diff --git a/apps/desktop/electron/main.cjs b/apps/desktop/electron/main.cjs
index 002280e888e..2a4b2fcb29c 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/electron/main.cjs
+++ b/apps/desktop/electron/main.cjs
@@ -3789,7 +3789,7 @@ function getWindowButtonPosition() {
 }
 
 function getNativeOverlayWidth() {
-  return computeNativeOverlayWidth({ isWindows: IS_WINDOWS, isWsl: IS_WSL })
+  return computeNativeOverlayWidth({ isWindows: IS_WINDOWS, isWsl: IS_WSL, isMac: IS_MAC })
 }
 
 function getWindowState() {
diff --git a/apps/desktop/electron/titlebar-overlay-width.cjs b/apps/desktop/electron/titlebar-overlay-width.cjs
index 27a62f1a9f3..7c1e4ca09f0 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/electron/titlebar-overlay-width.cjs
+++ b/apps/desktop/electron/titlebar-overlay-width.cjs
@@ -1,11 +1,24 @@
-// Pre-layout fallback for WCO right-edge reservation (--titlebar-tools-right).
-// Live width comes from navigator.windowControlsOverlay in the renderer.
+'use strict'
 
 const OVERLAY_FALLBACK_WIDTH = 144
 
-/** @param {{ isWindows?: boolean, isWsl?: boolean }} opts */
-function nativeOverlayWidth({ isWindows = false, isWsl = false } = {}) {
-  return isWindows || isWsl ? OVERLAY_FALLBACK_WIDTH : 0
+/**
+ * Static pre-layout reservation (px) for the right-side native window-controls
+ * overlay (min/max/close). Only a FALLBACK — once laid out the renderer reads
+ * the exact width from navigator.windowControlsOverlay
+ * (use-window-controls-overlay-width.ts) and uses this value only when the WCO
+ * API is unavailable.
+ *
+ * macOS uses traffic lights positioned via trafficLightPosition, not a WCO
+ * overlay, so it reserves nothing here. Every other desktop platform now paints
+ * the Electron overlay (Windows, WSLg, and plain Linux KDE/GNOME), so they all
+ * reserve the fallback width.
+ *
+ * @param {{ isWindows?: boolean, isWsl?: boolean, isMac?: boolean }} opts
+ */
+function nativeOverlayWidth({ isWindows = false, isWsl = false, isMac = false } = {}) {
+  if (isMac) return 0
+  return OVERLAY_FALLBACK_WIDTH
 }
 
 module.exports = { OVERLAY_FALLBACK_WIDTH, nativeOverlayWidth }
diff --git a/apps/desktop/electron/titlebar-overlay-width.test.cjs b/apps/desktop/electron/titlebar-overlay-width.test.cjs
index a7b8b6f5215..b4d58c44b50 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/electron/titlebar-overlay-width.test.cjs
+++ b/apps/desktop/electron/titlebar-overlay-width.test.cjs
@@ -18,10 +18,17 @@ test('WSLg paints the same WCO, so it reserves the same fallback width', () => {
   assert.equal(nativeOverlayWidth({ isWsl: true }), OVERLAY_FALLBACK_WIDTH)
 })
 
-test('plain Linux and macOS reserve nothing', () => {
-  assert.equal(nativeOverlayWidth({ isWindows: false, isWsl: false }), 0)
-  assert.equal(nativeOverlayWidth(), 0)
-  assert.equal(nativeOverlayWidth({}), 0)
+test('plain Linux paints the WCO too, so it reserves the fallback width', () => {
+  // Regression #53185: re-enabling the overlay on plain Linux (KDE/GNOME)
+  // without reserving its width left the native min/max/close buttons painting
+  // on top of the app's right-edge titlebar tools.
+  assert.equal(nativeOverlayWidth({ isWindows: false, isWsl: false }), OVERLAY_FALLBACK_WIDTH)
+  assert.equal(nativeOverlayWidth(), OVERLAY_FALLBACK_WIDTH)
+  assert.equal(nativeOverlayWidth({}), OVERLAY_FALLBACK_WIDTH)
+})
+
+test('macOS uses traffic lights, not a WCO overlay, so it reserves nothing', () => {
+  assert.equal(nativeOverlayWidth({ isMac: true }), 0)
 })
 
 test('the fallback width is a sane positive pixel value', () => {
diff --git a/scripts/release.py b/scripts/release.py
index 78bb1d76c3c..1b1c88e38ac 100755
--- a/scripts/release.py
+++ b/scripts/release.py
@@ -70,6 +70,7 @@ AUTHOR_MAP = {
     "165020384+uperLu@users.noreply.github.com": "uperLu",  # PR #50958 salvage (rename plugins/cron → plugins/cron_providers; #50872)
     "277269729+yusekiotacode@users.noreply.github.com": "yusekiotacode",  # PR #48706 salvage (anthropic OAuth login token endpoint → platform.claude.com; #45250/#49821)
     "minz0721@outlook.com": "s010mn",  # PR #29221 salvage (ollama-cloud reasoning_effort xhigh→max)
+    "128256017+chriswesley4@users.noreply.github.com": "chriswesley4",  # PR #53185 salvage (re-enable titleBarOverlay on plain Linux; missing min/max/close regression)
     "jeevesassistant00@gmail.com": "jeeves-assistant",  # PR #50771 (computer-use CuaDriver vision capture routing)
     "21178861+ScotterMonk@users.noreply.github.com": "ScotterMonk",  # PR #50145 salvage (cron output truncation: adapter-aware chunking, #50126)
     "rrandqua@gmail.com": "TutkuEroglu",  # PR #50481 salvage (AGENTS.md stale token-lock adapter path)