diff --git a/dotnet/src/Microsoft.AutoGen/Microsoft.AutoGen.Runtime.Grpc/AgentStateGrain.cs b/dotnet/src/Microsoft.AutoGen/Microsoft.AutoGen.Runtime.Grpc/AgentStateGrain.cs
index c6b2db205a37..a3fac39e21d9 100644
--- a/dotnet/src/Microsoft.AutoGen/Microsoft.AutoGen.Runtime.Grpc/AgentStateGrain.cs
+++ b/dotnet/src/Microsoft.AutoGen/Microsoft.AutoGen.Runtime.Grpc/AgentStateGrain.cs
@@ -1,11 +1,12 @@
 // Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
 // AgentStateGrain.cs
 
+using System.Data;
 using Microsoft.AutoGen.Abstractions;
 
 namespace Microsoft.AutoGen.Runtime.Grpc;
 
-internal sealed class AgentStateGrain([PersistentState("state", "AgentStateStore")] IPersistentState<AgentState> state) : Grain
+internal sealed class AgentStateGrain([PersistentState("state", "AgentStateStore")] IPersistentState<AgentState> state) : Grain, IAgentGrain
 {
     /// <inheritdoc />
     public async ValueTask<string> WriteStateAsync(AgentState newState, string eTag/*, CancellationToken cancellationToken = default*/)
@@ -22,7 +23,7 @@ public async ValueTask<string> WriteStateAsync(AgentState newState, string eTag/
         else
         {
             //TODO - this is probably not the correct behavior to just throw - I presume we want to somehow let the caller know that the state has changed and they need to re-read it
-            throw new ArgumentException(
+            throw new DBConcurrencyException(
                 "The provided ETag does not match the current ETag. The state has been modified by another request.");
         }
         return state.Etag;
@@ -34,3 +35,9 @@ public ValueTask<AgentState> ReadStateAsync(/*CancellationToken cancellationToke
         return ValueTask.FromResult(state.State);
     }
 }
+
+internal interface IAgentGrain : IGrainWithStringKey
+{
+    ValueTask<AgentState> ReadStateAsync();
+    ValueTask<string> WriteStateAsync(AgentState state, string eTag);
+}
diff --git a/dotnet/src/Microsoft.AutoGen/Microsoft.AutoGen.Runtime.Grpc/GrpcGateway.cs b/dotnet/src/Microsoft.AutoGen/Microsoft.AutoGen.Runtime.Grpc/GrpcGateway.cs
index 980be774198f..613637295623 100644
--- a/dotnet/src/Microsoft.AutoGen/Microsoft.AutoGen.Runtime.Grpc/GrpcGateway.cs
+++ b/dotnet/src/Microsoft.AutoGen/Microsoft.AutoGen.Runtime.Grpc/GrpcGateway.cs
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@ public sealed class GrpcGateway : BackgroundService, IGateway
     private static readonly TimeSpan s_agentResponseTimeout = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(30);
     private readonly ILogger<GrpcGateway> _logger;
     private readonly IClusterClient _clusterClient;
-    private readonly ConcurrentDictionary<string, AgentState> _agentState = new();
     private readonly IRegistryGrain _gatewayRegistry;
     private readonly IGateway _reference;
 
@@ -60,12 +59,18 @@ protected override async Task ExecuteAsync(CancellationToken stoppingToken)
         }
     }
 
