diff --git a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/catalog/DatabaseEntitiesCatalog.ts b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/catalog/DatabaseEntitiesCatalog.ts
index fb19f04220..9d0d8fcaf7 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/catalog/DatabaseEntitiesCatalog.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/catalog/DatabaseEntitiesCatalog.ts
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@
  * limitations under the License.
  */
 
-import { NotFoundError } from '@backstage/backend-common';
 import { Database } from '../database';
 import { DescriptorEnvelope } from '../ingestion/types';
 import { EntitiesCatalog, EntityFilters } from './types';
@@ -29,17 +28,33 @@ export class DatabaseEntitiesCatalog implements EntitiesCatalog {
     return items.map(i => i.entity);
   }
 
-  async entity(
+  async entityByUid(uid: string): Promise<DescriptorEnvelope | undefined> {
+    const matches = await this.database.transaction(tx =>
+      this.database.entities(tx, [{ key: 'uid', values: [uid] }]),
+    );
+
+    return matches.length ? matches[0].entity : undefined;
+  }
+
+  async entityByName(
     kind: string,
     name: string,
     namespace: string | undefined,
   ): Promise<DescriptorEnvelope | undefined> {
-    const item = await this.database.transaction(tx =>
-      this.database.entity(tx, kind, name, namespace),
+    const matches = await this.database.transaction(tx =>
+      this.database.entities(tx, [
+        { key: 'kind', values: [kind] },
+        { key: 'name', values: [name] },
+        {
+          key: 'namespace',
+          values:
+            !namespace || namespace === 'default'
+              ? [null, 'default']
+              : [namespace],
+        },
+      ]),
     );
-    if (!item) {
-      throw new NotFoundError('Entity cannot be found');
-    }
-    return item.entity;
+
+    return matches.length ? matches[0].entity : undefined;
   }
 }
diff --git a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/catalog/DatabaseLocationsCatalog.ts b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/catalog/DatabaseLocationsCatalog.ts
index e9f1512074..9effed724c 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/catalog/DatabaseLocationsCatalog.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/catalog/DatabaseLocationsCatalog.ts
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ export class DatabaseLocationsCatalog implements LocationsCatalog {
   }
 
   async location(id: string): Promise<Location> {
-    const item = await this.location(id);
+    const item = await this.database.location(id);
     return item;
   }
 }
diff --git a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/catalog/StaticEntitiesCatalog.ts b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/catalog/StaticEntitiesCatalog.ts
index 17f7603fb7..371cdf1f76 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/catalog/StaticEntitiesCatalog.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/catalog/StaticEntitiesCatalog.ts
@@ -30,7 +30,15 @@ export class StaticEntitiesCatalog implements EntitiesCatalog {
     return lodash.cloneDeep(this._entities);
   }
 
-  async entity(
+  async entityByUid(uid: string): Promise<DescriptorEnvelope | undefined> {
+    const item = this._entities.find(e => uid === e.metadata?.uid);
+    if (!item) {
+      throw new NotFoundError('Entity cannot be found');
+    }
+    return lodash.cloneDeep(item);
+  }
+
+  async entityByName(
     kind: string,
     name: string,
     namespace: string | undefined,
diff --git a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/catalog/types.ts b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/catalog/types.ts
index e5beb801d0..d5627ea86a 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/catalog/types.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/catalog/types.ts
@@ -29,10 +29,11 @@ export type EntityFilters = EntityFilter[];
 
 export type EntitiesCatalog = {
   entities(filters?: EntityFilters): Promise<DescriptorEnvelope[]>;
-  entity(
+  entityByUid(uid: string): Promise<DescriptorEnvelope | undefined>;
+  entityByName(
     kind: string,
-    name: string,
     namespace: string | undefined,
+    name: string,
   ): Promise<DescriptorEnvelope | undefined>;
 };
 
diff --git a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/database/Database.test.ts b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/database/Database.test.ts
index 7f02b45eee..7e9c75d199 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/database/Database.test.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/database/Database.test.ts
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import {
 } from '@backstage/backend-common';
 import Knex from 'knex';
 import path from 'path';
+import { DescriptorEnvelope } from '../ingestion';
 import { Database } from './Database';
 import {
   AddDatabaseLocation,
@@ -28,7 +29,6 @@ import {
   DbEntityResponse,
   DbLocationsRow,
 } from './types';
-import { DescriptorEnvelope } from '../ingestion';
 
