diff --git a/packages/playwright-test/src/common/config.ts b/packages/playwright-test/src/common/config.ts
index 390548470d..feb7050a6d 100644
--- a/packages/playwright-test/src/common/config.ts
+++ b/packages/playwright-test/src/common/config.ts
@@ -153,10 +153,6 @@ export class FullProjectInternal {
   id = '';
   deps: FullProjectInternal[] = [];
 
-  static from(project: FullProject): FullProjectInternal {
-    return (project as any)[projectInternalSymbol];
-  }
-
   constructor(configDir: string, config: Config, fullConfig: FullConfigInternal, projectConfig: Project, configCLIOverrides: ConfigCLIOverrides, throwawayArtifactsPath: string) {
     this.fullConfig = fullConfig;
     const testDir = takeFirst(pathResolve(configDir, projectConfig.testDir), pathResolve(configDir, config.testDir), fullConfig.configDir);
diff --git a/packages/playwright-test/src/common/globals.ts b/packages/playwright-test/src/common/globals.ts
index fa4821a87b..16a4673b1d 100644
--- a/packages/playwright-test/src/common/globals.ts
+++ b/packages/playwright-test/src/common/globals.ts
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@
 
 import type { TestInfoImpl } from '../worker/testInfo';
 import type { Suite } from './test';
-import { FullProjectInternal } from './config';
 import type { FullConfigInternal } from './config';
 
 let currentTestInfoValue: TestInfoImpl | null = null;
@@ -39,7 +38,7 @@ export function currentExpectTimeout(options: { timeout?: number }) {
   const testInfo = currentTestInfo();
   if (options.timeout !== undefined)
     return options.timeout;
-  let defaultExpectTimeout = testInfo?.project ? FullProjectInternal.from(testInfo.project).expect?.timeout : undefined;
+  let defaultExpectTimeout = testInfo?._projectInternal?.expect?.timeout;
   if (typeof defaultExpectTimeout === 'undefined')
     defaultExpectTimeout = 5000;
   return defaultExpectTimeout;
diff --git a/packages/playwright-test/src/common/test.ts b/packages/playwright-test/src/common/test.ts
index fe79121074..ce05cb897a 100644
--- a/packages/playwright-test/src/common/test.ts
+++ b/packages/playwright-test/src/common/test.ts
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ export class Suite extends Base implements SuitePrivate {
   _staticAnnotations: Annotation[] = [];
   _modifiers: Modifier[] = [];
   _parallelMode: 'default' | 'serial' | 'parallel' = 'default';
-  _projectConfig: FullProjectInternal | undefined;
+  _fullProject: FullProjectInternal | undefined;
   _fileId: string | undefined;
   readonly _type: 'root' | 'project' | 'file' | 'describe';
 
@@ -194,12 +194,12 @@ export class Suite extends Base implements SuitePrivate {
     const suite = Suite._parse(data);
     suite._use = this._use.slice();
     suite._hooks = this._hooks.slice();
-    suite._projectConfig = this._projectConfig;
+    suite._fullProject = this._fullProject;
     return suite;
   }
 
   project(): FullProject | undefined {
-    return this._projectConfig?.project || this.parent?.project();
+    return this._fullProject?.project || this.parent?.project();
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/packages/playwright-test/src/reporters/base.ts b/packages/playwright-test/src/reporters/base.ts
index e8f6477b9b..c60be1ba98 100644
--- a/packages/playwright-test/src/reporters/base.ts
+++ b/packages/playwright-test/src/reporters/base.ts
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ import type { FullConfig, TestCase, Suite, TestResult, TestError, FullResult, Te
 import type { SuitePrivate } from '../../types/reporterPrivate';
 import { codeFrameColumns } from '../common/babelBundle';
 import { monotonicTime } from 'playwright-core/lib/utils';
-
+import type { FullProject } from '../../types/test';
 export type TestResultOutput = { chunk: string | Buffer, type: 'stdout' | 'stderr' };
 export const kOutputSymbol = Symbol('output');
 
@@ -523,6 +523,23 @@ function fitToWidth(line: string, width: number, prefix?: string): string {
   return taken.reverse().join('');
 }
 
