diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/renderer/styles/base.css b/apps/desktop/src/renderer/styles/base.css
index ecf467b713..66420b7ea0 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/renderer/styles/base.css
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/renderer/styles/base.css
@@ -736,15 +736,18 @@ body,
    the working mark stands in the glyph's place, centred in the glyph's own
    footprint, so a tab or a row moves nothing as its work starts or ends.
    Failed, the glyph stands as at rest, and the failed mark at its row's end
-   says it (`.failed-mark`). */
-.state-glyph {
-  position: relative;
-  display: inline-flex;
-  width: var(--state-glyph-size, 16px);
-  height: var(--state-glyph-size, 16px);
-  flex: 0 0 auto;
-  align-items: center;
-  justify-content: center;
+   says it (`.failed-mark`). In the `base` layer, so a shared component's
+   glyph slot that holds one sizes it as it sizes any glyph of its own. */
+@layer base {
+  .state-glyph {
+    position: relative;
+    display: inline-flex;
+    width: var(--state-glyph-size, 16px);
+    height: var(--state-glyph-size, 16px);
+    flex: 0 0 auto;
+    align-items: center;
+    justify-content: center;
+  }
 }
 
 .state-glyph > svg,
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/renderer/styles/desktop.css b/apps/desktop/src/renderer/styles/desktop.css
index de89ecc4cf..188effad75 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/renderer/styles/desktop.css
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/renderer/styles/desktop.css
@@ -1802,11 +1802,14 @@ ul.actor-stack {
 /* Buttons --------------------------------------------------------------------- */
 
 /* A glyph of `@luke/ui`'s own drawn outside a button, at the control's
-   glyph size. */
-.icon-button-glyph {
-  width: var(--luke-control-icon);
-  height: var(--luke-control-icon);
-  flex: 0 0 auto;
+   glyph size; in the `base` layer, so a shared component holding one sizes
+   it as its own. */
+@layer base {
+  .icon-button-glyph {
+    width: var(--luke-control-icon);
+    height: var(--luke-control-icon);
+    flex: 0 0 auto;
+  }
 }
 
 /* The file tree's Retry, beside the words saying why it is empty
@@ -1915,10 +1918,8 @@ ul.actor-stack {
 /* The window's own menu is `@luke/ui`'s `Menu` (`action-menu.tsx`), its
    looks drawn by `@luke/ui/styles.css`. What stays here is the window's own:
    the layer it stands on over everything, or over a modal it was opened
-   from; its presses claimed back from the toolbar's drag strip it sits
-   over; and a repository's picture in the glyph slot, at a menu glyph's
-   size, because its own rule here would otherwise win over the shared
-   layer. */
+   from, and its presses claimed back from the toolbar's drag strip it sits
+   over. */
 .luke-menu {
   z-index: var(--luke-z-menu);
   -webkit-app-region: no-drag;
@@ -1928,12 +1929,6 @@ ul.actor-stack {
   z-index: calc(var(--luke-z-dialog) + 1);
 }
 
-.luke-menu-item-glyph .repository-picture {
-  width: var(--luke-menu-glyph);
-  height: var(--luke-menu-glyph);
-  flex: 0 0 auto;
-}
-
 /* Each a line naming an actor (`.actor-line`), whose spaces it keeps,
    wrapping between its words and names rather than cutting a name short.
    It clips past the ring an actor's hover fill bleeds by, so the ring is
@@ -6507,17 +6502,6 @@ polygon.factory-campus-edge[data-edge="selected"] {
   mask-image: linear-gradient(to left, transparent, #000 var(--label-fade));
 }
 
-/* Every card the window hangs in a pill's place is drawn from `@luke/ui`'s
-   hover card parts (hover-card.css); what is the window's own is the size a
-   state glyph takes on its head and on the line under its name. */
-.luke-hover-card-glyph {
-  --state-glyph-size: 14px;
-}
-
-.luke-hover-card-sub {
-  --state-glyph-size: 12px;
-}
-
 /* A card's corner leading with a pull request's mark sets it inline, so the
    corner keeps the head's baseline. */
 .card-corner-mark {
@@ -7464,12 +7448,6 @@ body:has(.luke-dialog-backdrop) .toast[data-action="true"] .toast-dismiss {
   }
 }
 
-/* A card's rows (`@luke/ui`'s HoverCardRow) draw an agent's mark at a menu
-   glyph's size, as its tab does. */
-.luke-hover-card-row-glyph {
-  --state-glyph-size: var(--luke-menu-glyph);
-}
-
 /* A server's line at a card's head (`server-card.tsx`), set as a card's
    row is, a menu row's height and corner, its mark on the card's glyph
    column and the row's words beside it. */
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/renderer/styles/settings.css b/apps/desktop/src/renderer/styles/settings.css
index 2fbe59a658..3ecdd36ece 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/renderer/styles/settings.css
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/renderer/styles/settings.css
@@ -1,12 +1,17 @@
 /* The settings tab: pages of rows, credentials, and the controls that write them. */
 
-/* Sized to the heading it labels rather than to a grid: the glyph is a letter
-   in the line, not an element beside it. */
-.settings-icon {
-  width: 14px;
-  height: 14px;
-  flex: 0 0 auto;
-  opacity: 0.85;
+/* A glyph's own size wherever the window draws it bare, in the `base`
+   layer under the shared components, so a control, a menu, or a row that
+   holds one sizes it as its own contract says and the window's own markup
+   is all these reach. Sized to the heading it labels rather than to a grid:
+   the glyph is a letter in the line, not an element beside it. */
+@layer base {
+  .settings-icon {
+    width: 14px;
+    height: 14px;
+    flex: 0 0 auto;
+    opacity: 0.85;
+  }
 }
 