-    internal Task ConnectToWorkerProcess(IAsyncStreamReader<Message> requestStream, IServerStreamWriter<Message> responseStream, ServerCallContext context)
+    internal async Task ConnectToWorkerProcess(IAsyncStreamReader<Message> requestStream, IServerStreamWriter<Message> responseStream, ServerCallContext context)
     {
         _logger.LogInformation("Received new connection from {Peer}.", context.Peer);
         var workerProcess = new GrpcWorkerConnection(this, requestStream, responseStream, context);
         _workers[workerProcess] = workerProcess;
-        return workerProcess.Completion;
+        var completion = new TaskCompletionSource<Task>();
+        var _ = Task.Run(() =>
+        {
+            completion.SetResult(workerProcess.Connect());
+        });
+        
+        await completion.Task;
     }
 
     public async ValueTask BroadcastEvent(CloudEvent evt)
@@ -172,18 +177,16 @@ private static async Task InvokeRequestDelegate(GrpcWorkerConnection connection,
 
     public async ValueTask StoreAsync(AgentState value)
     {
-        var agentId = value.AgentId ?? throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(value.AgentId));
-        _agentState[agentId.Key] = value;
+        var agentState = _clusterClient.GetGrain<IAgentGrain>($"{value.AgentId.Type}:{value.AgentId.Key}");
+        await agentState.WriteStateAsync(value, value.ETag);
     }
 
     public async ValueTask<AgentState> ReadAsync(AgentId agentId)
     {
-        if (_agentState.TryGetValue(agentId.Key, out var state))
-        {
-            return state;
-        }
-        return new AgentState { AgentId = agentId };
+        var agentState = _clusterClient.GetGrain<IAgentGrain>($"{agentId.Type}:{agentId.Key}");
+        return await agentState.ReadStateAsync();
     }
+
     internal void OnRemoveWorkerProcess(GrpcWorkerConnection workerProcess)
     {
         _workers.TryRemove(workerProcess, out _);
@@ -208,7 +211,7 @@ internal void OnRemoveWorkerProcess(GrpcWorkerConnection workerProcess)
     public async ValueTask<RpcResponse> InvokeRequest(RpcRequest request, CancellationToken cancellationToken = default)
     {
         var agentId = (request.Target.Type, request.Target.Key);
-        if (!_agentDirectory.TryGetValue(agentId, out var connection) || connection.Completion.IsCompleted)
+        if (!_agentDirectory.TryGetValue(agentId, out var connection) || connection.Completion?.IsCompleted == true)
         {
             // Activate the agent on a compatible worker process.
             if (_supportedAgentTypes.TryGetValue(request.Target.Type, out var workers))
diff --git a/dotnet/src/Microsoft.AutoGen/Microsoft.AutoGen.Runtime.Grpc/GrpcWorkerConnection.cs b/dotnet/src/Microsoft.AutoGen/Microsoft.AutoGen.Runtime.Grpc/GrpcWorkerConnection.cs
index e9c77d1ede92..22e7bf7cba7e 100644
--- a/dotnet/src/Microsoft.AutoGen/Microsoft.AutoGen.Runtime.Grpc/GrpcWorkerConnection.cs
+++ b/dotnet/src/Microsoft.AutoGen/Microsoft.AutoGen.Runtime.Grpc/GrpcWorkerConnection.cs
@@ -10,13 +10,14 @@ namespace Microsoft.AutoGen.Runtime.Grpc;
 internal sealed class GrpcWorkerConnection : IAsyncDisposable
 {
     private static long s_nextConnectionId;
-    private readonly Task _readTask;
-    private readonly Task _writeTask;
+    private Task? _readTask;
+    private Task? _writeTask;
     private readonly string _connectionId = Interlocked.Increment(ref s_nextConnectionId).ToString();
     private readonly object _lock = new();
     private readonly HashSet<string> _supportedTypes = [];
     private readonly GrpcGateway _gateway;
     private readonly CancellationTokenSource _shutdownCancellationToken = new();
+    public Task? Completion { get; private set; }
 
     public GrpcWorkerConnection(GrpcGateway agentWorker, IAsyncStreamReader<Message> requestStream, IServerStreamWriter<Message> responseStream, ServerCallContext context)
     {
@@ -25,7 +26,10 @@ public GrpcWorkerConnection(GrpcGateway agentWorker, IAsyncStreamReader<Message>
         ResponseStream = responseStream;
         ServerCallContext = context;
         _outboundMessages = Channel.CreateUnbounded<Message>(new UnboundedChannelOptions { AllowSynchronousContinuations = true, SingleReader = true, SingleWriter = false });
+    }
 
