---
title: MARKLESS_STATE_ELEMENT_HANDLE_UNSERIALIZABLE
description: "element() handles cannot be stored in state: a Markless compiler error."
sidebar: { hidden: true }
search: { keywords: ["STATE_ELEMENT_HANDLE_UNSERIALIZABLE","state element handle unserializable","markless error"] }
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---

**Error** from the compiler, while it builds your `.tsrx` files.

## What happened

Markless prints the message, the reason, and a suggestion:

```text
MARKLESS_STATE_ELEMENT_HANDLE_UNSERIALIZABLE: Cannot store element handle "<handleName>" in state "<stateName>" because element handles are DOM locators, not serializable graph data.
state() values are serialized into markless/state and resumed without running component bodies. An element() handle resolves through DOM locator metadata and must stay outside serialized graph state.
Keep element handles in element() bindings and bind them with el={handle}. Store serializable ids, flags, or data in state() instead.
https://markless.dev/errors/MARKLESS_STATE_ELEMENT_HANDLE_UNSERIALIZABLE
```

Words in angle brackets change from case to case.

## How to fix it

Start with the suggestion in the message above.

This page has no guide yet. [Help write it](/contributing/improve-these-docs).

## Where it comes from

`@markless/compiler` raises this code. Source:

- [packages/compiler/src/passes/semantic-graph/diagnostics.ts](https://github.com/compiled-run/markless/blob/main/packages/compiler/src/passes/semantic-graph/diagnostics.ts)
- [packages/compiler/src/passes/state-lowering.ts](https://github.com/compiled-run/markless/blob/main/packages/compiler/src/passes/state-lowering.ts)

Read [how to read a Markless error](/tooling/diagnostics), or go back to [all error codes](/errors).