diff --git a/engine/sdks/typescript/runner/src/mod.ts b/engine/sdks/typescript/runner/src/mod.ts
index 724f8ecd49..c8ee1ad8ad 100644
--- a/engine/sdks/typescript/runner/src/mod.ts
+++ b/engine/sdks/typescript/runner/src/mod.ts
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import { stringifyToClient, stringifyToServer } from "./stringify";
 import { type HibernatingWebSocketMetadata, Tunnel } from "./tunnel";
 import {
 	calculateBackoff,
+	idToStr,
 	parseWebSocketCloseReason,
 	stringifyError,
 	unreachable,
@@ -323,24 +324,42 @@ export class Runner {
 	}
 
 	async forceStopActor(actorId: string, generation?: number) {
-		this.log?.debug({
+		this.log?.info({
 			msg: "force stopping actor",
 			actorId,
+			generation,
 		});
 
 		const actor = this.getActor(actorId, generation);
-		if (!actor) return;
+		if (!actor) {
+			this.log?.info({
+				msg: "force stop: actor not found, skipping",
+				actorId,
+				generation,
+			});
+			return;
+		}
 
 		// If onActorStop times out, Pegboard will handle this timeout with ACTOR_STOP_THRESHOLD_DURATION_MS
 		//
 		// If we receive a request while onActorStop is running, a Service
 		// Unavailable error will be returned to Guard and the request will be
 		// retried
+		this.log?.info({
+			msg: "force stop: calling onActorStop",
+			actorId,
+			generation: actor.generation,
+		});
 		try {
 			await this.#config.onActorStop(actorId, actor.generation);
 		} catch (err) {
 			console.error(`Error in onActorStop for actor ${actorId}:`, err);
 		}
+		this.log?.info({
+			msg: "force stop: onActorStop complete",
+			actorId,
+			generation: actor.generation,
+		});
 
 		// Close requests after onActorStop so you can send messages over the tunnel
 		this.#tunnel?.closeActiveRequests(actor);
@@ -350,6 +369,11 @@ export class Runner {
 		// Remove actor after stopping in order to ensure that we can still
 		// call actions on the runner
 		this.#removeActor(actorId, generation);
+		this.log?.info({
+			msg: "force stop: actor removed",
+			actorId,
+			generation: actor.generation,
+		});
 	}
 
 	#handleLost() {
@@ -1006,6 +1030,17 @@ export class Runner {
 
 		for (const commandWrapper of commands) {
 			if (commandWrapper.inner.tag === "CommandStartActor") {
+				const startCmd = commandWrapper.inner.val as protocol.CommandStartActor;
+				this.log?.info({
+					msg: "raw CommandStartActor from engine",
+					actorId: commandWrapper.checkpoint.actorId,
+					generation: commandWrapper.checkpoint.generation,
+					actorName: startCmd.config.name,
+					hibernatingRequestCount: startCmd.hibernatingRequests.length,
+					hibernatingRequestIds: startCmd.hibernatingRequests.map(
+						(hr) => `${idToStr(hr.gatewayId)}:${idToStr(hr.requestId)}`
+					),
+				});
 				// Spawn background promise
 				this.#handleCommandStartActor(commandWrapper).catch((err) => {
 					this.log?.error({
@@ -1154,24 +1189,44 @@ export class Runner {
 			hibernatingRequests: startCommand.hibernatingRequests.length,
 		});
 
+		// Log each hibernating request from the engine for debugging
+		for (const hr of startCommand.hibernatingRequests) {
+			this.log?.info({
+				msg: "engine provided hibernating request",
+				actorId,
+				gatewayId: idToStr(hr.gatewayId),
+				requestId: idToStr(hr.requestId),
+			});
+		}
+
 		this.#sendActorStateUpdate(actorId, generation, "running");
 
 		try {
 			// TODO: Add timeout to onActorStart
 			// Call onActorStart asynchronously and handle errors
-			this.log?.debug({
+			this.log?.info({
 				msg: "calling onActorStart",
 				actorId,
 				generation,
 			});
+			const startTime = performance.now();
 			await this.#config.onActorStart(actorId, generation, actorConfig);
+			const startDurationMs = performance.now() - startTime;
+
+			this.log?.info({
+				msg: "onActorStart complete",
+				actorId,
+				generation,
+				startDurationMs: Math.round(startDurationMs),
+			});
 
