diff --git a/build.js b/build.js
index 755f2ddf..f6036cdd 100644
--- a/build.js
+++ b/build.js
@@ -15,9 +15,7 @@ async function init() {
   const distRoot = './dist';
   const pagesRoot = './docs/pages';
   const pages = await fs.readdir(new URL(pagesRoot, import.meta.url));
-  const { html } = await renderToString(new URL('./docs/layout.js', import.meta.url), {
-    lightMode: true
-  });
+  const { html } = await renderToString(new URL('./docs/layout.js', import.meta.url));
 
   await fs.rm(distRoot, { recursive: true, force: true });
   await fs.mkdir(distRoot, { recursive: true });
diff --git a/docs/components/footer.js b/docs/components/footer.js
index b2b251a2..4a36ad59 100644
--- a/docs/components/footer.js
+++ b/docs/components/footer.js
@@ -30,10 +30,7 @@ template.innerHTML = `
 
 class Footer extends HTMLElement {
   connectedCallback() {
-    if (!this.shadowRoot) {
-      this.attachShadow({ mode: 'open' });
-      this.shadowRoot.appendChild(template.content.cloneNode(true));
-    }
+    this.innerHTML = template.content.textContent;
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/docs/components/header.js b/docs/components/header.js
index 01c2a3a1..4c54f45d 100644
--- a/docs/components/header.js
+++ b/docs/components/header.js
@@ -61,10 +61,7 @@ template.innerHTML = `
 
 class Header extends HTMLElement {
   connectedCallback() {
-    if (!this.shadowRoot) {
-      this.attachShadow({ mode: 'open' });
-      this.shadowRoot.appendChild(template.content.cloneNode(true));
-    }
+    this.innerHTML = template.content.textContent;
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/docs/components/navigation.js b/docs/components/navigation.js
index 35ff41c7..731bc3dc 100644
--- a/docs/components/navigation.js
+++ b/docs/components/navigation.js
@@ -35,10 +35,7 @@ template.innerHTML = `
 
 class Navigation extends HTMLElement {
   connectedCallback() {
-    if (!this.shadowRoot) {
-      this.attachShadow({ mode: 'open' });
-      this.shadowRoot.appendChild(template.content.cloneNode(true));
-    }
+    this.innerHTML = template.content.textContent;
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/docs/layout.js b/docs/layout.js
index 12e40a0f..08a6740c 100644
--- a/docs/layout.js
+++ b/docs/layout.js
@@ -36,12 +36,8 @@ template.innerHTML = `
 `;
 
 class Layout extends HTMLElement {
-
   connectedCallback() {
-    if (!this.shadowRoot) {
-      this.attachShadow({ mode: 'open' });
-      this.shadowRoot.appendChild(template.content.cloneNode(true));
-    }
+    this.innerHTML = template.content.textContent;
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/docs/pages/docs.md b/docs/pages/docs.md
index edebd3e2..141cf224 100644
--- a/docs/pages/docs.md
+++ b/docs/pages/docs.md
@@ -75,21 +75,6 @@ const { html } = await renderFromHTML(`
 
 For example, even if `Header` or `Footer` use `import` to pull in additional custom elements, only the `Header` and `Footer custom elements used in the "entry" HTML are needed in the array.
 
-### Options
-
-`renderToString` and `renderFromHTML` also supports a second and third parameter respectively, that is an object, called `options`
-```js
-// default values
-{
-  lightMode: false
-}
-```
-
-It supports the following configuration(s):
-
-- `lightMode`: For more static outcomes (e.g. no declarative shadow DOM), this option will omit all wrapping `<template shadowroot="...">` tags when rendering out custom elements.  Useful for static sites or working with global CSS libraries.
-
-
 ## Metadata
 
 `renderToString` and `renderFromHTML` return not only HTML, but also metadata about all the custom elements registered as part of rendering the entry file.
diff --git a/src/wcc.js b/src/wcc.js
index cc499058..93862f6a 100644
--- a/src/wcc.js
+++ b/src/wcc.js
@@ -23,29 +23,29 @@ function isCustomElementDefinitionNode(node) {
     && expression.callee.property.name === 'define';
 }
 