 describe('Database', () => {
   let database: Knex;
@@ -264,6 +264,7 @@ describe('Database', () => {
         { locationId: undefined, entity: expect.objectContaining(e2) },
       ]);
     });
+
     it('can get all specific entities for matching filters (naive case)', async () => {
       const catalog = new Database(database, getVoidLogger());
       const entities: DescriptorEnvelope[] = [
diff --git a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/database/Database.ts b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/database/Database.ts
index 3b616b4202..a3aba825f4 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/database/Database.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/database/Database.ts
@@ -276,7 +276,7 @@ export class Database {
       ? oldRow.generation
       : oldRow.generation + 1;
     const newEntity = lodash.cloneDeep(request.entity);
-    newEntity.metadata = Object.assign({}, request.entity.metadata, {
+    newEntity.metadata = Object.assign({}, newEntity.metadata, {
       uid: oldRow.id,
       etag: newEtag,
       generation: newGeneration,
@@ -357,9 +357,7 @@ export class Database {
   async addLocation(location: AddDatabaseLocation): Promise<DbLocationsRow> {
     return await this.database.transaction<DbLocationsRow>(async tx => {
       const existingLocation = await tx<DbLocationsRow>('locations')
-        .where({
-          target: location.target,
-        })
+        .where({ target: location.target })
         .select();
 
       if (existingLocation?.[0]) {
diff --git a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/database/DatabaseManager.test.ts b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/database/DatabaseManager.test.ts
index 2da3c33a00..ca50f518cb 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/database/DatabaseManager.test.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/database/DatabaseManager.test.ts
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
  */
 
 import { getVoidLogger } from '@backstage/backend-common';
+import Knex from 'knex';
 import {
   ComponentDescriptor,
   DescriptorParser,
@@ -24,7 +25,6 @@ import {
 import { Database } from './Database';
 import { DatabaseManager } from './DatabaseManager';
 import { DatabaseLocationUpdateLogStatus, DbLocationsRow } from './types';
-import Knex from 'knex';
 
 describe('DatabaseManager', () => {
   describe('refreshLocations', () => {
diff --git a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/service/router.test.ts b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/service/router.test.ts
index 1b1f4c5034..8c29362015 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/service/router.test.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/service/router.test.ts
@@ -14,11 +14,7 @@
  * limitations under the License.
  */
 
-import {
-  errorHandler,
-  getVoidLogger,
-  InputError,
-} from '@backstage/backend-common';
+import { getVoidLogger } from '@backstage/backend-common';
 import express from 'express';
 import request from 'supertest';
 import { EntitiesCatalog, Location, LocationsCatalog } from '../catalog';
@@ -27,7 +23,8 @@ import { createRouter } from './router';
 
 class MockEntitiesCatalog implements EntitiesCatalog {
   entities = jest.fn();
-  entity = jest.fn();
+  entityByUid = jest.fn();
+  entityByName = jest.fn();
 }
 
 class MockLocationsCatalog implements LocationsCatalog {
@@ -77,6 +74,89 @@ describe('createRouter', () => {
     });
   });
 
