Instance properties are defined for instances of an application. During episodes of the instances, the values of the instance properties are populated. Other instances read the values of the instance properties without requiring the instance to run. If the value of an instance property is not populated, then a new episode of the instance is executed to populate the missing values. Instance properties may be grouped into property bags. An instance may populate the values of instance properties in a property bag atomically during one episode using a multi-set message. Other instances may read the values of the property bag instance properties using a multi-get request.