diff --git a/src/catalog.rs b/src/catalog.rs
index 46bc10da..6ff98467 100644
--- a/src/catalog.rs
+++ b/src/catalog.rs
@@ -8,8 +8,6 @@ use datafusion::datasource::TableProvider;
 use datafusion::error::DataFusionError;
 use deltalake::DeltaTable;
 use itertools::Itertools;
-#[cfg(test)]
-use mockall::automock;
 use parking_lot::RwLock;
 use uuid::Uuid;
 
@@ -143,6 +141,10 @@ impl From<Error> for DataFusionError {
     }
 }
 
+// This is the main entrypoint to all individual catalogs for various objects types.
+// The intention is to make it extensible and de-coupled from the underlying metastore
+// persistence mechanism (such as the presently used `Repository`).
+#[derive(Clone)]
 pub struct Metastore {
     pub catalogs: Arc<dyn CatalogStore>,
     pub schemas: Arc<dyn SchemaStore>,
@@ -150,21 +152,17 @@ pub struct Metastore {
     pub functions: Arc<dyn FunctionStore>,
 }
 
-#[cfg_attr(test, automock)]
 #[async_trait]
 pub trait CatalogStore: Sync + Send {
     async fn create(&self, catalog_name: &str) -> Result<DatabaseId>;
 
     async fn load_database(&self, name: &str) -> Result<SeafowlDatabase>;
 
-    async fn list(&self) -> Result<Vec<DatabaseRecord>, Error>;
-
     async fn get(&self, name: &str) -> Result<DatabaseRecord, Error>;
 
     async fn delete(&self, name: &str) -> Result<()>;
 }
 
-#[cfg_attr(test, automock)]
 #[async_trait]
 pub trait SchemaStore: Sync + Send {
     async fn create(&self, catalog_name: &str, schema_name: &str)
@@ -179,7 +177,6 @@ pub trait SchemaStore: Sync + Send {
     async fn delete(&self, catalog_name: &str, schema_name: &str) -> Result<()>;
 }
 
-#[cfg_attr(test, automock)]
 #[async_trait]
 pub trait TableStore: Sync + Send {
     async fn create(
@@ -248,7 +245,6 @@ pub trait TableStore: Sync + Send {
     async fn delete_dropped_table(&self, uuid: Uuid) -> Result<()>;
 }
 
-#[cfg_attr(test, automock)]
 #[async_trait]
 pub trait FunctionStore: Sync + Send {
     async fn create(
@@ -394,13 +390,6 @@ impl CatalogStore for DefaultCatalog {
         })
     }
 
-    async fn list(&self) -> Result<Vec<DatabaseRecord>, Error> {
-        match self.repository.list_databases().await {
-            Ok(databases) => Ok(databases),
-            Err(e) => Err(Self::to_sqlx_error(e)),
-        }
-    }
-
     async fn get(&self, name: &str) -> Result<DatabaseRecord> {
         match self.repository.get_database(name).await {
             Ok(database) => Ok(database),
diff --git a/src/config/context.rs b/src/config/context.rs
index e4d2930c..7fdaf99e 100644
--- a/src/config/context.rs
+++ b/src/config/context.rs
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-use std::collections::HashSet;
 use std::sync::Arc;
 
 use crate::{
@@ -26,7 +25,6 @@ use datafusion_remote_tables::factory::RemoteTableFactory;
 #[cfg(feature = "object-store-s3")]
 use object_store::aws::AmazonS3Builder;
 use object_store::gcp::GoogleCloudStorageBuilder;
-use parking_lot::lock_api::RwLock;
 
 use super::schema::{self, GCS, MEBIBYTES, MEMORY_FRACTION, S3};
 
@@ -199,14 +197,6 @@ pub async fn build_context(cfg: &schema::SeafowlConfig) -> Result<SeafowlContext
         metastore.schemas.create(DEFAULT_DB, DEFAULT_SCHEMA).await?;
     }
 
