diff --git a/internal/engine.cm b/internal/engine.cm
index 13d62915..621e8cb2 100644
--- a/internal/engine.cm
+++ b/internal/engine.cm
@@ -231,17 +231,16 @@ function actor_die(err)
 //actor_mod.on_exception(actor_die)
 
 _cell.args = init != null ? init : {}
-_cell.id = "newguy"
 
 function create_actor(desc) {
   var _desc = desc == null ? {id:guid()} : desc
   var actor = {}
   actor[ACTORDATA] = _desc
+  stone(actor)
   return actor
 }
 
 var $_ = {}
-$_.self = create_actor()
 
 use_cache['core/json'] = json
 
@@ -734,7 +733,7 @@ stone(send)
 if (!_cell.args.id) _cell.id = guid()
 else _cell.id = _cell.args.id
 
-$_.self[ACTORDATA].id = _cell.id
+$_.self = create_actor({id: _cell.id})
 
 // Actor's timeslice for processing a single message
 function turn(msg)
@@ -839,12 +838,8 @@ function handle_message(msg) {
 
   if (msg.type == "user") {
     letter = msg.data // what the sender really sent
-    _ObjectDefineProperty(letter, HEADER, {
-      value: msg, enumerable: false
-    })
-    _ObjectDefineProperty(letter, ACTORDATA, { // this is so is_actor == true
-      value: { reply: msg.reply }, enumerable: false
-    })
+    letter[HEADER] = msg
+    letter[ACTORDATA] = { reply: msg.reply }
 
     if (msg.return) {
       fn = replies[msg.return]
diff --git a/source/cell.c b/source/cell.c
index eb580006..57459d0c 100644
--- a/source/cell.c
+++ b/source/cell.c
@@ -284,6 +284,7 @@ void script_startup(cell_rt *prt)
   JS_SetPropertyStr(js, env_ref.val, "json", tmp);
 
   crt->actor_sym_ref.val = JS_NewObject(js);
+  JS_SetActorSym(js, JS_DupValue(js, crt->actor_sym_ref.val));
   JS_SetPropertyStr(js, env_ref.val, "actorsym", JS_DupValue(js, crt->actor_sym_ref.val));
 
   // Always set init (even if null)
@@ -518,6 +519,7 @@ int cell_init(int argc, char **argv)
   cli_rt->message_handle_ref.val = JS_NULL;
   cli_rt->unneeded_ref.val = JS_NULL;
   cli_rt->actor_sym_ref.val = JS_NewObject(ctx);
+  JS_SetActorSym(ctx, JS_DupValue(ctx, cli_rt->actor_sym_ref.val));
 
   root_cell = cli_rt;
 
diff --git a/source/quickjs-internal.h b/source/quickjs-internal.h
index a7123f92..c2a2f5b9 100644
--- a/source/quickjs-internal.h
+++ b/source/quickjs-internal.h
@@ -1147,6 +1147,9 @@ struct JSContext {
 
   JSValue current_exception;
 
+  /* Actor identity key — used by wota/nota PRIVATE serialization */
+  JSValue actor_sym;
+
   /* Stack overflow protection */
   // todo: want this, but should be a simple increment/decrement counter while frames are pushed
   size_t stack_depth;
diff --git a/source/quickjs.h b/source/quickjs.h
index 3edf37ff..ec049139 100644
--- a/source/quickjs.h
+++ b/source/quickjs.h
@@ -324,6 +324,8 @@ JSContext *JS_NewContextWithHeapSize (JSRuntime *rt, size_t heap_size);
 void JS_FreeContext (JSContext *s);
 void *JS_GetContextOpaque (JSContext *ctx);
 void JS_SetContextOpaque (JSContext *ctx, void *opaque);
+void JS_SetActorSym (JSContext *ctx, JSValue sym);
+JSValue JS_GetActorSym (JSContext *ctx);
 JSRuntime *JS_GetRuntime (JSContext *ctx);
 /* use 0 to disable maximum stack size check */
 void JS_SetMaxStackSize (JSContext *ctx, size_t stack_size);
diff --git a/source/runtime.c b/source/runtime.c
index e9773110..2aba02e9 100644
--- a/source/runtime.c
+++ b/source/runtime.c
@@ -1619,6 +1619,9 @@ int ctx_gc (JSContext *ctx, int allow_grow, size_t alloc_size) {
 #endif
   ctx->current_exception = gc_copy_value (ctx, ctx->current_exception, from_base, from_end, to_base, &to_free, to_end);
 
+  /* Copy actor identity key */
+  ctx->actor_sym = gc_copy_value (ctx, ctx->actor_sym, from_base, from_end, to_base, &to_free, to_end);
+
   /* Copy class prototypes */
 #ifdef DUMP_GC_DETAIL
   printf("  roots: class_proto (count=%d)\n", ctx->class_count); fflush(stdout);
@@ -1892,6 +1895,7 @@ JSContext *JS_NewContextRawWithHeapSize (JSRuntime *rt, size_t heap_size) {
 