 			instance.actorStartPromise.resolve();
 		} catch (err) {
 			this.log?.error({
 				msg: "error starting runner actor",
 				actorId,
-				err,
+				generation,
+				err: stringifyError(err),
 			});
 
 			instance.actorStartPromise.reject(err);
diff --git a/engine/sdks/typescript/runner/src/tunnel.ts b/engine/sdks/typescript/runner/src/tunnel.ts
index ad2b650e74..28f44d90de 100644
--- a/engine/sdks/typescript/runner/src/tunnel.ts
+++ b/engine/sdks/typescript/runner/src/tunnel.ts
@@ -1124,6 +1124,26 @@ export class Tunnel {
 		if (actor) {
 			const adapter = actor.getWebSocket(gatewayId, requestId);
 			if (adapter) {
+				// For hibernatable connections that receive a downstream
+				// close (e.g. tunnel ping timeout during migration), skip
+				// the user-facing close event so the connection state stays
+				// persisted in KV. The next runner will restore it.
+				if (
+					adapter[HIBERNATABLE_SYMBOL] &&
+					close.reason === "ws.downstream_closed"
+				) {
+					this.log?.info({
+						msg: "skipping close for hibernatable connection with downstream_closed, preserving KV",
+						requestId: idToStr(requestId),
+						code: close.code,
+						reason: close.reason,
+					});
+					actor.deleteWebSocket(gatewayId, requestId);
+					actor.deletePendingRequest(gatewayId, requestId);
+					this.#removeRequestToActor(gatewayId, requestId);
+					return;
+				}
+
 				// We don't need to send a close response
 				adapter._handleClose(
 					requestId,
diff --git a/engine/sdks/typescript/runner/src/websocket-tunnel-adapter.ts b/engine/sdks/typescript/runner/src/websocket-tunnel-adapter.ts
index a40f0830d9..3275ac7c82 100644
--- a/engine/sdks/typescript/runner/src/websocket-tunnel-adapter.ts
+++ b/engine/sdks/typescript/runner/src/websocket-tunnel-adapter.ts
@@ -138,19 +138,15 @@ export class WebSocketTunnelAdapter {
 
 			const expectedIndex = wrappingAddU16(previousIndex, 1);
 			if (serverMessageIndex !== expectedIndex) {
-				const closeReason = "ws.message_index_skip";
 				this.#log?.warn({
-					msg: "hibernatable websocket message index out of sequence, closing connection",
+					msg: "hibernatable websocket message index out of sequence",
 					requestId,
 					actorId: this.#actorId,
 					previousIndex,
 					expectedIndex,
 					receivedIndex: serverMessageIndex,
-					closeReason,
 					gap: wrappingSubU16(wrappingSubU16(serverMessageIndex, previousIndex), 1),
 				});
-				this.#close(1008, closeReason, true);
-				return true;
 			}
 
 			this.#serverMessageIndex = serverMessageIndex;
diff --git a/rivetkit-typescript/packages/rivetkit/src/actor/instance/state-manager.ts b/rivetkit-typescript/packages/rivetkit/src/actor/instance/state-manager.ts
index 98a7841793..9792a5cdc6 100644
--- a/rivetkit-typescript/packages/rivetkit/src/actor/instance/state-manager.ts
+++ b/rivetkit-typescript/packages/rivetkit/src/actor/instance/state-manager.ts
@@ -216,7 +216,10 @@ export class StateManager<
 	async saveState(opts: SaveStateOptions): Promise<void> {
 		this.#actor.assertReady();
 
-		if (this.#persistChanged) {
+		const hasChanges =
+			this.#persistChanged ||
+			this.#actor.connectionManager.connsWithPersistChanged.size > 0;
+		if (hasChanges) {
 			if (opts.immediate) {
 				await this.#savePersistInner();
 			} else {