diff --git a/app/src/data/entities/Entity.ts b/app/src/data/entities/Entity.ts
index cdcbce6..48f23b9 100644
--- a/app/src/data/entities/Entity.ts
+++ b/app/src/data/entities/Entity.ts
@@ -44,6 +44,8 @@ export type EntityJSON = ReturnType<Entity["toJSON"]>;
 export const entityTypes = ["regular", "system", "generated"] as const;
 export type TEntityType = (typeof entityTypes)[number];
 
+const ENTITY_SYMBOL = Symbol.for("bknd:entity");
+
 /**
  * @todo: add check for adding fields (primary and relation not allowed)
  * @todo: add option to disallow api deletes (or api actions in general)
@@ -89,6 +91,14 @@ export class Entity<
       }
 
       if (type) this.type = type;
+      this[ENTITY_SYMBOL] = true;
+   }
+
+   // this is currently required as there could be multiple variants
+   // we need to migrate to a mono repo
+   static isEntity(e: unknown): e is Entity {
+      if (!e) return false;
+      return e[ENTITY_SYMBOL] === true;
    }
 
    static create(args: {
diff --git a/app/src/data/entities/EntityManager.ts b/app/src/data/entities/EntityManager.ts
index 0ab634a..6757170 100644
--- a/app/src/data/entities/EntityManager.ts
+++ b/app/src/data/entities/EntityManager.ts
@@ -118,12 +118,12 @@ export class EntityManager<TBD extends object = DefaultDB> {
    ): Silent extends true ? Entity | undefined : Entity {
       // make sure to always retrieve by name
       const entity = this.entities.find((entity) =>
-         e instanceof Entity ? entity.name === e.name : entity.name === e,
+         Entity.isEntity(e) ? entity.name === e.name : entity.name === e,
       );
 
       if (!entity) {
          if (silent === true) return undefined as any;
-         throw new EntityNotDefinedException(e instanceof Entity ? e.name : (e as string));
+         throw new EntityNotDefinedException(Entity.isEntity(e) ? e.name : (e as string));
       }
 
       return entity;
@@ -236,7 +236,7 @@ export class EntityManager<TBD extends object = DefaultDB> {
    }
 
    getIndicesOf(_entity: Entity | string): EntityIndex[] {
-      const entity = _entity instanceof Entity ? _entity : this.entity(_entity);
+      const entity = Entity.isEntity(_entity) ? _entity : this.entity(_entity);
       return this.indices.filter((index) => index.entity.name === entity.name);
    }
 
diff --git a/app/src/modules/ModuleHelper.ts b/app/src/modules/ModuleHelper.ts
index 5088510..8561ebe 100644
--- a/app/src/modules/ModuleHelper.ts
+++ b/app/src/modules/ModuleHelper.ts
@@ -66,9 +66,14 @@ export class ModuleHelper {
    }
 
    ensureRelation(relation: EntityRelation) {
-      if (!this.em.relations.exists(relation)) {
+      try {
+         // most reliable way at the moment
          this.em.addRelation(relation);
          this.flags.sync_required = true;
+      } catch (e) {}
+
+      // @todo: improve this function, seems like it still doesn't catch all cases
+      if (!this.em.relations.exists(relation)) {
       }
    }