diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/renderer/maka-tokens.css b/apps/desktop/src/renderer/maka-tokens.css
index 8c30aaa5db..b861518e4d 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/renderer/maka-tokens.css
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/renderer/maka-tokens.css
@@ -1228,6 +1228,39 @@
 @layer base {
   * { box-sizing: border-box; border-color: var(--border); }
 
+  /* One scrollbar for the whole app (visual system 2.0 T5-F): the platform
+     thin bar, coloured with `--border-strong` over a transparent gutter. The
+     universal selector is intentional because `scrollbar-width` is not
+     inherited. This base-layer default yields to element-owned declarations
+     in the higher Astryx and product component layers, such as a TabList
+     strip's `none` (#2538). */
+  * {
+    scrollbar-width: thin;
+    scrollbar-color: var(--border-strong) transparent;
+  }
+
+  *::-webkit-scrollbar {
+    width: 10px;
+    height: 10px;
+  }
+
+  *::-webkit-scrollbar-track,
+  *::-webkit-scrollbar-corner {
+    background: transparent;
+  }
+
+  *::-webkit-scrollbar-thumb {
+    border: 2px solid transparent;
+    border-radius: var(--radius-pill);
+    background: var(--border-strong);
+    background-clip: content-box;
+  }
+
+  *::-webkit-scrollbar-thumb:hover {
+    /* One step above --border-strong's 16%, scoped to the thumb only. */
+    background-color: oklch(from var(--foreground) l c h / 0.28);
+  }
+
   /* The root font-size stays at the browser default (16px) ON PURPOSE.
      It used to be pinned to 13px to express Maka's density, but the root is
      not a density knob: it is an implicit multiplier on every rem in the
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/renderer/styles/base.css b/apps/desktop/src/renderer/styles/base.css
index 23b0804678..c6b0315f5e 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/renderer/styles/base.css
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/renderer/styles/base.css
@@ -126,36 +126,3 @@ button {
     transition: none !important;
     caret-color: transparent !important;
   }
-
-/* One scrollbar for the whole app (visual system 2.0 T5-F). Both reference
-   systems converged on the same recipe: a slim pill inset in a transparent
-   gutter, one step darker on hover, no painted track. The 2px transparent
-   border + content-box clip turns the 10px hit area into a 6px pill. The
-   few surfaces that hide or thin their own bars are more specific and keep
-   winning. */
-* {
-  scrollbar-width: thin;
-  scrollbar-color: var(--border-strong) transparent;
-}
-
-*::-webkit-scrollbar {
-  width: 10px;
-  height: 10px;
-}
-
-*::-webkit-scrollbar-track,
-*::-webkit-scrollbar-corner {
-  background: transparent;
-}
-
-*::-webkit-scrollbar-thumb {
-  border: 2px solid transparent;
-  border-radius: var(--radius-pill);
-  background: var(--border-strong);
-  background-clip: content-box;
-}
-
-*::-webkit-scrollbar-thumb:hover {
-  /* One step above --border-strong's 16%, scoped to the thumb only. */
-  background-color: oklch(from var(--foreground) l c h / 0.28);
-}
diff --git a/apps/desktop/stories/session-workbar.stories.tsx b/apps/desktop/stories/session-workbar.stories.tsx
index 645e408027..366fc522b2 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/stories/session-workbar.stories.tsx
+++ b/apps/desktop/stories/session-workbar.stories.tsx
@@ -1087,6 +1087,31 @@ export const SeveralFacesAtColumnFloor: Story = {
   render: () => (
     <Workbar tab="review" alsoOpen={['browser', 'files']} width={320} />
   ),
+  play: async ({ canvasElement }) => {
+    // Astryx's TabList hides its own overflow scrollbar (`scrollbar-width:
+    // none`) and scrolls the strip instead. The app default must not override
+    // that: as a `*` rule in `layer(components)` it out-ranked the component
+    // layer and re-showed the bar (#2538). The app default now lives in the
+    // lower `base` layer, so it no longer competes with the strip's `none`.
+    const tablist = await within(canvasElement).findByRole('tablist');
+    const nodes = [tablist, ...tablist.querySelectorAll<HTMLElement>('*')];
+    const strip = nodes.find((node) => getComputedStyle(node).overflowX === 'auto');
+    if (!strip) {
+      throw new Error('expected the tab strip to expose a horizontal scroll container');
+    }
+    expect(getComputedStyle(strip).scrollbarWidth).toBe('none');
+
+    // Keeping the default universal is equally important: `scrollbar-width`
+    // does not inherit, so a root-only rule would leave this scrollport `auto`.
+    const reviewPanel = await waitFor(() => {
+      const element = canvasElement.querySelector<HTMLElement>(
+        '.maka-session-review-panel',
+      );
+      if (!element) throw new Error('expected the review panel to render');
+      return element;
+    });
+    expect(getComputedStyle(reviewPanel).scrollbarWidth).toBe('thin');
+  },
 };
 
 // Below 991px the column stacks under the conversation at full width. The