diff --git a/packages/cli/src/commands/snapshot.test.ts b/packages/cli/src/commands/snapshot.test.ts
index df0413aa02..f26176f050 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/commands/snapshot.test.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/commands/snapshot.test.ts
@@ -1027,3 +1027,37 @@ describe("snapshot composite recapture", () => {
     expect(finalCapture).toBeGreaterThan(recapture);
   });
 });
+
+describe("snapshot media identity", () => {
+  it("keys two videos that share an author id apart, as the render path does", async () => {
+    const project = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), "hf-snapshot-dup-ids-"));
+    const clip = (src: string) =>
+      `<video id="clip" class="clip" src="${src}" data-start="0" data-duration="4" muted></video>`;
+    writeFileSync(
+      join(project, "index.html"),
+      `<html><body><div data-composition-id="main" data-width="1920" data-height="1080" data-duration="4">` +
+        `${clip("a.mp4")}${clip("b.mp4")}</div></body></html>`,
+    );
+    snapshotState.openSettledPage.mockClear();
+    const log = vi.spyOn(console, "log").mockImplementation(() => undefined);
+
+    try {
+      await expect(
+        snapshotCommand.run?.({
+          args: { dir: project, at: "1", end: false, output: join(project, "out") },
+        } as never),
+      ).rejects.toBeDefined();
+      const [html, , options] = snapshotState.openSettledPage.mock.calls[0] as unknown as [
+        string,
+        string,
+        { beforeNavigate?: unknown },
+      ];
+      expect(html).toContain('data-hf-render-id="clip"');
+      expect(html).toContain('data-hf-render-id="clip__hf2"');
+      expect(typeof options.beforeNavigate).toBe("function");
+    } finally {
+      log.mockRestore();
+      rmSync(project, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    }
+  });
+});
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/commands/snapshot.ts b/packages/cli/src/commands/snapshot.ts
index e382eeabed..2b693c8305 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/commands/snapshot.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/commands/snapshot.ts
@@ -36,13 +36,17 @@ import {
   type ZoomTarget,
 } from "../capture/captureCompositionFrame.js";
 import {
+  assignMediaRenderIds,
   isClipVisibleAt,
   isInClipWindow,
+  MEDIA_RENDER_ID_ATTR,
   readElementRateSpec,
   sourceTimeAt,
   timeAtSourceTime,
   type RateSpec,
 } from "@hyperframes/core";
+import { parseHTML } from "linkedom";
+import type { Page } from "puppeteer-core";
 import { resolveProject } from "../utils/project.js";
 import {
   definitiveEntryMismatchComposition,
@@ -491,6 +495,18 @@ export function serveCapturePage(projectDir: string, html: string, proxy: boolea
   return serveStaticProjectHtml(projectDir, html, undefined, [], proxy === true);
 }
 
+/** Two clips sharing an author id must stay two frames, keyed as the render path keys them. */
+function withMediaRenderIds(html: string): string {
+  const { document } = parseHTML(html);
+  assignMediaRenderIds(document);
+  return document.toString();
+}
+
+async function installMediaRenderIdBridge(page: Page): Promise<void> {
+  const engine = await import("@hyperframes/engine").catch(() => null);
+  await engine?.installMediaRenderIdBridge(page);
+}
+
 /**
  * Render key frames from a composition as PNG screenshots.
  * The agent can Read these to verify its output visually.
@@ -541,7 +557,7 @@ async function captureSnapshots(
 
   // Localize fonts (embed remote @font-face as data URIs, matching the render
   // path) so snapshots render the real font instead of a fallback sans.
-  const html = await bundleWithLocalizedFonts(projectDir);
+  const html = withMediaRenderIds(await bundleWithLocalizedFonts(projectDir));
   const server = await serveCapturePage(projectDir, html, opts.autoProxy);
 
   const savedPaths: string[] = [];
@@ -555,6 +571,7 @@ async function captureSnapshots(
       renderReadyTimeoutMs: opts.timeout ?? 5000,
       renderReadyWarningSuffix: "snapshots may be inaccurate",
       browserGpuMode: opts.browserGpuMode,
+      beforeNavigate: installMediaRenderIdBridge,
     });
 
     try {
@@ -755,7 +772,7 @@ async function captureSnapshots(
         if (cameraExpr) await page.evaluate(cameraExpr);
 
