Zachary Sabourin
--- a/src/main/java/org/eclipsefoundation/git/eca/model/mappers/BaseEntityMapper.java 0 → 100644
+++ b/src/main/java/org/eclipsefoundation/git/eca/model/mappers/BaseEntityMapper.java 0 → 100644
+     */
+    @ObjectFactory
+    default <E extends BareNode> E lookup(String id, @Context PersistenceDao repo, @TargetType Class<E> targetType) {
+        E entity = repo.getReference(id, targetType);
+        if (entity == null) {
+            try {
+                entity = targetType.getConstructor().newInstance();
+            } catch (Exception e) {
+                throw new IllegalStateException("Could not access no-param constructor of entity type", e);
+            }
+        }
+        return entity;
+    }
+
+    @MapperConfig(componentModel = "cdi")
+    public static interface QuarkusMappingConfig {
--- a/src/main/java/org/eclipsefoundation/git/eca/model/mappers/BaseEntityMapper.java 0 → 100644
+++ b/src/main/java/org/eclipsefoundation/git/eca/model/mappers/BaseEntityMapper.java 0 → 100644
+
+    /**
+     * Used for generic BareNode lookups. This assumes that the string in the
+     * inverse is the key of the field. This will
+     * be used in a lookup of a reference of the object to be used in the DTO mapped
+     * object.
+     * 
+     * @param <E>        the BareNode actual type
+     * @param id         the string ID of the object to lookup
+     * @param repo       the passed repo context to be used for reference lookups
+     * @param targetType the injected class type reference
+     * @return a reference to the target entity if it exists, or a new object to be
+     *         persisted.
+     */
+    @ObjectFactory
+    default <E extends BareNode> E lookup(String id, @Context PersistenceDao repo, @TargetType Class<E> targetType) {