   /* Initialize per-context execution state (moved from JSRuntime) */
   ctx->current_exception = JS_NULL;
+  ctx->actor_sym = JS_NULL;
 
   /* Initialize constant text pool (avoids overflow pages for common case) */
   {
@@ -1973,6 +1977,14 @@ void JS_SetContextOpaque (JSContext *ctx, void *opaque) {
   ctx->user_opaque = opaque;
 }
 
+void JS_SetActorSym (JSContext *ctx, JSValue sym) {
+  ctx->actor_sym = sym;
+}
+
+JSValue JS_GetActorSym (JSContext *ctx) {
+  return ctx->actor_sym;
+}
+
 void JS_SetClassProto (JSContext *ctx, JSClassID class_id, JSValue obj) {
   assert (class_id < ctx->class_count);
   set_value (ctx, &ctx->class_proto[class_id], obj);
@@ -11365,9 +11377,15 @@ static char *js_do_nota_decode (JSContext *js, JSValue *tmp, char *nota, JSValue
     case NOTA_SYM:
       nota = nota_read_sym (&b, nota);
       if (b == NOTA_PRIVATE) {
-        JSValue inner;
-        nota = js_do_nota_decode (js, &inner, nota, holder, JS_NULL, reviver);
+        JSGCRef inner_ref;
+        JS_PushGCRef (js, &inner_ref);
+        inner_ref.val = JS_NULL;
+        nota = js_do_nota_decode (js, &inner_ref.val, nota, holder, JS_NULL, reviver);
         JSValue obj = JS_NewObject (js);
+        if (!JS_IsNull (js->actor_sym))
+          JS_SetPropertyKey (js, obj, js->actor_sym, inner_ref.val);
+        JS_CellStone (js, obj);
+        JS_PopGCRef (js, &inner_ref);
         *tmp = obj;
       } else {
         switch (b) {
@@ -11461,11 +11479,17 @@ static void nota_encode_value (NotaEncodeContext *enc, JSValueConst val, JSValue
       }
 
       JSValue adata = JS_NULL;
+      if (!JS_IsNull (ctx->actor_sym)) {
+        int has = JS_HasPropertyKey (ctx, replaced_ref.val, ctx->actor_sym);
+        if (has > 0) adata = JS_GetPropertyKey (ctx, replaced_ref.val, ctx->actor_sym);
+      }
       if (!JS_IsNull (adata)) {
         nota_write_sym (&enc->nb, NOTA_PRIVATE);
         nota_encode_value (enc, adata, replaced_ref.val, JS_NULL);
+        JS_FreeValue (ctx, adata);
         break;
       }
+      JS_FreeValue (ctx, adata);
       if (nota_stack_has (enc, replaced_ref.val)) {
         enc->cycle = 1;
         break;
@@ -11872,6 +11896,10 @@ static void wota_encode_value (WotaEncodeContext *enc, JSValueConst val, JSValue
         break;
       }
       JSValue adata = JS_NULL;
+      if (!JS_IsNull (ctx->actor_sym)) {
+        int has = JS_HasPropertyKey (ctx, replaced, ctx->actor_sym);
+        if (has > 0) adata = JS_GetPropertyKey (ctx, replaced, ctx->actor_sym);
+      }
       if (!JS_IsNull (adata)) {
         wota_write_sym (&enc->wb, WOTA_PRIVATE);
         wota_encode_value (enc, adata, replaced, JS_NULL);
@@ -11928,9 +11956,15 @@ static char *decode_wota_value (JSContext *ctx, char *data_ptr, JSValue *out_val
       int scode;
       data_ptr = wota_read_sym (&scode, data_ptr);
       if (scode == WOTA_PRIVATE) {
-        JSValue inner = JS_NULL;
-        data_ptr = decode_wota_value (ctx, data_ptr, &inner, holder, JS_NULL, reviver);
+        JSGCRef inner_ref;
+        JS_PushGCRef (ctx, &inner_ref);
+        inner_ref.val = JS_NULL;
+        data_ptr = decode_wota_value (ctx, data_ptr, &inner_ref.val, holder, JS_NULL, reviver);
         JSValue obj = JS_NewObject (ctx);
+        if (!JS_IsNull (ctx->actor_sym))
+          JS_SetPropertyKey (ctx, obj, ctx->actor_sym, inner_ref.val);
+        JS_CellStone (ctx, obj);
+        JS_PopGCRef (ctx, &inner_ref);
         *out_val = obj;
       } else if (scode == WOTA_NULL) *out_val = JS_NULL;
       else if (scode == WOTA_FALSE) *out_val = JS_NewBool (ctx, 0);