How to Stop VS Code from Opening a New Tab and GitHub Copilot Welcome Screen

If you use Visual Studio Code regularly, you might have noticed something annoying:

• Every time you open VS Code, it starts with a new empty untitled tab, even when you don’t need it.
• On top of that, GitHub Copilot sometimes opens its welcome or chat panel automatically.

These small distractions may not seem like a big deal, but over time, they slow down your workflow. Luckily, you can disable both with a few quick settings changes.

🛠 Stop VS Code from Opening a New Untitled Tab

By default, VS Code shows either a new blank file or the welcome page at startup. To stop that:

1. Open Settings (click the ⚙️ gear icon at the bottom left).
2. In the search bar, type "startup editor".
3. You’ll find an option: Workbench › Startup Editor.
   • It’s usually set to "welcomePage" or "newUntitledFile".
4. Change this to "none".

📸 Screenshot Example:

👉 Now when you launch VS Code, it won’t open a random new file or tab.

🛠 Stop GitHub Copilot from Opening Its Tab Automatically

GitHub Copilot sometimes pops up its welcome screen or chat panel. To prevent this:

1. Open Settings and search for "Copilot".
2. Uncheck or disable these options:
   • Copilot: Show Welcome
   • Copilot: Chat Panel Open
3. If the problem continues, go to Copilot extension settings and disable "Show Editor On Startup".

📸 Screenshot Example:

This ensures Copilot runs in the background but doesn’t interrupt you every time you open VS Code.

🔒 Extra Tip: Restore Your Last Session Instead

Instead of starting with a blank screen, you can configure VS Code to reopen your last session (the files and projects you were working on):

1. Search for "window.restoreWindows" in Settings.
2. Set it to "all".

👉 With this, VS Code always reopens your last workspace, so you can continue where you left off.

✅ Conclusion

With just a few tweaks in settings, you can:

• Stop VS Code from creating a new empty tab on startup.
• Prevent GitHub Copilot from showing its welcome panel.
• Automatically reopen your last files and projects for a smoother workflow.

These small adjustments make VS Code cleaner and faster, helping you focus on what truly matters: coding.

✨ Pro Tip: If you want, you can also edit your settings.json directly for more control.