-async function renderComponentRoots(tree, includeShadowRoots = true) {
+async function renderComponentRoots(tree) {
   for (const node of tree.childNodes) {
     if (node.tagName && node.tagName.indexOf('-') > 0) {
       const { tagName } = node;
       const { moduleURL } = definitions[tagName];
       const elementInstance = await initializeCustomElement(moduleURL, tagName, node.attrs);
       const elementHtml = elementInstance.shadowRoot
-        ? elementInstance.getInnerHTML({ includeShadowRoots })
+        ? elementInstance.getInnerHTML({ includeShadowRoots: true })
         : elementInstance.innerHTML;
       const elementTree = parseFragment(elementHtml);
-      
-      node.childNodes = node.childNodes.length === 0 
+
+      node.childNodes = node.childNodes.length === 0
         ? elementTree.childNodes
         : [...elementTree.childNodes, ...node.childNodes];
     }
 
     if (node.childNodes && node.childNodes.length > 0) {
-      await renderComponentRoots(node, includeShadowRoots);
+      await renderComponentRoots(node);
     }
 
     // does this only apply to `<template>` tags?
     if (node.content && node.content.childNodes && node.content.childNodes.length > 0) {
-      await renderComponentRoots(node.content, includeShadowRoots);
+      await renderComponentRoots(node.content);
     }
   }
 
@@ -125,20 +125,18 @@ async function initializeCustomElement(elementURL, tagName, attrs = []) {
   return elementInstance;
 }
 
-async function renderToString(elementURL, options = {}) {
+async function renderToString(elementURL) {
   definitions = [];
 
-  const { lightMode = false } = options;
-  const includeShadowRoots = !lightMode;
   const elementTagName = await getTagName(elementURL);
   const elementInstance = await initializeCustomElement(elementURL);
 
   const elementHtml = elementInstance.shadowRoot
-    ? elementInstance.getInnerHTML({ includeShadowRoots })
+    ? elementInstance.getInnerHTML({ includeShadowRoots: true })
     : elementInstance.innerHTML;
   const elementTree = getParse(elementHtml)(elementHtml);
-  const finalTree = await renderComponentRoots(elementTree, includeShadowRoots);
-  const html = !lightMode && elementTagName ? `
+  const finalTree = await renderComponentRoots(elementTree);
+  const html = elementTagName ? `
       <${elementTagName}>
         ${serialize(finalTree)}
       </${elementTagName}>
@@ -151,18 +149,15 @@ async function renderToString(elementURL, options = {}) {
   };
 }
 
-async function renderFromHTML(html, elements = [], options = {}) {
+async function renderFromHTML(html, elements = []) {
   definitions = [];
 
-  const { lightMode = false } = options;
-  const includeShadowRoots = !lightMode;
-
   for (const url of elements) {
     await initializeCustomElement(url);
   }
 
   const elementTree = getParse(html)(html);
-  const finalTree = await renderComponentRoots(elementTree, includeShadowRoots);
+  const finalTree = await renderComponentRoots(elementTree);
 
