V10.2.3 creates a temporary binary file "entityReference.index"

Product Forums Katalon Studio
1

I used

  • macOS 14.7.6
  • Katalon Studio Free v10.2.3

I created a new project practice.expandtesting.com_dynamic-table. The project worked fine. But I noticed a new file named entityReference.index created in the project root directory.

スクリーンショット 2025-07-02 7.39.29
スクリーンショット 2025-07-02 7.39.291930×1754 430 KB

I have never seen the file before. I believe that it was introduced as of Katalon Studio v10.2.3. I guess, it is a side-effect of a change to fix the issue [CRITICAL] After updating to 9.7.2 renaming TC will show error 2. try will delete all steps/code in the TC.

But Katalon’s Release note explains nothing about the entityReference.index file, which would confuse users.

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2

I asked the following question at Duck.ai

I am using Katalon Studio v10.2.3. It uses the Groovy programming language. I created a new project. I noticed a file named “entityReference.index” in the project root folder. It seems to be a binary file created by Groovy. It seems to be a temporary file. But I don’t really know what is the entityReference.index file. I want to know if I can safely ignore; I do not need to include the file into the git repository. Any official documentation do you know?

GPT-4o mini replied as follows:

In Katalon Studio, the entityReference.index file is indeed a binary file that is generated by the Groovy programming language and is used internally by the Katalon Studio environment. This file typically serves as an index for entity references, helping the IDE manage and optimize access to various project entities.

Key Points about entityReference.index:

  1. Temporary File: It is generally considered a temporary file that Katalon Studio uses for its internal operations. It is not meant to be manually edited or directly interacted with by users.
  2. Version Control: You can safely ignore this file when it comes to version control. It is common practice to exclude such temporary or generated files from your Git repository. You can add it to your .gitignore file to prevent it from being tracked.
  3. Official Documentation: While specific documentation about entityReference.index may not be explicitly detailed, Katalon Studio’s documentation does cover best practices for managing project files and version control. You can refer to the Katalon Studio documentation for more information on project structure and file management.

Recommended Action:

  • Add to .gitignore: To prevent entityReference.index from being included in your Git repository, add the following line to your .gitignore file:

Code

entityReference.index

This will ensure that the file is ignored by Git, keeping your repository clean from unnecessary temporary files. If you have further questions or need specific details, checking the Katalon Studio community forums or support resources may also provide additional insights.

I am impressed that the GPT-4o talks as if it is a member of Katalon engineers who knows everything about Katalon Studio product’s internal.

3

@duyluong

I would require Katalon to include entityReference.index in the .gitignore file as default in order to exclude the file out of the git repository.

Or, even better, move the file somewhere outside the project so that it doesn’t bother users.

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5

Added Katalon Studio member to follow-up