processing / processing/processing4

Last Sketch on Startup

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enhancement
Dominant language
Java
Stars
494
Forks
183
Avg merge
4h 39m
Merged PRs (30d)
3

Description

Most relevant area for this enhancement?

Core/Environment/Rendering

Feature to enhance

IDE startup behavior (Base class logic)

Desired enhancement

Automatically restore and open the last sketch the user worked on when the IDE starts, if no sketches are passed via command line.

Potential benefits

Saves time by eliminating manual reopening of recent sketches

Improves continuity and workflow when restarting the IDE

Matches behavior users expect from modern IDEs/editors

Easy fallback to default handleNew() behavior if the last sketch is missing

Possible drawbacks

No response

Additional context

Users may not expect sketches to reopen automatically if they prefer a clean start

If the last sketch folder was deleted or moved, the IDE will fall back to a new sketch — which could cause confusion if not logged clearly

No toggle yet to disable the feature (could be added in the future)

Would you like to work on the issue?

Yes

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by locating the IDE startup Base class logic in Core/Environment/Rendering and trace how command-line sketches and the default handleNew() path are handled. Define the last-sketch lookup and missing-folder fallback, then verify that startup restores the previous sketch only when no sketch was passed on the command line.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
java
Domain
desktop
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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