 /* Every row stands at the height a label-and-subtext pair needs, whether or
@@ -52,16 +57,15 @@
   }
 }
 
-/* A chip, a menu item, and a picker's option draw their own chevron
-   (`chip.css`, `menu.css`, `combobox.css`), which this unlayered rule would
-   otherwise win over. */
-.settings-chevron:where(
-  :not(.luke-chip *, .luke-menu-item-end > *, .luke-combobox-option-end > *)
-) {
-  width: 11px;
-  height: 11px;
-  flex: 0 0 auto;
-  color: var(--luke-color-text-subtle);
+/* A chevron the window draws bare; a chip, a menu item, and a picker's
+   option draw their own over this (`chip.css`, `menu.css`, `combobox.css`). */
+@layer base {
+  .settings-chevron {
+    width: 11px;
+    height: 11px;
+    flex: 0 0 auto;
+    color: var(--luke-color-text-subtle);
+  }
 }
 
 .settings-copy {
@@ -182,14 +186,16 @@
 
 /* The one green thing on the line, in the same palette a finished session
    uses, so connected reads the same way complete does. A menu item and a
-   picker's option draw their own check (`menu.css`, `combobox.css`), which
-   this unlayered rule would otherwise win over. */
-.credential-check:where(:not(.luke-menu-item-end > *, .luke-combobox-option-end > *)) {
-  width: 12px;
-  height: 12px;
-  flex: 0 0 auto;
-  color: var(--luke-color-complete);
-  opacity: 1;
+   picker's option draw their own check over this (`menu.css`,
+   `combobox.css`). */
+@layer base {
+  .credential-check {
+    width: 12px;
+    height: 12px;
+    flex: 0 0 auto;
+    color: var(--luke-color-complete);
+    opacity: 1;
+  }
 }
 
 /* A name and what is true of it, on one line: the same gap the credential rows
@@ -211,16 +217,6 @@
   white-space: nowrap;
 }
 
-/* The small glyph that rides a link's words. Note that a shared button's glyph
-   is left to the button, because this unlayered rule would otherwise shrink
-   the button's icon below the control contract's size. */
-.link-icon:where(:not(.luke-button-face > *)) {
-  width: 9px;
-  height: 9px;
-  margin-left: var(--luke-space-4);
-  vertical-align: -1px;
-}
-
 .settings-input {
   width: 100%;
   padding: var(--luke-space-8) var(--luke-space-12);
diff --git a/packages/ui/src/components/combobox/combobox.css b/packages/ui/src/components/combobox/combobox.css
index 05c226000b..4d6e822d89 100644
--- a/packages/ui/src/components/combobox/combobox.css
+++ b/packages/ui/src/components/combobox/combobox.css
@@ -144,9 +144,12 @@
     color: var(--luke-color-text-subtle);
   }
 
+  /* Note that the end's glyph wears the end's ink rather than any its own
+     class gives it elsewhere, a connected check's green among them. */
   .luke-combobox-option-end svg {
     width: 16px;
     height: 16px;
+    color: inherit;
   }
 
   :is(.luke-combobox-option-detail, .luke-combobox-option-hint) + .luke-combobox-option-end {
diff --git a/packages/ui/src/components/hover-card/hover-card.css b/packages/ui/src/components/hover-card/hover-card.css
index afc361064f..3f6a4b02fa 100644
--- a/packages/ui/src/components/hover-card/hover-card.css
+++ b/packages/ui/src/components/hover-card/hover-card.css
@@ -36,7 +36,10 @@
     justify-content: center;
   }
 
-  .luke-hover-card-glyph > :is(svg, img) {
+  /* Note that the slot sizes whatever it holds, a glyph, a picture, or an
+     app's own mark around one, so no app has to size what it hands in; a
+     face (`Avatar`) brings its own size. */
+  .luke-hover-card-glyph > :not(.luke-avatar, :has(.luke-avatar)) {
     width: 14px; /* off-scale: the card's own glyph */
     height: 14px;
   }
@@ -173,7 +176,7 @@
     justify-content: center;
   }
 
-  .luke-hover-card-row-glyph > svg {
+  .luke-hover-card-row-glyph > :not(.luke-avatar, :has(.luke-avatar)) {
     width: var(--luke-menu-glyph);
     height: var(--luke-menu-glyph);
   }
diff --git a/packages/ui/src/components/menu/menu.css b/packages/ui/src/components/menu/menu.css
index f9061fec4c..e22b7d4a22 100644
--- a/packages/ui/src/components/menu/menu.css
+++ b/packages/ui/src/components/menu/menu.css
@@ -126,8 +126,11 @@
     color: inherit;
   }
 
-  /* A glyph with no size of its own fills the slot it is in. */
+  /* A glyph or a picture with no size of its own fills the slot it is in.
+     Note that only a picture standing in the slot itself is sized, because
+     a face's picture fills the face it is drawn in (`Avatar`). */
   .luke-menu-item-glyph svg,
+  .luke-menu-item-glyph > img,
   .luke-menu-item-end > svg {
     width: var(--luke-menu-glyph);
     height: var(--luke-menu-glyph);
@@ -209,6 +212,12 @@
     height: 14px;
   }
 
+  /* Note that the end's glyph wears the end's ink rather than any its own
+     class gives it elsewhere, a connected check's green among them. */
+  .luke-menu-item-end > svg {
+    color: inherit;
+  }
+
   .luke-menu-rule {
     height: 1px;
     margin: var(--luke-menu-inset) var(--luke-space-8);