diff --git a/integration_tests/base_test.py b/integration_tests/base_test.py
index 24a4f2800..e3886e72b 100644
--- a/integration_tests/base_test.py
+++ b/integration_tests/base_test.py
@@ -84,6 +84,11 @@ def _assert_results_fields(self, results, output_path):
         result = results[0]
         assert result["codemod"] == self.codemod_wrapper.id
         assert result["references"] == self.codemod_wrapper.references
+
+        # TODO: once we add description for each url.
+        for reference in result["references"]:
+            assert reference["url"] == reference["description"]
+
         assert len(result["changeset"]) == self.num_changed_files
 
         # A codemod may change multiple files. For now we will
diff --git a/src/codemodder/codemods/base_codemod.py b/src/codemodder/codemods/base_codemod.py
index c6393e353..014980f17 100644
--- a/src/codemodder/codemods/base_codemod.py
+++ b/src/codemodder/codemods/base_codemod.py
@@ -24,6 +24,18 @@ class CodemodMetadata:
     REVIEW_GUIDANCE: ReviewGuidance
     REFERENCES: list = field(default_factory=list)
 
+    # TODO: remove post_init update_references once we add description for each url.
+    def __post_init__(self):
+        object.__setattr__(self, "REFERENCES", self.update_references(self.REFERENCES))
+    @staticmethod
+    def update_references(references):
+        updated_references = []
+        for reference in references:
+            updated_reference = dict(reference)  # Create a copy to avoid modifying the original dict
+            updated_reference['description'] = updated_reference['url']
+            updated_references.append(updated_reference)
+        return updated_references
+
 
 class BaseCodemod:
     # Implementation borrowed from https://stackoverflow.com/a/45250114