Elementor single-color endpoint returns global_not_found for Neve palette colors

Summary

Neve palette colors remain visible in Elementor's global-colors collection, but an individual Neve color lookup returns global_not_found. The individual endpoint is expected to return the selected Neve palette color so Elementor can retain declarations that reference it. Instead, CSS regeneration omits color-bound declarations, which can remove button, border, and section colors from the frontend while the editor still looks correct.

Customer context

• Product / area: Neve Elementor compatibility, global colors REST integration
• Version: Neve 4.2.13; Neve Pro Addon 3.2.11
• Environment: WordPress 7.1.2; PHP 8.5.9; LiteSpeed; MariaDB 10.6; child theme active
• Integration / third party: Elementor 4.3.1 with Elementor Pro 4.3.0; also reported with Elementor 3.34.4 and Elementor Pro 3.34.3
• Reported error / symptom: /elementor/v1/globals/colors/nvprimaryaccent returns 404 with global_not_found, while the globals collection includes nvprimaryaccent
• Impact: Regenerated Elementor CSS omits declarations bound to Neve global colors, causing visible frontend styling loss. A child-theme filter was reported as a working temporary workaround.

Reproduction notes

Reported reproduction:

1. Use Neve 4.2.13 with Elementor and assign Neve global colors to Elementor controls.
2. Request /wp-json/elementor/v1/globals and observe the Neve colors in the collection.
3. Request /wp-json/elementor/v1/globals/colors/nvprimaryaccent and observe HTTP 404 with global_not_found.
4. Regenerate Elementor files and data.
5. Inspect the generated Kit CSS and frontend; declarations bound to the Neve global are absent while hardcoded values remain.

The customer reports the same result after rolling Elementor back from 4.3.x to 3.34.x. Local end-to-end reproduction was not performed; source and release-history inspection confirm the failing Neve branch.

Diagnosis

Conclusion

The defect is confirmed in Neve. For a single Neve color route, Elementor::alter_global_colors_front_end() returns any incoming WP_Error before it inspects whether the requested ID belongs to Neve. The customer observed Elementor returning global_not_found for that ID, so the Neve response-construction path is unreachable. Commit 38126e48a6b9b5d7a4532b555dec9a7c28a77b95, released in 4.2.12, introduced this early return; 4.2.11 lacks it and 4.2.13 retains it, establishing a regression.

Where this likely occurs

• Elementor global-color REST compatibility: inc/compatibility/elementor.php — Elementor::init() lines 61-73 registers both REST-response filters when Elementor is active.
• Single-color resolution: inc/compatibility/elementor.php — Elementor::alter_global_colors_front_end() lines 142-179 returns at lines 143-145 on any WP_Error, before matching known Neve IDs at lines 147-169 and constructing the palette response at lines 171-178.
• Globals collection: inc/compatibility/elementor.php — Elementor::alter_global_colors_in_picker() lines 190-231 independently adds Neve palette colors to /elementor/v1/globals, explaining why collection and individual lookups disagree.
• Regression history: commit 38126e48a6b9b5d7a4532b555dec9a7c28a77b95 added the error guard and tests; it is contained in tags v4.2.12 and v4.2.13, but not in v4.2.11. CHANGELOG.md lines 5-19 records the 4.2.12 Elementor error-response change.

Engineering notes

The 4.2.12 change closed issue #4559, where a WP_Error from the collection endpoint caused a fatal call to get_data(). The newly reported behavior concerns the separate single-color callback: an error can be the expected upstream response for a Neve-injected ID unknown to Elementor, while Neve owns the mapping and palette value. The inspected integration lives entirely in the free Neve theme; no matching handler was found in Neve Pro Addon. Elementor source is not present in the workspace, so its CSS-generator behavior is supported by the customer's endpoint observations, generated-CSS comparison, and working workaround rather than local dependency inspection.

Test coverage status

tests/test-elementor-compatibility.php contains unit coverage for both REST callbacks. TestElementorCompatibility::test_global_colors_front_end_passes_through_wp_error() lines 52-61 uses a rest_forbidden error and requires all single-color errors to pass through. TestElementorCompatibility::test_global_colors_front_end_overrides_color() lines 78-91 only verifies substitution when the incoming response is already successful. The suite does not cover a global_not_found response for a known Neve-owned color ID. The targeted PHPUnit file could not be run because phpunit is unavailable in the environment.

What to verify or explore next

• Reproduce the individual lookup and CSS regeneration with Neve 4.2.11, 4.2.12, and 4.2.13 against the reported Elementor version pairs.
• Exercise the existing Elementor compatibility PHPUnit suite with global_not_found for a known Neve ID, an unknown ID, and authorization-related errors.
• Confirm whether all built-in and custom Neve palette IDs follow the same individual-lookup path.
• Verify CSS output for controls referencing Neve globals after Elementor's Regenerate Files & Data workflow.

Unknowns / follow-up

• Elementor's internal single-global resolution and CSS-generation source was not available in the workspace.
• The report demonstrates the failure for nvprimaryaccent; the remaining built-in and custom IDs were not runtime-tested here.

Confidence

Confidence: 98/100

The reported 404 is directly explained by a Neve 4.2.12 guard that returns Elementor's error before Neve resolves its own color ID; git history proves the behavior was introduced after 4.2.11 and remains in 4.2.13. No matching open issue was found.

Source: HelpScout #3461723835
Generated by bug-report-triage (ID: bug-report-triage_6ab54922aa1192.25004359)