         if (injectVideoFramesBatch && syncVideoFrameVisibility) {
-          const candidates = await page.evaluate(() => {
+          const candidates = await page.evaluate((renderIdAttr: string) => {
             const runtimeWindow = window as Window & {
               __hfResolveMediaStartSeconds?: (element: Element) => number;
             };
@@ -769,7 +786,7 @@ async function captureSnapshots(
               const rawDuration = parseFloat(v.dataset.duration ?? "");
               const srcDur = Number.isFinite(v.duration) && v.duration > 0 ? v.duration : 0;
               return {
-                id: v.id,
+                id: v.getAttribute(renderIdAttr) || v.id,
                 src: v.currentSrc || v.src,
                 authoredStart,
                 authoredRate: v.dataset.playbackRate,
@@ -788,7 +805,7 @@ async function captureSnapshots(
                 devicePixelRatio: window.devicePixelRatio,
               };
             });
-          });
+          }, MEDIA_RENDER_ID_ATTR);
           const compositionDuration = duration;
           const active = candidates.flatMap((candidate) => {
             const start = resolveSnapshotVideoClipStart(candidate);
diff --git a/packages/engine/src/index.ts b/packages/engine/src/index.ts
index 9d5a4aac57..fab66385fb 100644
--- a/packages/engine/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/engine/src/index.ts
@@ -173,6 +173,7 @@ export {
   DOM_LAYER_MASK_STYLE_ID,
   type BeginFrameResult,
 } from "./services/screenshotService.js";
+export { installMediaRenderIdBridge } from "./services/mediaRenderIdBridge.js";
 
 // ── Encoding ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 export {
diff --git a/packages/engine/src/services/screenshotService.test.ts b/packages/engine/src/services/screenshotService.test.ts
index 9fd1d9a0bb..ea0725c698 100644
--- a/packages/engine/src/services/screenshotService.test.ts
+++ b/packages/engine/src/services/screenshotService.test.ts
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ import {
   initTransparentBackground,
   DOM_LAYER_MASK_STYLE_ID,
 } from "./screenshotService.js";
+import { installMediaRenderIdBridge } from "./mediaRenderIdBridge.js";
 
 // These DOM tests isolate layout/decode from the CDP transport, exercised in Chrome separately.
 vi.mock("./videoFrameTransport.js", () => ({
@@ -621,6 +622,33 @@ describe("video-frame injection respects ancestor visibility", () => {
     expect(seededImg.style.visibility).toBe("hidden");
   });
 
+  it("keeps a frame injected by render id visible through the sync, as snapshot calls them", async () => {
+    const { teardown, setup } = withGlobals(
+      setupHostHiddenScenario({}, { hostAttribute: "data-start" }),
+    );
+    setup.video.setAttribute("data-hf-render-id", "pip__hf2");
+    try {
+      await installMediaRenderIdBridge({
+        evaluateOnNewDocument: async (fn: (...args: unknown[]) => unknown, ...args: unknown[]) =>
+          fn(...args),
+      } as unknown as Page);
+      await injectVideoFramesBatch(passthroughPage(), [
+        {
+          videoId: "pip__hf2",
+          dataUri:
+            "data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAQAAAC1HAwCAAAAC0lEQVR42mNkAAIAAAoAAv/lxKUAAAAASUVORK5CYII=",
+        },
+      ]);
+      await syncVideoFrameVisibility(passthroughPage(), ["pip__hf2"]);
+    } finally {
+      teardown();
+    }
+
+    const img = setup.video.nextElementSibling as HTMLElement | null;
+    expect(img?.classList.contains("__render_frame__")).toBe(true);
+    expect(img?.style.visibility).toBe("visible");
+  });
+
   it("syncVideoFrameVisibility hides the replacement <img> for ancestor-hidden actives", async () => {
     const { teardown, setup } = withGlobals(setupHostHiddenScenario({ visibility: "hidden" }));
     const seededImg = setup.document.createElement("img");
diff --git a/packages/engine/src/services/screenshotService.ts b/packages/engine/src/services/screenshotService.ts
index d702f8bf17..abf1bac548 100644
--- a/packages/engine/src/services/screenshotService.ts
+++ b/packages/engine/src/services/screenshotService.ts
@@ -889,7 +889,7 @@ export async function syncVideoFrameVisibility(
         const img = video.nextElementSibling as HTMLElement | null;
         const hasImg = img && img.classList.contains("__render_frame__");
         const ancestorHidden = isVisualAncestorHidden(video);
-        const visible = active.has(video.id) && !ancestorHidden;
+        const visible = active.has(window.__hfMediaId?.(video) || video.id) && !ancestorHidden;
         if (visible) {
           // Active video: show injected <img>, hide native <video>.
           // Do NOT clobber inline opacity here — GSAP-controlled opacity must