diff --git a/core/src/main/java/ai/timefold/solver/core/api/domain/variable/ShadowSources.java b/core/src/main/java/ai/timefold/solver/core/api/domain/variable/ShadowSources.java
index 91628d00576..2f6b2687813 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/ai/timefold/solver/core/api/domain/variable/ShadowSources.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/ai/timefold/solver/core/api/domain/variable/ShadowSources.java
@@ -20,7 +20,8 @@
      *
      * <ul>
      * <li>
-     * "variableName", for referring any variable on the same planning entity.
+     * "variableName", for referring any variable on the same planning entity,
+     * except a {@link PlanningListVariable}, which cannot be used as a source.
      * </li>
      * <li>
      * A list of names seperated by ".", such as "variableOrFact.fact.entity.variable",
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/ai/timefold/solver/core/api/domain/variable/ShadowVariable.java b/core/src/main/java/ai/timefold/solver/core/api/domain/variable/ShadowVariable.java
index a2fa0e0b09f..4ac06c9b5a9 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/ai/timefold/solver/core/api/domain/variable/ShadowVariable.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/ai/timefold/solver/core/api/domain/variable/ShadowVariable.java
@@ -11,8 +11,8 @@
 
 /**
  * Specifies that a bean property (or a field) is a custom shadow variable of 1 or more source variables.
- * The source variable may be a genuine {@link PlanningVariable}, {@link PlanningListVariable},
- * or another shadow variable.
+ * The source variable may be a genuine {@link PlanningVariable} or another shadow variable.
+ * A genuine {@link PlanningListVariable} cannot be a source.
  * <p>
  * It is specified on a getter of a java bean property (or a field) of a {@link PlanningEntity} class.
  */
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/ai/timefold/solver/core/impl/domain/variable/declarative/RootVariableSource.java b/core/src/main/java/ai/timefold/solver/core/impl/domain/variable/declarative/RootVariableSource.java
index de226d1cdb7..9eaa2477f41 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/ai/timefold/solver/core/impl/domain/variable/declarative/RootVariableSource.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/ai/timefold/solver/core/impl/domain/variable/declarative/RootVariableSource.java
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 
 import ai.timefold.solver.core.api.domain.variable.InverseRelationShadowVariable;
 import ai.timefold.solver.core.api.domain.variable.NextElementShadowVariable;
+import ai.timefold.solver.core.api.domain.variable.PlanningListVariable;
 import ai.timefold.solver.core.api.domain.variable.PlanningVariable;
 import ai.timefold.solver.core.api.domain.variable.PreviousElementShadowVariable;
 import ai.timefold.solver.core.api.domain.variable.ShadowSources;
@@ -126,6 +127,16 @@ public static <Entity_, Value_> RootVariableSource<Entity_, Value_> from(
                 }
 
                 var isVariable = isVariable(solutionMetaModel, memberAccessor.getDeclaringClass(), pathPart.name());
+                if (isVariable
+                        && getAnnotation(memberAccessor.getDeclaringClass(), pathPart.name(),
+                                PlanningListVariable.class) != null) {
+                    throw new IllegalArgumentException(
+                            """
+                                    The source path (%s) starting from root class (%s) accesses a planning list variable (%s), which is not allowed.
+                                    Maybe remove the source path (%s) from the @%s?"""
+                                    .formatted(variablePath, rootEntityClass.getSimpleName(), pathPart.name(),
+                                            variablePath, ShadowSources.class.getSimpleName()));
+                }
                 chainToVariable.add(memberAccessor);
                 for (var chain : chainStartingFromSourceVariableList) {
                     chain.add(memberAccessor);
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/ai/timefold/solver/core/impl/domain/variable/declarative/RootVariableSourceTest.java b/core/src/test/java/ai/timefold/solver/core/impl/domain/variable/declarative/RootVariableSourceTest.java
index 0c64370ecc9..5379ad53114 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/ai/timefold/solver/core/impl/domain/variable/declarative/RootVariableSourceTest.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/ai/timefold/solver/core/impl/domain/variable/declarative/RootVariableSourceTest.java
@@ -548,6 +548,23 @@ void invalidPathUsingGroupAfterGroup() {
                         " after another collection (group), which is not allowed.");
     }
 
+    @Test
+    void invalidPathUsingBareListVariable() {
+        assertThatCode(() -> RootVariableSource.from(
+                planningSolutionMetaModel,
+                TestdataInvalidDeclarativeEntity.class,
+                "shadow",
+                "values",
+                DEFAULT_MEMBER_ACCESSOR_FACTORY,
+                DEFAULT_DESCRIPTOR_POLICY))
+                .isInstanceOf(IllegalArgumentException.class)
+                .hasMessageContainingAll(
+                        """
+                                The source path (values) starting from root class (TestdataInvalidDeclarativeEntity) \
+                                accesses a planning list variable (values), which is not allowed.""",
+                        "Maybe remove the source path (values) from the @ShadowSources?");
+    }
+
     @Test
     void invalidPathUsingGroupAfterVariable() {
         assertThatCode(() -> RootVariableSource.from(
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/ai/timefold/solver/core/testdomain/shadow/invalid/TestdataInvalidDeclarativeEntity.java b/core/src/test/java/ai/timefold/solver/core/testdomain/shadow/invalid/TestdataInvalidDeclarativeEntity.java
index 647abb9152a..d8f36caae75 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/ai/timefold/solver/core/testdomain/shadow/invalid/TestdataInvalidDeclarativeEntity.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/ai/timefold/solver/core/testdomain/shadow/invalid/TestdataInvalidDeclarativeEntity.java
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@
 
 @PlanningEntity
 public class TestdataInvalidDeclarativeEntity extends TestdataObject {
+    TestdataInvalidDeclarativeEntity fact;
+
     @PlanningListVariable
     List<TestdataInvalidDeclarativeValue> values;
 
@@ -23,9 +25,17 @@ public TestdataInvalidDeclarativeEntity(String code) {
         super(code);
     }
 
-    @ShadowSources("values")
+    @ShadowSources("fact.shadow")
     public Integer shadowSupplier() {
-        return values.size();
+        return fact == null ? 0 : fact.getShadow();
+    }
+
+    public TestdataInvalidDeclarativeEntity getFact() {
+        return fact;
+    }
+
+    public void setFact(TestdataInvalidDeclarativeEntity fact) {
+        this.fact = fact;
     }
 
     public List<TestdataInvalidDeclarativeValue> getValues() {
diff --git a/docs/src/modules/ROOT/pages/domain-modeling/modeling-planning-problems.adoc b/docs/src/modules/ROOT/pages/domain-modeling/modeling-planning-problems.adoc
index d79b4689052..adc7ff8c69b 100644
--- a/docs/src/modules/ROOT/pages/domain-modeling/modeling-planning-problems.adoc
+++ b/docs/src/modules/ROOT/pages/domain-modeling/modeling-planning-problems.adoc
@@ -1800,7 +1800,7 @@ These paths must follow 1 of 3 syntactic forms:
 
 |Simple Variable Name
 |"variableName"
-|Refers to a variable (genuine or shadow) on the same planning entity.
+|Refers to a variable (genuine or shadow) on the same planning entity. A planning list variable cannot be used as a source.
 
 |Chained Property Path
 |"a.b.c"