+  describe('entityByUid', () => {
+    it('can fetch entity by uid', async () => {
+      const entity: DescriptorEnvelope = {
+        apiVersion: 'a',
+        kind: 'b',
+        metadata: {
+          name: 'c',
+        },
+      };
+      const catalog = new MockEntitiesCatalog();
+      catalog.entityByUid.mockResolvedValue(entity);
+
+      const router = await createRouter({
+        entitiesCatalog: catalog,
+        logger: getVoidLogger(),
+      });
+
+      const app = express().use(router);
+      const response = await request(app).get('/entities/by-uid/zzz');
+
+      expect(response.status).toEqual(200);
+      expect(response.body).toEqual(expect.objectContaining(entity));
+    });
+
+    it('responds with a 404 for missing entities', async () => {
+      const catalog = new MockEntitiesCatalog();
+      catalog.entityByUid.mockResolvedValue(undefined);
+
+      const router = await createRouter({
+        entitiesCatalog: catalog,
+        logger: getVoidLogger(),
+      });
+
+      const app = express().use(router);
+      const response = await request(app).get('/entities/by-uid/zzz');
+
+      expect(response.status).toEqual(404);
+      expect(response.text).toMatch(/uid/);
+    });
+  });
+
+  describe('entityByName', () => {
+    it('can fetch entity by name', async () => {
+      const entity: DescriptorEnvelope = {
+        apiVersion: 'a',
+        kind: 'b',
+        metadata: {
+          name: 'c',
+          namespace: 'd',
+        },
+      };
+      const catalog = new MockEntitiesCatalog();
+      catalog.entityByName.mockResolvedValue(entity);
+
+      const router = await createRouter({
+        entitiesCatalog: catalog,
+        logger: getVoidLogger(),
+      });
+
+      const app = express().use(router);
+      const response = await request(app).get('/entities/by-name/b/d/c');
+
+      expect(response.status).toEqual(200);
+      expect(response.body).toEqual(expect.objectContaining(entity));
+    });
+
+    it('responds with a 404 for missing entities', async () => {
+      const catalog = new MockEntitiesCatalog();
+      catalog.entityByName.mockResolvedValue(undefined);
+
+      const router = await createRouter({
+        entitiesCatalog: catalog,
+        logger: getVoidLogger(),
+      });
+
+      const app = express().use(router);
+      const response = await request(app).get('/entities/by-name//b/d/c');
+
+      expect(response.status).toEqual(404);
+      expect(response.text).toMatch(/name/);
+    });
+  });
+
   describe('locations', () => {
     it('happy path: lists locations', async () => {
       const locations: Location[] = [{ id: 'a', type: 'b', target: 'c' }];
diff --git a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/service/router.ts b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/service/router.ts
index 81533adfc5..c3318a7377 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/service/router.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/service/router.ts
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
  * limitations under the License.
  */
 
-import { errorHandler } from '@backstage/backend-common';
+import { errorHandler, InputError } from '@backstage/backend-common';
 import express from 'express';
 import Router from 'express-promise-router';
 import { Logger } from 'winston';
@@ -41,26 +41,36 @@ export async function createRouter(
   router.use(express.json());
 
   if (entitiesCatalog) {
-    router.get('/entities', async (req, res) => {
-      const filters: EntityFilters = [];
-      for (const [key, valueOrValues] of Object.entries(req.query)) {
-        const values = Array.isArray(valueOrValues)
-          ? valueOrValues
-          : [valueOrValues];
-        if (values.some(v => typeof v !== 'string')) {
-          res.status(400).send('Complex query parameters are not supported');
-          return;
+    router
+      .get('/entities', async (req, res) => {
+        const filters = translateQueryToEntityFilters(req);
+        const entities = await entitiesCatalog.entities(filters);
+        res.status(200).send(entities);
+      })
+      .get('/entities/by-uid/:uid', async (req, res) => {
+        const { uid } = req.params;
+        const entity = await entitiesCatalog.entityByUid(uid);
+        if (!entity) {
+          res.status(404).send(`No entity with uid ${uid}`);
         }
-        filters.push({
-          key,
-          values: values.map(v => v || null) as string[],
-        });
-      }
-
-      const entities = await entitiesCatalog.entities(filters);
-
-      res.status(200).send(entities);
-    });
+        res.status(200).send(entity);
+      })
+      .get('/entities/by-name/:kind/:namespace/:name', async (req, res) => {
+        const { kind, namespace, name } = req.params;
+        const entity = await entitiesCatalog.entityByName(
+          kind,
+          name,
+          namespace,
+        );
+        if (!entity) {
+          res
+            .status(404)
+            .send(
+              `No entity with kind ${kind} namespace ${namespace} name ${name}`,
+            );
+        }
+        res.status(200).send(entity);
+      });
   }
 
   if (locationsCatalog) {
@@ -89,3 +99,26 @@ export async function createRouter(
   router.use(errorHandler());
   return router;
 }
+
+function translateQueryToEntityFilters(
+  request: express.Request,
+): EntityFilters {
+  const filters: EntityFilters = [];
+
+  for (const [key, valueOrValues] of Object.entries(request.query)) {
+    const values = Array.isArray(valueOrValues)
+      ? valueOrValues
+      : [valueOrValues];
+
+    if (values.some(v => typeof v !== 'string')) {
+      throw new InputError('Complex query parameters are not supported');
+    }
+
+    filters.push({
+      key,
+      values: values.map(v => v || null) as string[],
+    });
+  }
+
+  return filters;
+}