+export function uniqueProjectIds(projects: FullProject[]): Map<FullProject, string> {
+  const usedNames = new Set<string>();
+  const result = new Map<FullProject, string>();
+  for (const p of projects) {
+    const name = p.name || '';
+    for (let i = 0; i < projects.length; ++i) {
+      const candidate = name + (i ? i : '');
+      if (usedNames.has(candidate))
+        continue;
+      result.set(p, candidate);
+      usedNames.add(candidate);
+      break;
+    }
+  }
+  return result;
+}
+
 function belongsToNodeModules(file: string) {
   return file.includes(`${path.sep}node_modules${path.sep}`);
 }
diff --git a/packages/playwright-test/src/reporters/json.ts b/packages/playwright-test/src/reporters/json.ts
index 33fd3a58cd..bfe462b9e5 100644
--- a/packages/playwright-test/src/reporters/json.ts
+++ b/packages/playwright-test/src/reporters/json.ts
@@ -17,10 +17,10 @@
 import fs from 'fs';
 import path from 'path';
 import type { FullConfig, TestCase, Suite, TestResult, TestError, TestStep, FullResult, Location, Reporter, JSONReport, JSONReportSuite, JSONReportSpec, JSONReportTest, JSONReportTestResult, JSONReportTestStep, JSONReportError } from '../../types/testReporter';
-import { formatError, prepareErrorStack } from './base';
+import { formatError, prepareErrorStack, uniqueProjectIds } from './base';
 import { MultiMap } from 'playwright-core/lib/utils';
 import { assert } from 'playwright-core/lib/utils';
-import { FullProjectInternal } from '../common/config';
+import type { FullProject } from '../../types/test';
 
 export function toPosixPath(aPath: string): string {
   return aPath.split(path.sep).join(path.posix.sep);
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ class JSONReporter implements Reporter {
   }
 
   private _serializeReport(): JSONReport {
+    const projectIds = uniqueProjectIds(this.config.projects);
     return {
       config: {
         ...removePrivateFields(this.config),
@@ -64,7 +65,7 @@ class JSONReporter implements Reporter {
             repeatEach: project.repeatEach,
             retries: project.retries,
             metadata: project.metadata,
-            id: FullProjectInternal.from(project).id,
+            id: projectIds.get(project)!,
             name: project.name,
             testDir: toPosixPath(project.testDir),
             testIgnore: serializePatterns(project.testIgnore),
@@ -73,15 +74,15 @@ class JSONReporter implements Reporter {
           };
         })
       },
-      suites: this._mergeSuites(this.suite.suites),
+      suites: this._mergeSuites(this.suite.suites, projectIds),
       errors: this._errors
     };
   }
 
-  private _mergeSuites(suites: Suite[]): JSONReportSuite[] {
+  private _mergeSuites(suites: Suite[], projectIds: Map<FullProject, string>): JSONReportSuite[] {
     const fileSuites = new MultiMap<string, JSONReportSuite>();
     for (const projectSuite of suites) {
-      const projectId = FullProjectInternal.from(projectSuite.project()!).id;
+      const projectId = projectIds.get(projectSuite.project()!)!;
       const projectName = projectSuite.project()!.name;
       for (const fileSuite of projectSuite.suites) {
         const file = fileSuite.location!.file;
diff --git a/packages/playwright-test/src/reporters/teleEmitter.ts b/packages/playwright-test/src/reporters/teleEmitter.ts
index b232850d41..d467abcfe2 100644
--- a/packages/playwright-test/src/reporters/teleEmitter.ts
+++ b/packages/playwright-test/src/reporters/teleEmitter.ts
@@ -18,10 +18,12 @@ import type { FullConfig, FullResult, Reporter, TestError, TestResult, TestStep,
 import type { Suite, TestCase } from '../common/test';
 import type { JsonConfig, JsonProject, JsonSuite, JsonTestCase, JsonTestEnd, JsonTestResultEnd, JsonTestResultStart, JsonTestStepEnd, JsonTestStepStart } from '../isomorphic/teleReceiver';
 import type { SuitePrivate } from '../../types/reporterPrivate';
-import { FullConfigInternal, FullProjectInternal } from '../common/config';
+import { FullConfigInternal } from '../common/config';
 import { createGuid } from 'playwright-core/lib/utils';
 import { serializeRegexPatterns } from '../isomorphic/teleReceiver';
 import path from 'path';
+import type { FullProject } from '../../types/test';
+import { uniqueProjectIds } from './base';
 
