Hi Jonathan,
This indeed occurs when there are circular references or when the same instance is referenced more than once. When you see the __objectRef or the __arrayRef properties, the value would be a number. That number represents the sequential position of the referenced object in the tree, which should be processed in the top/down manner. If you happen to have a JSON sample, I’d be happy to explain how to “decode” it using the example.
Regards,
Mark