diff --git a/src/utils/filter.ts b/src/utils/filter.ts
index b09b4118..bdbb8545 100644
--- a/src/utils/filter.ts
+++ b/src/utils/filter.ts
@@ -1,14 +1,14 @@
 import uniqBy from "lodash/uniqBy";
 
-// Entity or object with path property
-interface PathObject {
-    path: string;
-}
+import { PathSchema } from "../types";
+
+type PathObject = Required<PathSchema>;
 
 // Filter conditions
 export interface FilterObject {
     path?: string;
     regex?: RegExp;
+    isDefault?: boolean;
 }
 
 /**
@@ -42,6 +42,23 @@ function isMultiPathSupported(
     return expandedPaths.every((expandedPath) => isPathSupported(expandedPath, filterObjects));
 }
 
+function setDefaultAsFirst(pathObjects: PathObject[], filterObjects: FilterObject[]): PathObject[] {
+    const defaultFilter = filterObjects.find((f) => f.isDefault);
+    if (!defaultFilter) return pathObjects;
+
+    const defaultIndex = pathObjects.findIndex((pathObj) => {
+        return isPathSupported(pathObj, [defaultFilter]);
+    });
+    // minimum of two path objects needed to swap
+    if (defaultIndex <= 0 || pathObjects.length < 2) return pathObjects;
+
+    // swap default to first position in array
+    const tmp = pathObjects[0];
+    pathObjects[0] = pathObjects[defaultIndex];
+    pathObjects[defaultIndex] = tmp;
+    return pathObjects;
+}
+
 interface FilterEntityListProps {
     entitiesOrPaths: PathObject[]; // Array of objects defining entity path
     filterObjects?: FilterObject[]; // Array of path or regular expression objects
@@ -50,13 +67,13 @@ interface FilterEntityListProps {
 
 /**
  * Filter list of entity paths or entities by paths and regular expressions.
- * @return {Object[]} - filtered entity path objects or entities
+ * @return - filtered entity path objects or entities
  */
 export function filterEntityList({
     entitiesOrPaths,
     filterObjects = [],
     multiPathSeparator = "",
-}: FilterEntityListProps) {
+}: FilterEntityListProps): PathObject[] {
     if (!filterObjects || !filterObjects.length) return [];
     const filterObjects_ = filterObjects.map((o) => (o.regex ? { regex: new RegExp(o.regex) } : o));
 
@@ -69,5 +86,7 @@ export function filterEntityList({
         filtered = entitiesOrPaths.filter((e) => isPathSupported(e, filterObjects_));
     }
 
+    filtered = setDefaultAsFirst(filtered, filterObjects_);
+
     return uniqBy(filtered, "path");
 }
diff --git a/src/utils/index.ts b/src/utils/index.ts
index c464eecd..6b7319df 100644
--- a/src/utils/index.ts
+++ b/src/utils/index.ts
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ import {
     sortKeysDeepForObject,
     stringifyObject,
 } from "./object";
-import { getSchemaWithDependencies, buildNamedEntitySchema } from "./schemas";
+import { buildNamedEntitySchema, getSchemaWithDependencies } from "./schemas";
 import { getSearchQuerySelector } from "./selector";
 import {
     convertArabicToRoman,
diff --git a/src/utils/schemas.ts b/src/utils/schemas.ts
index 0b0f096b..68d30b07 100644
--- a/src/utils/schemas.ts
+++ b/src/utils/schemas.ts
@@ -1,10 +1,9 @@
 import { JSONSchema } from "@exabyte-io/esse.js/schema";
+import { JSONSchema7Definition } from "json-schema";
 import forEach from "lodash/forEach";
 import hasProperty from "lodash/has";
 import isEmpty from "lodash/isEmpty";
 
-import { JSONSchema7Definition } from "json-schema";
-
 import { JSONSchemasInterface } from "../JSONSchemasInterface";
 
 export * from "@exabyte-io/esse.js/lib/js/esse/schemaUtils";
@@ -245,7 +244,6 @@ const buildNamedEntitiesDependencies = (entities: NamedEntity[]) => {
                         schemaByNamedEntityName(entity.name) ||
                         defaultNamedEntitySchema(entity.name);
                     return {
-
                         ...filterForGenerativeProperties(schema),
                     };
                 }),
diff --git a/tests/utils/filter.tests.ts b/tests/utils/filter.tests.ts
index d4b5d221..119a188a 100644
--- a/tests/utils/filter.tests.ts
+++ b/tests/utils/filter.tests.ts
@@ -40,6 +40,16 @@ describe("entity filter", () => {
         expect(filtered).to.have.deep.members(expected);
     });
 
+    it("should place the default entity as first element in list", () => {
+        const filterObjects = [
+            { path: "/root/entity/b" },
+            { path: "/root/entity/c", isDefault: true },
+        ];
+        const filtered = filterEntityList({ filterObjects, entitiesOrPaths: entities });
+        const expectedPath = "/root/entity/c";
+        expect(filtered[0].path).to.be.equal(expectedPath);
+    });
+
     it("should filter an entity list containing concatenated paths", () => {
         const filterObjects = [{ path: "/root/entity/b" }, { path: "/root/entity/c" }];
         const multiPathEntities = [