 export class TeleReporterEmitter implements Reporter {
   private _messageSink: (message: any) => void;
@@ -34,8 +36,9 @@ export class TeleReporterEmitter implements Reporter {
   onBegin(config: FullConfig, suite: Suite) {
     this._rootDir = config.rootDir;
     const projects: any[] = [];
+    const projectIds = uniqueProjectIds(config.projects);
     for (const projectSuite of suite.suites) {
-      const report = this._serializeProject(projectSuite);
+      const report = this._serializeProject(projectSuite, projectIds);
       projects.push(report);
     }
     this._messageSink({ method: 'onBegin', params: { config: this._serializeConfig(config), projects } });
@@ -128,10 +131,10 @@ export class TeleReporterEmitter implements Reporter {
     };
   }
 
-  private _serializeProject(suite: Suite): JsonProject {
+  private _serializeProject(suite: Suite, projectIds: Map<FullProject, string>): JsonProject {
     const project = suite.project()!;
     const report: JsonProject = {
-      id: FullProjectInternal.from(project).id,
+      id: projectIds.get(project)!,
       metadata: project.metadata,
       name: project.name,
       outputDir: this._relativePath(project.outputDir),
diff --git a/packages/playwright-test/src/runner/loadUtils.ts b/packages/playwright-test/src/runner/loadUtils.ts
index c5eee1310d..8a5b9a7b77 100644
--- a/packages/playwright-test/src/runner/loadUtils.ts
+++ b/packages/playwright-test/src/runner/loadUtils.ts
@@ -172,7 +172,7 @@ export async function createRootSuite(testRun: TestRun, errors: TestError[], sho
   {
     // Filtering only and sharding might have reduced the number of top-level projects.
     // Build the project closure to only include dependencies that are still needed.
-    const projectClosure = new Map(buildProjectsClosure(rootSuite.suites.map(suite => suite._projectConfig!)));
+    const projectClosure = new Map(buildProjectsClosure(rootSuite.suites.map(suite => suite._fullProject!)));
 
     // Clone file suites for dependency projects.
     for (const [project, fileSuites] of testRun.projectSuites) {
@@ -186,7 +186,7 @@ export async function createRootSuite(testRun: TestRun, errors: TestError[], sho
 
 async function createProjectSuite(fileSuites: Suite[], project: FullProjectInternal, options: { cliFileFilters: TestFileFilter[], cliTitleMatcher?: Matcher, testIdMatcher?: Matcher }): Promise<Suite> {
   const projectSuite = new Suite(project.project.name, 'project');
-  projectSuite._projectConfig = project;
+  projectSuite._fullProject = project;
   if (project.fullyParallel)
     projectSuite._parallelMode = 'parallel';
   for (const fileSuite of fileSuites) {
diff --git a/packages/playwright-test/src/runner/tasks.ts b/packages/playwright-test/src/runner/tasks.ts
index 9b76c8da82..41fa04ae92 100644
--- a/packages/playwright-test/src/runner/tasks.ts
+++ b/packages/playwright-test/src/runner/tasks.ts
@@ -180,7 +180,7 @@ function createPhasesTask(): Task<TestRun> {
     let maxConcurrentTestGroups = 0;
 
     const processed = new Set<FullProjectInternal>();
-    const projectToSuite = new Map(testRun.rootSuite!.suites.map(suite => [suite._projectConfig!, suite]));
+    const projectToSuite = new Map(testRun.rootSuite!.suites.map(suite => [suite._fullProject!, suite]));
     for (let i = 0; i < projectToSuite.size; i++) {
       // Find all projects that have all their dependencies processed by previous phases.
       const phaseProjects: FullProjectInternal[] = [];