Option to start with a completely blank editor (no auto-opened UI or buffers)

[joorddevreede]

Hi,

And, first of all: thanks for this editor that has 'normal'~ish key convention and mode-behaviour. This is really appreciated.

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I’d like to request a setting that allows Fresh to start in a completely blank state, regardless of how it was previously closed.

Current behavior
When all buffers are closed, the File Explorer opens automatically
On restart, Fresh may reopen UI elements such as:
File Explorer
Previously opened buffers (configurable since 0.30)
Other widgets or dashboards
Desired behavior

Provide an option to keep the editor fully empty at all times unless the user explicitly opens something:

When closing the last buffer, nothing should open automatically (no File Explorer)
On startup:
No buffers opened
No File Explorer
No dashboard or widgets
No restoration of previous session state

Essentially, the editor should remain a blank workspace both during use and on startup, and the user manually opens anything they need via keybindings.

Motivation

This workflow is useful for users who prefer full control over what gets opened, rather than restoring prior state or showing default UI components.

For example, editors like MS-Edit behave this way:

Nothing opens by default
File explorer and other UI elements are only opened on demand
Additional context
In version 0.24, I had to manually close buffers to prevent them from reopening on startup
In 0.30, the option to disable buffer restoration was added (which is greatly appreciated)
However, UI elements like the File Explorer still open automatically (including when the last buffer is closed), which breaks the “clean start” workflow
Suggested solution

A single setting (e.g. start_blank = true) that:

Disables session restore entirely
Prevents automatic opening of File Explorer or other panels
Prevents File Explorer from opening when the last buffer is closed

[sinelaw]

Moved to issue #1753

[joorddevreede]

Thank you for picking this up so quickly.

I upgraded Fresh from source, rebuilt it, and tested the new behavior on NixOS. The new options work exactly for the workflow I was hoping for:

file_explorer.auto_open_on_last_buffer_close = false now prevents the file explorer from auto-spawning when the last buffer is closed. 👍
editor.auto_create_empty_buffer_on_last_buffer_close = false now makes the workspace feel properly blank instead of showing an unwanted [No Name] buffer. 👍
Moving the startup/session-related options together also makes the behavior much easier to reason about.
The more granular restore-session / hot-exit behavior is also very welcome. It gives Fresh a much clearer way to express “Notepad++-style restore session on clean exit” versus a truly clean blank-start workflow.

So from my side: this is a big improvement. More options here really do make Fresh easier to configure precisely for different workflows.

Thanks again for the fast response and implementation.

Just .. amazing.