diff --git a/distarray/globalapi/context.py b/distarray/globalapi/context.py
index c593fe5d..c73aad7c 100644
--- a/distarray/globalapi/context.py
+++ b/distarray/globalapi/context.py
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ def make_subcomm(self, new_targets):
         pass
 
     @abstractmethod
-    def apply(self, func, args=None, kwargs=None, targets=None):
+    def apply(self, func, args=None, kwargs=None, targets=None, autoproxyize=False):
         pass
 
     @abstractmethod
@@ -816,6 +816,10 @@ def func_wrapper(func, apply_nonce, context_key, args, kwargs, autoproxyize):
         # default arguments
         args = () if args is None else args
         kwargs = {} if kwargs is None else kwargs
+
+        args = tuple(a.key if isinstance(a, DistArray) else a for a in args)
+        kwargs = {k: (v.key if isinstance(v, DistArray) else v) for k, v in kwargs.items()}
+
         apply_nonce = nonce()
         wrapped_args = (func, apply_nonce, self.context_key, args, kwargs, autoproxyize)
 
@@ -972,6 +976,10 @@ def apply(self, func, args=None, kwargs=None, targets=None, autoproxyize=False):
         # default arguments
         args = () if args is None else args
         kwargs = {} if kwargs is None else kwargs
+
+        args = tuple(a.key if isinstance(a, DistArray) else a for a in args)
+        kwargs = {k: (v.key if isinstance(v, DistArray) else v) for k, v in kwargs.items()}
+
         targets = self.targets if targets is None else targets
 
         apply_nonce = nonce()
diff --git a/distarray/globalapi/tests/test_context.py b/distarray/globalapi/tests/test_context.py
index bac00754..ea1eca1b 100644
--- a/distarray/globalapi/tests/test_context.py
+++ b/distarray/globalapi/tests/test_context.py
@@ -378,7 +378,6 @@ def foo(a, b, c=None, d=None):
 
         self.assertEqual(val, [9] * self.ntargets)
 
-
     def test_apply_proxy(self):
 
         def foo():
@@ -401,6 +400,20 @@ def foo():
         self.assertEqual(set(r[0].name for r in res), set([res[0][0].name]))
         self.assertEqual(set(r[-1].name for r in res), set([res[0][-1].name]))
 
+    def test_apply_distarray(self):
+
+        da = self.context.empty((len(self.context.targets),), dtype=numpy.uint32)
+
+        def local_label(la):
+            la.ndarray.fill(la.comm.rank)
+
+        # Testing that we can pass in `da` and `apply()` extracts `da.key` automatically.
+        self.context.apply(local_label, (da,))
+        assert_array_equal(da.tondarray(), range(len(self.context.targets)))
+
+        self.context.apply(local_label, kwargs={'la': da})
+        assert_array_equal(da.tondarray(), range(len(self.context.targets)))
+
 class TestGetBaseComm(DefaultContextTestCase):
 
     ntargets = 'any'