Can someone explain how are catalog files created for assets and how are they referenced and used in the blender file its linked to?
When you mark a folder as an asset library in preferences, a Catalog Definition File (CDF) is created in that folder. This is a simple text file called blender_assets.cats.txt, and it stores a list of all catalogs created for that library.
Catalogs can be created and edited from any .blend file, you just need to save it first. And it doesn’t even have to be saved inside a folder that belongs to a library that you want to edit, which is strange. So you have to be careful how you organize and manage your libraries.
There is a more advanced explanation of how CDFs and UUIDs work on the wiki: https://wiki.blender.org/wiki/Source/Architecture/Asset_System/Catalogs
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What if the catalog file is stored in a separate folder and I want to reference it in some blend file which is not present with the catalog file?
Basically what I want to do is to have a master catalog file and use it in all the subfolder which contains the blend files.
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But that’s how it works already, if I understand your question correctly. When you mark a specific folder as an asset library, all blend files within that folder and subfolders become part of the library and will share the same list of catalogs, defined by the CDF.
But if you want to have same list of catalogs across multiple libraries, or for blend files that are outside the library, then I don’t think it’s possible.
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