+    public Task Connect()
+    {
         var didSuppress = false;
         if (!ExecutionContext.IsFlowSuppressed())
         {
@@ -46,7 +50,7 @@ public GrpcWorkerConnection(GrpcGateway agentWorker, IAsyncStreamReader<Message>
             }
         }
 
-        Completion = Task.WhenAll(_readTask, _writeTask);
+        return Completion = Task.WhenAll(_readTask, _writeTask);
     }
 
     public IAsyncStreamReader<Message> RequestStream { get; }
@@ -76,8 +80,6 @@ public async Task SendMessage(Message message)
         await _outboundMessages.Writer.WriteAsync(message).ConfigureAwait(false);
     }
 
-    public Task Completion { get; }
-
     public async Task RunReadPump()
     {
         await Task.CompletedTask.ConfigureAwait(ConfigureAwaitOptions.ForceYielding);
@@ -122,7 +124,10 @@ public async Task RunWritePump()
     public async ValueTask DisposeAsync()
     {
         _shutdownCancellationToken.Cancel();
-        await Completion.ConfigureAwait(ConfigureAwaitOptions.SuppressThrowing);
+        if (Completion is not null)
+        {
+            await Completion.ConfigureAwait(ConfigureAwaitOptions.SuppressThrowing);
+        }
     }
 
     public override string ToString() => $"Connection-{_connectionId}";
diff --git a/dotnet/test/Microsoft.AutoGen.Runtime.Grpc.Tests/GrpcGatewayServiceTests.cs b/dotnet/test/Microsoft.AutoGen.Runtime.Grpc.Tests/GrpcGatewayServiceTests.cs
index 6b496d58c409..f9991996c885 100644
--- a/dotnet/test/Microsoft.AutoGen.Runtime.Grpc.Tests/GrpcGatewayServiceTests.cs
+++ b/dotnet/test/Microsoft.AutoGen.Runtime.Grpc.Tests/GrpcGatewayServiceTests.cs
@@ -29,9 +29,20 @@ public async Task Test_OpenChannel()
         var requestStream = new TestAsyncStreamReader<Message>(callContext);
         var responseStream = new TestServerStreamWriter<Message>(callContext);
 
+        await service.RegisterAgent(new RegisterAgentTypeRequest { Type = nameof(PBAgent), RequestId = $"{Guid.NewGuid()}", Events = { "", "" } }, callContext);
+        await service.RegisterAgent(new RegisterAgentTypeRequest { Type = nameof(GMAgent), RequestId = $"{Guid.NewGuid()}", Events = { "", "" } }, callContext);
+
         await service.OpenChannel(requestStream, responseStream, callContext);
 
-        requestStream.AddMessage(new Message {  });
+        var bgEvent = new CloudEvent
+        {
+            Id = "1",
+            Source = "gh/repo/1",
+            Type = "test",
+
+        };
+
+        requestStream.AddMessage(new Message { CloudEvent = bgEvent });
 
         requestStream.Complete();
 
@@ -62,7 +73,7 @@ public async Task Test_GetState()
         var service = new GrpcGatewayService(gateway);
         var callContext = TestServerCallContext.Create();
 
-        var response = await service.GetState(new AgentId { }, callContext);
+        var response = await service.GetState(new AgentId { Key = "", Type = "" }, callContext);
 
         response.Should().NotBeNull();
     }
diff --git a/dotnet/test/Microsoft.AutoGen.Runtime.Grpc.Tests/GrpcGatewayTests.cs b/dotnet/test/Microsoft.AutoGen.Runtime.Grpc.Tests/GrpcGatewayTests.cs
index 2cb1a094c939..e92fdcde6483 100644
--- a/dotnet/test/Microsoft.AutoGen.Runtime.Grpc.Tests/GrpcGatewayTests.cs
+++ b/dotnet/test/Microsoft.AutoGen.Runtime.Grpc.Tests/GrpcGatewayTests.cs
@@ -29,7 +29,8 @@ public async Task TestBroadcastEvent()
 