-    let all_databases: HashSet<String> = metastore
-        .catalogs
-        .list()
-        .await?
-        .iter()
-        .map(|db| db.name.clone())
-        .collect();
-
     // Convergence doesn't support connecting to different DB names. We are supposed
     // to do one context per query (as we need to load the schema before executing every
     // query) and per database (since the context is supposed to be limited to the database
@@ -218,7 +208,6 @@ pub async fn build_context(cfg: &schema::SeafowlConfig) -> Result<SeafowlContext
         metastore: Arc::new(metastore),
         internal_object_store,
         database: DEFAULT_DB.to_string(),
-        all_databases: Arc::from(RwLock::new(all_databases)),
         max_partition_size: cfg.misc.max_partition_size,
     })
 }
diff --git a/src/context/mod.rs b/src/context/mod.rs
index a78c613c..53280cfe 100644
--- a/src/context/mod.rs
+++ b/src/context/mod.rs
@@ -15,8 +15,6 @@ use datafusion::{error::DataFusionError, prelude::SessionContext, sql::TableRefe
 use datafusion_common::OwnedTableReference;
 use deltalake::DeltaTable;
 use object_store::path::Path;
-use parking_lot::RwLock;
-use std::collections::HashSet;
 use std::sync::Arc;
 use uuid::Uuid;
 
@@ -27,28 +25,13 @@ pub struct SeafowlContext {
     pub metastore: Arc<Metastore>,
     pub internal_object_store: Arc<InternalObjectStore>,
     pub database: String,
-    pub all_databases: Arc<RwLock<HashSet<String>>>,
     pub max_partition_size: u32,
 }
 
 impl SeafowlContext {
     // Create a new `SeafowlContext` with a new inner context scoped to a different default DB
     pub async fn scope_to_database(&self, name: String) -> Result<Arc<SeafowlContext>> {
-        // TODO: do we need this? The only goal here is to keep the list of databases in memory and
-        // fail early if one is missing, but we can defer that to resolution time.
-        let maybe_database = self.all_databases.read().get(&name).cloned();
-        let all_databases = self.all_databases.clone();
-        if maybe_database.is_none() {
-            // Perhaps the db was created on another node; try to reload from catalog
-            let _ = self.metastore.catalogs.get(&name).await.map_err(|_| {
-                DataFusionError::Plan(format!(
-                    "Unknown database {name}; try creating one with CREATE DATABASE first"
-                ))
-            })?;
-            all_databases.write().insert(name.clone());
-        };
-
-        // Swap the default database in the new internal context's session config
+        // Swap the default catalog in the new internal context's session config
         let session_config = self
             .inner()
             .copied_config()
@@ -62,7 +45,6 @@ impl SeafowlContext {
             metastore: self.metastore.clone(),
             internal_object_store: self.internal_object_store.clone(),
             database: name,
-            all_databases,
             max_partition_size: self.max_partition_size,
         }))
     }
diff --git a/src/context/physical.rs b/src/context/physical.rs
index c612ab17..5ff5bfb6 100644
--- a/src/context/physical.rs
+++ b/src/context/physical.rs
@@ -202,9 +202,6 @@ impl SeafowlContext {
                     .create(catalog_name, DEFAULT_SCHEMA)
                     .await?;
 
-                // Update the shared in-memory map of DB names -> ids
-                self.all_databases.write().insert(catalog_name.clone());
-
                 Ok(make_dummy_exec())
             }
             LogicalPlan::Ddl(DdlStatement::CreateMemoryTable(CreateMemoryTable {
diff --git a/src/frontend/http.rs b/src/frontend/http.rs
index cd1564af..c55e4b21 100644
--- a/src/frontend/http.rs
+++ b/src/frontend/http.rs
@@ -1023,7 +1023,7 @@ pub mod tests {
         assert_eq!(resp.status(), StatusCode::BAD_REQUEST);
         assert_eq!(
             resp.body(),
-            "Error during planning: Unknown database missing_db; try creating one with CREATE DATABASE first"
+            "Error during planning: Database \"missing_db\" doesn't exist"
         );
     }
 
diff --git a/src/repository/default.rs b/src/repository/default.rs
index 57c4c49d..4d3e705d 100644
--- a/src/repository/default.rs
+++ b/src/repository/default.rs
@@ -65,18 +65,6 @@ impl Repository for $repo {
             .expect("error running migrations");
     }
 