   return {
     html: serialize(finalTree),
diff --git a/test/cases/config-light-mode/config-light-mode.spec.js b/test/cases/config-light-mode/config-light-mode.spec.js
deleted file mode 100644
index 8999bbf9..00000000
--- a/test/cases/config-light-mode/config-light-mode.spec.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,88 +0,0 @@
-/*
- * Use Case
- * Run wcc against nested custom elements with nested declarative shadow dom and ensure no shadow is included
- *
- * User Result
- * Should return the expected HTML output for all levels of element nesting.
- *
- * User Workspace
- * src/
- *   components/
- *     navigation.js
- *     header.js
- *   pages/
- *     index.js
- * 
- * Config
- * {
- *   lightMode: true
- * }
- */
-
-import chai from 'chai';
-import { JSDOM } from 'jsdom';
-import { renderToString } from '../../../src/wcc.js';
-
-const expect = chai.expect;
-
-describe('Run WCC For ', function() {
-  const LABEL = 'Nested Custom Element w/ no using Light Mode configuration';
-  let dom;
-
-  before(async function() {
-    const { html } = await renderToString(new URL('./src/pages/index.js', import.meta.url), {
-      lightMode: true
-    });
-
-    dom = new JSDOM(html);
-  });
-
-  describe(LABEL, function() {
-    it('should not have one top level <template> with an open shadowroot', function() {
-      expect(dom.window.document.querySelectorAll('template[shadowroot="open"]').length).to.equal(0);
-      expect(dom.window.document.querySelectorAll('template').length).to.equal(0);
-    });
-
-    describe('static page content', function() {
-      it('should have the expected static content for the page', function() {
-        expect(dom.window.document.querySelector('h1').textContent).to.equal('Home Page');
-      });
-    });
-
-    describe('custom header element with nested navigation element', function() {
-      let headerContentsDom;
-
-      before(function() {
-        headerContentsDom = new JSDOM(dom.window.document.querySelectorAll('header')[0].innerHTML);
-      });
-
-      it('should have a <header> tag within the <template> shadowroot', function() {
-        expect(dom.window.document.querySelectorAll('header').length).to.equal(1);
-      });
-
-      it('should have expected content within the <header> tag', function() {
-        const content = headerContentsDom.window.document.querySelector('a h4').textContent;
-  
-        expect(content).to.contain('My Personal Blog');
-      });
-
-      describe('nested navigation element', function() {
-        let navigationContentsDom;
-  
-        before(function() {
-          navigationContentsDom = new JSDOM(headerContentsDom.window.document.querySelectorAll('wcc-navigation')[0].innerHTML);
-        });
-  
-        it('should have a <nav> tag within the <template> shadowroot', function() {
-          expect(navigationContentsDom.window.document.querySelectorAll('nav').length).to.equal(1);
-        });
-  
-        it('should have three links within the <nav> element', function() {
-          const links = navigationContentsDom.window.document.querySelectorAll('nav ul li a');
-    
-          expect(links.length).to.equal(3);
-        });
-      });
-    });
-  });
-});
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/cases/config-light-mode/src/components/header.js b/test/cases/config-light-mode/src/components/header.js
deleted file mode 100644
index 8cdabebc..00000000
--- a/test/cases/config-light-mode/src/components/header.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,43 +0,0 @@
-// intentionally nested to test wcc nested dependency resolution logic
-import './navigation.js';
-
-class Header extends HTMLElement {
-  connectedCallback() {
-    if (!this.shadowRoot) {
-      this.attachShadow({ mode: 'open' });
-      this.shadowRoot.innerHTML = this.render();
-    }
-  }
-
-  render() {
-    return `
-      <header class="header">
-        <div class="head-wrap">
-          <div class="brand">
-            <a href="/">
-              <img src="/www/assets/greenwood-logo.jpg" alt="Greenwood logo"/>
-              <h4>My Personal Blog</h4>
-            </a>
-          </div>
-
-          <wcc-navigation></wcc-navigation>
-
-          <div class="social">
-            <a href="https://github.com/ProjectEvergreen/greenwood">
-              <img
-                src="https://img.shields.io/github/stars/ProjectEvergreen/greenwood.svg?style=social&logo=github&label=github"
-                alt="Greenwood GitHub badge"
-                class="github-badge"/>
-            </a>
-          </div>
-        </div>
-      </header>
-    `;
-  }
-}
-
-export {
-  Header
-};
-
-customElements.define('wcc-header', Header);
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/cases/config-light-mode/src/components/navigation.js b/test/cases/config-light-mode/src/components/navigation.js
deleted file mode 100644
index 41c627d4..00000000
--- a/test/cases/config-light-mode/src/components/navigation.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,27 +0,0 @@
-// intentionally nested in the assets/ directory to test wcc nested dependency resolution logic
-const template = document.createElement('template');
-
-template.innerHTML = `
-  <nav>
-    <ul>
-      <li><a href="/">Home</a></li>
-      <li><a href="/about">About</a></li>
-      <li><a href="/artists">Artists</a></li>
-    <ul>
-  </nav>
-`;
-
-class Navigation extends HTMLElement {
-  connectedCallback() {
-    if (!this.shadowRoot) {
-      this.attachShadow({ mode: 'open' });
-      this.shadowRoot.appendChild(template.content.cloneNode(true));
-    }
-  }
-}
-
-export {
-  Navigation
-};
-
-customElements.define('wcc-navigation', Navigation);
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/cases/config-light-mode/src/pages/index.js b/test/cases/config-light-mode/src/pages/index.js
deleted file mode 100644
index 927c1918..00000000
--- a/test/cases/config-light-mode/src/pages/index.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,25 +0,0 @@
-import '../components/header.js';
-
-export default class HomePage extends HTMLElement {
-  constructor() {
-    super();
-
-    if (this.shadowRoot) {
-      // console.debug('HomePage => shadowRoot detected!');
-    } else {
-      this.attachShadow({ mode: 'open' });
-    }
-  }
-
-  connectedCallback() {
-    this.shadowRoot.innerHTML = this.getTemplate();
-  }
-
-  getTemplate() {
-    return `
-      <wcc-header></wcc-header>
-
-      <h1>Home Page</h1>
-    `;
-  }
-}
\ No newline at end of file