diff --git a/d2graph/serde.go b/d2graph/serde.go
index 638e2bc82..6b46a2697 100644
--- a/d2graph/serde.go
+++ b/d2graph/serde.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package d2graph
 
 import (
 	"encoding/json"
+	"strings"
 
 	"oss.terrastruct.com/util-go/go2"
 )
@@ -48,7 +49,7 @@ func DeserializeGraph(bytes []byte, g *Graph) error {
 			for _, id := range so["ChildrenArray"].([]interface{}) {
 				o := idToObj[id.(string)]
 				childrenArray = append(childrenArray, o)
-				children[o.IDVal] = o
+				children[strings.ToLower(o.IDVal)] = o
 
 				o.Parent = idToObj[so["AbsID"].(string)]
 			}
diff --git a/d2graph/serde_test.go b/d2graph/serde_test.go
index e882c8fba..9d52b91f7 100644
--- a/d2graph/serde_test.go
+++ b/d2graph/serde_test.go
@@ -17,25 +17,19 @@ func TestSerialization(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.Nil(t, err)
 
 	asserts := func(g *d2graph.Graph) {
+		a := g.Root.ChildrenArray[0]
+		a_a := a.ChildrenArray[0]
+
 		assert.Equal(t, 4, len(g.Objects))
 		assert.Equal(t, 1, len(g.Root.ChildrenArray))
-		assert.Equal(t, 1, len(g.Root.ChildrenArray[0].ChildrenArray))
-		assert.Equal(t, 2, len(g.Root.ChildrenArray[0].ChildrenArray[0].ChildrenArray))
-		assert.Equal(t,
-			g.Root.ChildrenArray[0],
-			g.Root.ChildrenArray[0].ChildrenArray[0].Parent,
-		)
+		assert.Equal(t, 1, len(a.ChildrenArray))
+		assert.Equal(t, 2, len(a_a.ChildrenArray))
+		assert.Equal(t, a, a_a.Parent)
+		assert.Equal(t, g.Root, a.Parent)
 
-		assert.Equal(t,
-			g.Root,
-			g.Root.ChildrenArray[0].Parent,
-		)
-
-		a := g.Root.ChildrenArray[0]
-		aa := a.ChildrenArray[0]
 		assert.Contains(t, a.Children, "a")
-		assert.Contains(t, aa.Children, "b")
-		assert.Contains(t, aa.Children, "c")
+		assert.Contains(t, a_a.Children, "b")
+		assert.Contains(t, a_a.Children, "c")
 
 		assert.Equal(t, 1, len(g.Edges))
 		assert.Equal(t, "b", g.Edges[0].Src.ID)