         // 1. Register Agent
         // 2. Broadcast Event
-        // 3. 
+        // 3.
+       
         await gateway.BroadcastEvent(evt);
         //var registry = fixture.Registry;
         //var subscriptions = fixture.Subscriptions;
diff --git a/dotnet/test/Microsoft.AutoGen.Runtime.Grpc.Tests/Helpers/Orleans/SiloBuilderConfigurator.cs b/dotnet/test/Microsoft.AutoGen.Runtime.Grpc.Tests/Helpers/Orleans/SiloBuilderConfigurator.cs
index 84d404e1f6bc..fb345777a82b 100644
--- a/dotnet/test/Microsoft.AutoGen.Runtime.Grpc.Tests/Helpers/Orleans/SiloBuilderConfigurator.cs
+++ b/dotnet/test/Microsoft.AutoGen.Runtime.Grpc.Tests/Helpers/Orleans/SiloBuilderConfigurator.cs
@@ -12,7 +12,10 @@ public void Configure(ISiloBuilder siloBuilder)
     {
         siloBuilder.ConfigureServices(services =>
         {
-           services.AddSerializer(a=> a.AddProtobufSerializer());
+            services.AddSerializer(a => a.AddProtobufSerializer());
         });
+        siloBuilder.AddMemoryStreams("StreamProvider")
+                    .AddMemoryGrainStorage("PubSubStore")
+                    .AddMemoryGrainStorage("AgentStateStore");
     }
 }
diff --git a/dotnet/test/Microsoft.AutoGen.Runtime.Grpc.Tests/Helpers/Orleans/Surrogates/AgentStateSurrogate.cs b/dotnet/test/Microsoft.AutoGen.Runtime.Grpc.Tests/Helpers/Orleans/Surrogates/AgentStateSurrogate.cs
index 31aa7cc5670a..56d20be28887 100644
--- a/dotnet/test/Microsoft.AutoGen.Runtime.Grpc.Tests/Helpers/Orleans/Surrogates/AgentStateSurrogate.cs
+++ b/dotnet/test/Microsoft.AutoGen.Runtime.Grpc.Tests/Helpers/Orleans/Surrogates/AgentStateSurrogate.cs
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@
 // AgentStateSurrogate.cs
 
 using Google.Protobuf;
-using Google.Protobuf.WellKnownTypes;
 using Microsoft.AutoGen.Abstractions;
 
 namespace Microsoft.AutoGen.Runtime.Grpc.Tests.Helpers.Orleans.Surrogates;
@@ -21,7 +20,7 @@ public struct AgentStateSurrogate
     [Id(4)]
     public string Etag;
     [Id(5)]
-    public Any ProtoData;
+    public ByteString ProtoData;
 }
 
 [RegisterConverter]
@@ -35,7 +34,7 @@ public AgentState ConvertFromSurrogate(
             TextData = surrogate.TextData,
             BinaryData = surrogate.BinaryData,
             AgentId = surrogate.AgentId,
-            ProtoData = surrogate.ProtoData,
+           // ProtoData = surrogate.ProtoData,
             ETag = surrogate.Etag
         };
 
