diff --git a/shell/Commons/Color.qml b/shell/Commons/Color.qml
index 4fd2452b3b..54163a4008 100644
--- a/shell/Commons/Color.qml
+++ b/shell/Commons/Color.qml
@@ -49,15 +49,9 @@ QtObject {
   }
 
   function flatColor(value, fallback) {
-    var seen = Object.create(null)
     var token = firstColorToken(value)
     var role = String(token || "").replace(/^\s+|\s+$/g, "").toLowerCase()
-    while (root.shellValues[role] && root.shellValues[role] !== token) {
-      if (seen[role]) return fallback
-      seen[role] = true
-      token = firstColorToken(root.shellValues[role])
-      role = String(token || "").replace(/^\s+|\s+$/g, "").toLowerCase()
-    }
+    if (root.shellValues[role] && root.shellValues[role] !== token) return flatColor(root.shellValues[role], fallback)
     if (role === "foreground" || role === "text") return root.foreground
     if (role === "accent") return root.accent
     if (role === "urgent") return root.urgent
diff --git a/test/shell.d/color-reference-test.sh b/test/shell.d/color-reference-test.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 498f6789e3..0000000000
--- a/test/shell.d/color-reference-test.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,52 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/bash
-set -euo pipefail
-source "$(dirname "$0")/base-test.sh"
-
-run_node_test <<'JS'
-const fs = require('fs')
-const vm = require('vm')
-
-const source = fs.readFileSync(path.join(root, 'shell/Commons/Color.qml'), 'utf8')
-const geometry = fs.readFileSync(path.join(root, 'shell/Commons/BorderGeometry.js'), 'utf8').replace(/^\.pragma library\n/, '')
-const palette = { foreground: '#eeeeee', background: '#111111', accent: '#abcdef', urgent: '#ff0000', muted: '#777777' }
-const context = vm.createContext({ root: { ...palette, shellValues: {} }, Geometry: {} })
-vm.runInNewContext(geometry, context.Geometry)
-for (const name of ['firstColorToken', 'flatColor', 'parseShell']) {
-  const fn = source.match(new RegExp(`  function ${name}\\([^]*?\\n  }`))
-  if (!fn) fail(`Color.qml provides ${name}`)
-  vm.runInContext(fn[0], context)
-}
-
-function check(values, input, expected, description) {
-  context.root.shellValues = values
-  context.input = input
-  const result = vm.runInContext('flatColor(input, "#123456")', context, { timeout: 1000 })
-  assertEqual(result, expected, description)
-}
-
-const cycle = context.parseShell('[bar]\nbackground = "menu.background"\n[menu]\nbackground = "bar.background"')
-check(cycle, 'bar.background', '#123456', 'two-entry theme cycle returns the supplied fallback')
-check({ 'a.color': 'b.color', 'b.color': 'c.color', 'c.color': 'a.color' }, 'a.color', '#123456', 'longer cycle returns fallback')
-check({ 'start.color': 'a.color', 'a.color': 'b.color', 'b.color': 'a.color' }, 'start.color', '#123456', 'chain entering a cycle returns fallback')
-check({ 'a.color': 'a.color' }, 'a.color', '#123456', 'direct self-reference returns fallback')
-check({ 'a.color': ' A.COLOR ' }, 'a.color', '#123456', 'normalized self-reference returns fallback')
-check({ 'a.color': '45deg b.color #ffffff', 'b.color': 'a.color' }, 'a.color', '#123456', 'gradient first-stop cycle returns fallback')
-
-check({ 'a.color': 'b.color', 'b.color': '#abcdef' }, 'a.color', '#abcdef', 'acyclic references preserve the final color')
-check({ 'a.color': ' B.COLOR ', 'b.color': '#abcdef' }, 'A.COLOR', '#abcdef', 'each reference keeps case and whitespace normalization')
-check({ 'a.color': 'b.color', 'b.color': 'accent' }, 'a.color', palette.accent, 'acyclic references preserve palette roles')
-check({ 'a.color': '45deg rgba(11223380) #ffffff' }, 'a.color', '#11223380', 'referenced gradient keeps its first color and alpha')
-check({ 'a.color': 'missing.color' }, 'a.color', '#123456', 'missing reference returns fallback')
-check({}, '', '#123456', 'empty input returns fallback')
-for (const [role, color] of Object.entries(palette)) check({}, role, color, `palette role ${role} is unchanged`)
-check({}, 'text', palette.foreground, 'text alias is unchanged')
-for (const [input, output] of [['#abc', '#aabbcc'], ['#abcdef', '#abcdef'], ['rgb(abcdef)', '#abcdef'], ['rgba(11223380)', '#11223380']]) {
-  check({}, input, output, `direct color ${input} is unchanged`)
-}
-
-const chain = {}
-for (let i = 0; i < 10000; i++) chain[`chain.c${i}`] = `chain.c${i + 1}`
-chain['chain.c10000'] = '#abcdef'
-check(chain, 'chain.c0', '#abcdef', 'long acyclic chains do not exhaust the call stack')
-check({ 'a.color': '#abcdef' }, 'a.color', '#abcdef', 'visited references do not leak between resolutions')
-JS