diff --git a/tl/src/tl/scene.cljs b/tl/src/tl/scene.cljs
index ce5cb37..77356cf 100644
--- a/tl/src/tl/scene.cljs
+++ b/tl/src/tl/scene.cljs
@@ -248,7 +248,11 @@
     at))
 
 (defn- restore-mark [m]
+  ;; keep :id keyworded in lockstep with the refs that target it: a nested
+  ;; annotation's :ref is another mark's :id, and JSON makes both strings — if we
+  ;; keyword one but not the other they stop matching (ref looks "deleted").
   (cond-> m
+    (:id m)                  (update :id keyword)
     (get-in m [:start :ref]) (update-in [:start :ref] keyword)
     (get-in m [:end :ref])   (update-in [:end :ref] keyword)
     (:track m)               (update :track keyword)))
diff --git a/tl/test/tl/scene_test.cljs b/tl/test/tl/scene_test.cljs
index f44cb99..3e1b4af 100644
--- a/tl/test/tl/scene_test.cljs
+++ b/tl/test/tl/scene_test.cljs
@@ -249,6 +249,32 @@
       (let [scene (assoc-in base [:groups :ann-1] g)]
         (is (= [0 100] (:src (first (s/resolve scene :ann-1)))))))))
 
+(defn- json-roundtrip [x]
+  (js->clj (js/JSON.parse (js/JSON.stringify (clj->js x))) :keywordize-keys true))
+
+(deftest annotations-survive-json-roundtrip
+  (testing "restore-annotations is the exact inverse of the JSON wire trip — guards
+            against any keyword-valued field (id/ref/type/parent/track) being missed"
+    (let [anns {:ann-p {:type :annotation :parent :root :name "p" :color "#abc" :content "hi"
+                        :marks [{:id :m-1 :start {:ref :clip-a :at 0} :end {:ref :clip-a :at -1} :track :t0}]}
+                :ann-c {:type :annotation :parent :ann-p :name "c"
+                        :marks [{:id :m-2 :start {:ref :m-1 :at 0} :end {:ref :m-1 :at 5}}]}}]
+      (is (= anns (s/restore-annotations (json-roundtrip anns)))))))
+
+(deftest restore-keeps-nested-refs-matching-ids
+  (testing "a nested annotation's ref to a parent mark survives JSON (id + ref both keyworded)"
+    (let [json-anns {:ann-p {:type "annotation" :parent "root"
+                             :marks [{:id "m-parent" :start {:ref "clip-a" :at 0}
+                                              :end {:ref "clip-a" :at -1}}]}
+                     :ann-c {:type "annotation" :parent "ann-p"
+                             :marks [{:id "m-child" :start {:ref "m-parent" :at 0}
+                                              :end {:ref "m-parent" :at 50}}]}}
+          scene (update base :groups merge (s/restore-annotations json-anns))]
+      (is (= :m-parent (get-in scene [:groups :ann-p :marks 0 :id])))           ; id keyworded
+      (is (= :m-parent (get-in scene [:groups :ann-c :marks 0 :start :ref])))   ; ref keyworded to match
+      (is (empty? (s/broken-marks scene :ann-c)))                              ; so it isn't "deleted"
+      (is (= [0 50] (:src (first (s/resolve scene :ann-c))))))))
+
 (deftest marks-to-rows-normalises-frames
   (testing "marks->rows is 1:1 with marks and normalises :at -1 to the length"
     (let [rows (s/marks->rows base [{:id :m :start {:ref :clip-a :at 0}