Option to Disable Auto-Reopening of Last Sketch on Startup

[JesseInSTL]

Describe the request

As a user who values workflow clarity and intentional session management, I’d like to request a setting in the Arduino IDE that allows users to disable the automatic reopening of the last sketch upon startup.

Currently, the IDE always reopens the most recent sketch, which can be disruptive in several scenarios:

• When troubleshooting or testing unrelated code, I prefer starting with a clean slate.
• When working across multiple projects, auto-reopening can lead to confusion or accidental edits.
• When closing the IDE with sensitive or incomplete work, reopening it automatically may expose or overwrite unintended files.

This behavior also complicates scripted or shortcut-based launches where a specific sketch is intended to open, but the IDE overrides that with the last session.

🔧 Proposed Solution: Introduce a user-configurable setting such as:

• Open last sketch on startup: [Yes/No]
• Or a launch flag that bypasses session restoration (--no-restore)

This would empower users to tailor the IDE’s behavior to their workflow needs, especially those who prioritize modularity, privacy, or clean startup environments.

I believe this feature would benefit educators, testers, and anyone managing multiple sketches or devices. It aligns with best practices in other IDEs and respects user autonomy.

Thanks for considering this request—and for your continued work on improving the Arduino IDE!

Describe the current behavior

Opens previous sketch

Arduino IDE version

2.x

Operating system

Windows

Operating system version

10

Additional context

No response

Issue checklist

• I searched for previous requests in the issue tracker
• I verified the feature was still missing when using the latest nightly build
• My request contains all necessary details

[per1234]

Hi @JesseInSTL. Thanks for taking the time to submit an issue.

I see we have another report about this at #1532.

It is best to have only a single issue per subject so we can consolidate all relevant information to one place, so I'll go ahead and close this in favor of the other.