    | 255        | -       |
 | `target`              | `text`              | true     | -          | -       |
 | `type`                | `character varying` | false    | 255        | -       |
 
diff --git a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/util/conversion.ts b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/util/conversion.ts
index c499715db5..5f7371375e 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/util/conversion.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/util/conversion.ts
@@ -38,10 +38,11 @@ export function locationSpecToMetadataName(location: LocationSpec) {
  * stored location row, e.g. `location:default/generated-<sha1hex>`.
  */
 export function computeLocationEntityRef(type: string, target: string): string {
-  return `location:default/${locationSpecToMetadataName({
-    type,
-    target,
-  })}`.toLocaleLowerCase('en-US');
+  return stringifyEntityRef({
+    kind: 'Location',
+    namespace: 'default',
+    name: locationSpecToMetadataName({ type, target }),
+  });
 }
 
 export function locationSpecToLocationEntity(opts: {