@@ -47,7 +46,7 @@ public AgentStateSurrogate ConvertToSurrogate(
             BinaryData = value.BinaryData,
             TextData = value.TextData,
             Etag = value.ETag,
-            ProtoData = value.ProtoData
+            ProtoData = value.ProtoData.Value
         };
 }
 
diff --git a/dotnet/test/Microsoft.AutoGen.Runtime.Grpc.Tests/Microsoft.AutoGen.Runtime.Grpc.Tests.csproj b/dotnet/test/Microsoft.AutoGen.Runtime.Grpc.Tests/Microsoft.AutoGen.Runtime.Grpc.Tests.csproj
index 0a0df26b158a..0a852fbf7e61 100644
--- a/dotnet/test/Microsoft.AutoGen.Runtime.Grpc.Tests/Microsoft.AutoGen.Runtime.Grpc.Tests.csproj
+++ b/dotnet/test/Microsoft.AutoGen.Runtime.Grpc.Tests/Microsoft.AutoGen.Runtime.Grpc.Tests.csproj
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
   </ItemGroup>
 
   <ItemGroup>
+    <ProjectReference Include="..\..\src\Microsoft.AutoGen\Microsoft.AutoGen.Core\Microsoft.AutoGen.Core.csproj" />
     <ProjectReference Include="..\..\src\Microsoft.AutoGen\Microsoft.AutoGen.Runtime.Grpc\Microsoft.AutoGen.Runtime.Grpc.csproj" />
     <ProjectReference Include="..\Microsoft.Autogen.Tests.Shared\Microsoft.Autogen.Tests.Shared.csproj" />
   </ItemGroup>
diff --git a/dotnet/test/Microsoft.AutoGen.Runtime.Grpc.Tests/TestAgent.cs b/dotnet/test/Microsoft.AutoGen.Runtime.Grpc.Tests/TestAgent.cs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..36dc24d20935
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dotnet/test/Microsoft.AutoGen.Runtime.Grpc.Tests/TestAgent.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+// Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
+// TestAgent.cs
+
+using System.Collections.Concurrent;
+using Microsoft.AutoGen.Core;
+using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;
+using Microsoft.Extensions.Logging;
+using Tests.Events;
+
+namespace Microsoft.AutoGen.Runtime.Grpc.Tests;
+
+public class PBAgent([FromKeyedServices("EventTypes")] EventTypes eventTypes, ILogger<Agent>? logger = null)
+    : Agent(eventTypes, logger)
+    , IHandle<NewMessageReceived>
+    , IHandle<GoodBye>
+{
+    public async Task Handle(NewMessageReceived item, CancellationToken cancellationToken = default)
+    {
+        ReceivedMessages[AgentId.Key] = item.Message;
+        var hello = new Hello { Message = item.Message };
+        await PublishEventAsync(hello);
+    }
+    public Task Handle(GoodBye item, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
+    {
+        _logger.LogInformation($"Received GoodBye message {item.Message}");
+        return Task.CompletedTask;
+    }
+
+    public static ConcurrentDictionary<string, object> ReceivedMessages { get; private set; } = new();
+}
+
+public class GMAgent([FromKeyedServices("EventTypes")] EventTypes eventTypes, ILogger<Agent>? logger = null)
+    : Agent(eventTypes, logger)
+    , IHandle<Hello>
+{
+    public async Task Handle(Hello item, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
+    {
+        _logger.LogInformation($"Received Hello message {item.Message}");
+        ReceivedMessages[AgentId.Key] = item.Message;
+        await PublishEventAsync(new GoodBye { Message = "" });
+    }
+
+    public static ConcurrentDictionary<string, object> ReceivedMessages { get; private set; } = new();
+}
diff --git a/dotnet/test/Microsoft.Autogen.Tests.Shared/Protos/messages.proto b/dotnet/test/Microsoft.Autogen.Tests.Shared/Protos/messages.proto
index 95f9beddab8e..cb68d45e7550 100644
--- a/dotnet/test/Microsoft.Autogen.Tests.Shared/Protos/messages.proto
+++ b/dotnet/test/Microsoft.Autogen.Tests.Shared/Protos/messages.proto
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ message TextMessage {
     string message = 1;
     string source = 2;
 }
-message Input {
+message Hello {
       string message = 1;
 }
 message InputProcessed {