-    async fn get_collections_in_database(
-        &self,
-        database_id: DatabaseId,
-    ) -> Result<Vec<String>, Error> {
-        let names = sqlx::query("SELECT name FROM collection WHERE database_id = $1")
-            .bind(database_id)
-            .fetch(&self.executor)
-            .map_ok(|row| row.get("name"))
-            .try_collect()
-            .await.map_err($repo::interpret_error)?;
-        Ok(names)
-    }
     async fn get_all_columns_in_database(
         &self,
         name: &str,
@@ -181,13 +169,6 @@ impl Repository for $repo {
         Ok(table)
     }
 
-    async fn list_databases(&self) -> Result<Vec<DatabaseRecord>> {
-        sqlx::query_as(r#"SELECT name, id FROM database"#)
-            .fetch_all(&self.executor)
-            .await.map_err($repo::interpret_error)
-
-    }
-
     async fn create_collection(
         &self,
         database_id: DatabaseId,
diff --git a/src/repository/interface.rs b/src/repository/interface.rs
index d14c529a..35984d3a 100644
--- a/src/repository/interface.rs
+++ b/src/repository/interface.rs
@@ -36,13 +36,6 @@ pub struct TableRecord {
     pub name: String,
 }
 
-#[derive(sqlx::FromRow, Default, Debug, PartialEq, Eq)]
-pub struct TableVersion {
-    pub id: TableVersionId,
-    pub table_id: TableId,
-    pub creation_time: Timestamp,
-}
-
 #[derive(sqlx::FromRow, Default, Debug, PartialEq, Eq)]
 pub struct AllDatabaseColumnsResult {
     pub database_name: String,
@@ -120,18 +113,11 @@ pub type Result<T, E = Error> = std::result::Result<T, E>;
 pub trait Repository: Send + Sync + Debug {
     async fn setup(&self);
 
-    async fn get_collections_in_database(
-        &self,
-        database_id: DatabaseId,
-    ) -> Result<Vec<String>, Error>;
-
     async fn get_all_columns_in_database(
         &self,
         name: &str,
     ) -> Result<Vec<AllDatabaseColumnsResult>, Error>;
 
-    async fn list_databases(&self) -> Result<Vec<DatabaseRecord>, Error>;
-
     async fn get_database(&self, name: &str) -> Result<DatabaseRecord, Error>;
 
     async fn get_collection(
@@ -289,7 +275,7 @@ pub mod tests {
     }
 
     pub async fn run_generic_repository_tests(repository: Arc<dyn Repository>) {
-        test_get_collections_empty(repository.clone()).await;
+        test_get_tables_empty(repository.clone()).await;
         let (database_id, table_id, table_version_id) =
             test_create_database_collection_table(repository.clone()).await;
         test_create_functions(repository.clone(), database_id).await;
@@ -303,13 +289,13 @@ pub mod tests {
         test_error_propagation(repository, table_id).await;
     }
 
-    async fn test_get_collections_empty(repository: Arc<dyn Repository>) {
+    async fn test_get_tables_empty(repository: Arc<dyn Repository>) {
         assert_eq!(
             repository
-                .get_collections_in_database(0)
+                .get_all_columns_in_database(TEST_DB)
                 .await
                 .expect("error getting collections"),
-            Vec::<String>::new()
+            Vec::<AllDatabaseColumnsResult>::new()
         );
     }