diff --git a/src/engine/arcan_conductor.c b/src/engine/arcan_conductor.c
index f3c8c19be..a85dd0573 100644
--- a/src/engine/arcan_conductor.c
+++ b/src/engine/arcan_conductor.c
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 /* defined in platform.h, used in psep open, shared memory */
 _Atomic uint64_t* volatile arcan_watchdog_ping = NULL;
 static size_t gpu_lock_bitmap;
+static int reset_counter;
 
 void arcan_conductor_enable_watchdog()
 {
@@ -251,6 +252,7 @@ void arcan_conductor_register_frameserver(struct arcan_frameserver* fsrv)
 {
 	size_t dst_i = 0;
 	alloc_frameserver_struct();
+	fsrv->desc.recovery_tick = reset_counter;
 
 /* safeguard */
 	ssize_t src_i = find_frameserver(fsrv);
@@ -591,6 +593,13 @@ bool arcan_conductor_valid_cycle()
 	return valid_cycle;
 }
 
+int arcan_conductor_reset_count(bool step)
+{
+	if (step)
+		reset_counter++;
+	return reset_counter;
+}
+
 static int trigger_video_synch(float frag)
 {
 	conductor.set_deadline = -1;
diff --git a/src/engine/arcan_conductor.h b/src/engine/arcan_conductor.h
index 23b8f76d0..8f91509eb 100644
--- a/src/engine/arcan_conductor.h
+++ b/src/engine/arcan_conductor.h
@@ -117,6 +117,8 @@ void arcan_conductor_setsynch(const char* arg);
 void arcan_conductor_fakesynch(uint8_t left_ms);
 
 #ifndef VIDEO_PLATFORM_IMPL
+int arcan_conductor_reset_count(bool step);
+
 /* Update the priority target to match the specified frameserver. This
  * means that heuristics driving synchronization will be biased towards
  * letting the specific fsrv align synchronization - if the synchronization
diff --git a/src/engine/arcan_frameserver.h b/src/engine/arcan_frameserver.h
index c7362250b..d8bf09a33 100644
--- a/src/engine/arcan_frameserver.h
+++ b/src/engine/arcan_frameserver.h
@@ -93,6 +93,16 @@ struct arcan_frameserver_meta {
 	unsigned long long framecount;
 	unsigned long long dropcount;
 	unsigned long long lastpts;
+
+/* This one was added to have a way to mark objects that were created in the
+ * main entrypoint of the lua scripts (that run before _adopt) but in recovery
+ * would still be exposed to adopt. If the developer would reject it there
+ * (from not implementing the handler or doing it in a contrived way) the
+ * frameserver would be immediately destroyed, causing a fs- race condition.
+ *
+ * This counter indicates which recovery- window the object was created in,
+ * so that the automatic deletion facility does not kill it off prematurely. */
+	 unsigned recovery_tick;
 };
 
 struct frameserver_audsrc {
diff --git a/src/engine/arcan_lua.c b/src/engine/arcan_lua.c
index c4791259d..e173f8173 100644
--- a/src/engine/arcan_lua.c
+++ b/src/engine/arcan_lua.c
@@ -711,6 +711,7 @@ void arcan_lua_adopt(struct arcan_luactx* ctx)
 
 	arcan_vobj_id delids[n_fsrv];
 	size_t delcount = 0;
+	int tc = arcan_conductor_reset_count(false);
 
 /* three: forward to adopt function (or delete) */
 	for (count = 0; count < n_fsrv; count++){
@@ -722,6 +723,12 @@ void arcan_lua_adopt(struct arcan_luactx* ctx)
 		fsrv->tag = LUA_NOREF;
 
 		bool delete = true;
+
+/* use this to determine if the frameserver was created in the appl entry
+ * and thus should not be exposed as an adopt handler */
+		if (fsrv->desc.recovery_tick == tc)
+			continue;
+
 		if (alt_lookup_entry(ctx, "adopt", sizeof("adopt") - 1) &&
 			arcan_video_getobject(ids[count]) != NULL){
 			lua_pushvid(ctx, vobj->cellid);
diff --git a/src/engine/arcan_main.c b/src/engine/arcan_main.c
index e6aba1037..a749830a1 100644
--- a/src/engine/arcan_main.c
+++ b/src/engine/arcan_main.c
@@ -590,6 +590,7 @@ int MAIN_REDIR(int argc, char* argv[])
  * invoke adopt() in the script
  */
 	bool adopt = false, in_recover = false;
+
 	int jumpcode = setjmp(arcanmain_recover_state);
 	int saved, truncated;
 
@@ -599,6 +600,7 @@ int MAIN_REDIR(int argc, char* argv[])
 /* close down the database and reinitialize with the name of the new appl */
 		arcan_db_close(&dbhandle);
 		arcan_db_set_shared(NULL);
+		arcan_conductor_reset_count(true);
 
 		dbhandle = arcan_db_open(dbfname, arcan_appl_id());
 		if (!dbhandle)
@@ -669,6 +671,7 @@ int MAIN_REDIR(int argc, char* argv[])
 			goto error;
 		}
 
+		arcan_conductor_reset_count(true);
 		arcan_event_maskall(evctx);
 		arcan_video_recoverexternal(true, &saved, &truncated, NULL, NULL);
 		arcan_event_clearmask(evctx);