diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index e82f6e8..8e425ec 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -22,7 +22,8 @@ path = "src/lib.rs"
 
 [dependencies]
 rand = { version = "0.9.0", features = [ "small_rng" ] }
-ahash = "0.8.11"
+ahash = { git = "https://github.com/alexeysofin/aHash.git", rev = "b917333a498311d193a8c2084e88dd18561b264f" }
+serde = { version = "1.0.117", optional = true }
 thiserror = "2.0.11"
 
 [profile.release]
@@ -33,7 +34,11 @@ criterion = "0.7.0"
 mockall = "0.13"
 clap = { version = "4.5.19", features = ["derive"] }
 memmap2 = "0.9.5"
+bincode = "1.3.3"
 
 [[bench]]
 name = "topk_add"
 harness = false
+
+[features]
+serde = ["ahash/serde", "serde/derive"]
diff --git a/src/heavykeeper.rs b/src/heavykeeper.rs
index e961e15..e2ba35c 100644
--- a/src/heavykeeper.rs
+++ b/src/heavykeeper.rs
@@ -9,15 +9,20 @@ use thiserror::Error;
 use crate::priority_queue::TopKQueue;
 use crate::hash_composition::HashComposer;
 
+#[cfg(feature = "serde")]
+use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
+
 const DECAY_LOOKUP_SIZE: usize = 1024;
 
-#[derive(Default, Clone, Debug)]
+#[derive(Default, Clone, Debug, PartialEq)]
+#[cfg_attr(feature = "serde", derive(Deserialize, Serialize))]
 struct Bucket {
     fingerprint: u64,
     count: u64,
 }
 
 #[derive(Clone, PartialEq, Eq, Debug)]
+#[cfg_attr(feature = "serde", derive(Deserialize, Serialize))]
 pub struct Node<T> {
     pub item: T,
     pub count: u64,
@@ -69,6 +74,7 @@ pub enum BuilderError {
     MissingField { field: String },
 }
 
+#[cfg_attr(feature = "serde", derive(Deserialize, Serialize))]
 pub struct TopK<T: Ord + Clone + Hash + Debug> {
     top_items: usize,
     width: usize,
@@ -78,9 +84,15 @@ pub struct TopK<T: Ord + Clone + Hash + Debug> {
     buckets: Vec<Vec<Bucket>>,
     priority_queue: TopKQueue<T>,
     hasher: RandomState,
+    #[cfg_attr(feature = "serde", serde(skip, default = "default_rng"))]
     random: Box<dyn RngCore + Send + Sync>,
 }
 
+#[cfg(feature = "serde")]
+fn default_rng() -> Box<dyn RngCore + Send + Sync> {
+    Box::new(SmallRng::seed_from_u64(0))
+}
+
 pub struct Builder<T> {
     k: Option<usize>,
     width: Option<usize>,
@@ -294,6 +306,10 @@ impl<T: Ord + Clone + Hash + Debug> TopK<T> {
         nodes
     }
 
+    pub fn is_top(&self, key: &T) -> bool {
+        self.priority_queue.contains_key(key)
+    }
+
     pub fn debug(&self) {
         println!("width: {}", self.width);
         println!("depth: {}", self.depth);
@@ -523,6 +539,27 @@ mod tests {
         assert!(!topk.query(&absent), "Absent item should not be found");
     }
 
+    /// Tests is_stop functionality
+    #[test]
+    fn test_is_top() {
+        let mut topk: TopK<Vec<u8>> = TopK::new(2, 100, 5, 0.9);
+
+        let k1 = b"1".to_vec();
+        let k2 = b"2".to_vec();
+        let k3 = b"3".to_vec();
+
+        // Add the present item
+        topk.add(&k1, 10);
+        topk.add(&k2, 10);
+        topk.add(&k3, 1);
+
+        // Verify query behavior
+        assert!(topk.is_top(&k1), "value is not in top list");
+        assert!(topk.is_top(&k2), "value is not in top list");
+        assert!(topk.is_top(&k2), "value is in top list");
+    }
+
+
     /// Tests count functionality for items with varying frequencies
     #[test]
     fn test_count() {
@@ -1251,5 +1288,30 @@ mod tests {
         assert!(topk.query(item));
         assert_eq!(topk.count(item), 1);
     }
-}
 
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_serialize() {
+        let mut topk: TopK<String> = TopK::new(10, 100, 5, 0.9);
+
+        for i in 0..10 {
+            topk.add(&format!("test{}", i), 10);
+        }
+
+        let serialized = bincode::serialize(&topk).expect("failed to serialize");
+        let deserialized: TopK<String> =
+            bincode::deserialize(&serialized).expect("failed to deserialize");
+
+        assert_eq!(topk.top_items, deserialized.top_items);
+        assert_eq!(topk.width, deserialized.width);
+        assert_eq!(topk.decay, deserialized.decay);
+        assert_eq!(topk.decay_thresholds, deserialized.decay_thresholds);
+
+        assert_eq!(topk.buckets, deserialized.buckets);
+        assert_eq!(topk.priority_queue, deserialized.priority_queue);
+
+        // check merges work
+
+        topk.merge(&deserialized).expect("merge failed");
+    }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/priority_queue.rs b/src/priority_queue.rs
index c48170f..fa8c9d5 100644
--- a/src/priority_queue.rs
+++ b/src/priority_queue.rs
@@ -3,8 +3,16 @@ use std::collections::HashMap;
 use std::hash::Hash;
 use ahash::RandomState;
 
+#[cfg(feature = "serde")]
+use serde::{Serialize, Deserialize};
+
 /// A specialized priority queue for HeavyKeeper that maintains top-k items by count
-pub(crate) struct TopKQueue<T> {
+#[cfg_attr(
+    feature = "serde",
+    derive(Deserialize, Serialize)
+)]
+#[derive(PartialEq, Debug)]
+pub(crate) struct TopKQueue<T: Ord + Clone + Hash + PartialEq> {
     items: HashMap<T, (u64, usize), RandomState>,  // item -> (count, heap_index)
     heap: Vec<(u64, usize, usize)>,  // (count, sequence, item_index)
     item_store: Vec<T>,  // Store actual items here
@@ -42,6 +50,14 @@ impl<T: Ord + Clone + Hash + PartialEq> TopKQueue<T> {
         self.items.get(item).map(|(count, _)| *count)
     }
 
+    pub(crate) fn contains_key<Q>(&self, item: &Q) -> bool
+    where
+        T: Borrow<Q>,
+        Q: Hash + Eq + ToOwned<Owned = T> + ?Sized,
+    {
+        self.items.contains_key(item)
+    }
+
     pub(crate) fn min_count(&self) -> u64 {
         // If heap is empty, return 0
         // Otherwise return count from root node (index 0)
@@ -197,6 +213,8 @@ mod tests {
         
         let items: Vec<_> = queue.iter().collect();
         assert_eq!(items, vec![(&"b", 2), (&"a", 1)]);
+
+        assert!(queue.contains_key(&"a"));
     }
 
     #[test]
@@ -327,4 +345,4 @@ mod tests {
                 items[i].1, items[i+1].1);
         }
     }
-} 
+} 
\ No newline at end of file