diff --git a/LCS/PyCommon/json_utils.py b/LCS/PyCommon/json_utils.py
index 4b84ad903e6e0510240743901ba4b9ec7397fb49..0ff868fe1f18f5a6066fe7057531139d920b8d19 100644
--- a/LCS/PyCommon/json_utils.py
+++ b/LCS/PyCommon/json_utils.py
@@ -175,6 +175,24 @@ def resolved_refs(schema):
 
     return schema
 
+
+def get_refs(schema) -> set:
+    '''return a set of all $refs in the schema'''
+    refs = set()
+    if isinstance(schema, dict):
+        for key, value in schema.items():
+            if key == "$ref":
+                refs.add(value)
+            else:
+                refs.update(get_refs(value))
+
+    if isinstance(schema, list):
+        for item in schema:
+            refs.update(get_refs(item))
+
+    return refs
+
+
 def validate_json_against_its_schema(json_object: dict):
     '''validate the give json object against its own schema (the URI/URL that its propery $schema points to)'''
     schema_url = json_object['$schema']