diff --git a/runs/offload-test.test.ts b/runs/offload-test.test.ts
index 2c67090..3e3b306 100644
--- a/runs/offload-test.test.ts
+++ b/runs/offload-test.test.ts
@@ -787,6 +787,36 @@ describe("offload-test staged mode", () => {
     },
   );
 
+  it.effect("a dead stage's marker keeps the platform's own incident id", () => {
+    const { layer, handles } = makeCFRuntimeTest({
+      sandboxProgram: {
+        // What a dying container actually reports. The class is the half a
+        // consumer can already infer; the reference is the half only the
+        // platform's operator can act on, and it used to be dropped.
+        "run-a": {
+          fail: "ExecFailed",
+          exitCode: -1,
+          stderrTail: "exec failed (exit -1): internal error; reference = aggq3f5m407e2vb2ht76l2vf",
+        },
+      },
+      config: {
+        "offload-test.stages:owner/name": "a",
+        "offload-test.command:owner/name:a": "run-a",
+      },
+    });
+
+    return Effect.gen(function* () {
+      yield* Effect.exit(offloadTest.run(webhookInput));
+      const markerWrite = handles.sandbox.execs.find((e) => e.command.includes("stage=a"));
+      expect(markerWrite?.command).toContain("reference=aggq3f5m407e2vb2ht76l2vf");
+      // Shell-safe by construction: whatever lands after `reference=` is drawn
+      // from `[A-Za-z0-9_-]` only, so no vendor text can close the quote the
+      // marker is printed inside.
+      const id = /reference=([^\s']*)/.exec(markerWrite?.command ?? "")?.[1];
+      expect(id).toMatch(/^[A-Za-z0-9_-]+$/);
+    }).pipe(Effect.provide(layer));
+  });
+
   it.effect(
     "an Action dispatch that passes `command` stays single-exec even with stages set",
     () => {
diff --git a/runs/offload-test.ts b/runs/offload-test.ts
index 943f6e1..4b65956 100644
--- a/runs/offload-test.ts
+++ b/runs/offload-test.ts
@@ -805,9 +805,29 @@ export const offloadTest = defineRun({
               });
               const elapsedMs = (yield* io.now) - stageStartMs;
               const elapsedS = Math.round(elapsedMs / 1000);
-              // Label (STAGE_LABEL_RE), tag, and number only — shell-quote-safe
-              // by construction.
-              const markerLine = `stage=${stage.label} error=${errorClass} elapsedMs=${elapsedMs}`;
+              // Label (STAGE_LABEL_RE), tag, numbers, and — when the platform
+              // supplied one — its own incident id.
+              //
+              // `ExecFailed: exec failed (exit -1): internal error; reference =
+              // aggq3f5m407e2vb2ht76l2vf` is what a dying container reports, and
+              // that reference is the only thing that identifies the incident to
+              // the platform's operator. The marker used to record the CLASS and
+              // drop the id, which is the half a consumer can already infer from
+              // the fact that their stage died.
+              //
+              // EXTRACTED, not interpolated: the marker is shell-quoted into a
+              // `printf '%s\n' '<line>'`, so free vendor text could close the
+              // quote. A `[A-Za-z0-9_-]` id and a signed integer cannot.
+              const rendered = Option.match(Cause.failureOption(exit.cause), {
+                onSome: (f) => `${String((f as { cause?: unknown }).cause ?? "")} ${String((f as { message?: unknown }).message ?? "")}`,
+                onNone: () => "",
+              });
+              const reference = /reference\s*=\s*([A-Za-z0-9_-]{1,64})/.exec(rendered)?.[1];
+              const platformExit = /exit\s+(-?\d{1,5})\)/.exec(rendered)?.[1];
+              const markerLine =
+                `stage=${stage.label} error=${errorClass} elapsedMs=${elapsedMs}` +
+                (platformExit !== undefined ? ` exit=${platformExit}` : "") +
+                (reference !== undefined ? ` reference=${reference}` : "");
               // The marker rides the marker exec's OWN log stream: `sandbox.exec`
               // streams stdout to an R2 log key and returns it as `logPath`, so
               // uploading THAT key in R2-source mode (no `container` — same mode