Description

Stefterv

opened on Aug 28, 2025

Issue body actions

Most appropriate sub-area of Processing 4?

PDE

Processing version

4.4.6

Operating system

macOS

Bug description

When running the Processing cli, having a sketch with a different main file, e.g. sketch/main.pde the cli returns that the sketch is not a valid sketch folder, sketch/sketch.pde does not exist.

Steps to reproduce this

1. Create a new sketch

2. Rename the main file

3. Try to run the sketch with the cli

snippet

No response

Additional context

No response

Would you like to work on the issue?

No, I’m just reporting the issue

Activity

1. Stefterv

   added

   bugSomething isn't workingSomething isn't working

   help wantedExtra attention is neededExtra attention is needed

   pdeProcessing Development EnvironmentProcessing Development Environment

   good first issueGood for newcomersGood for newcomers

   on Aug 28, 2025
2. stepperpig commented on Sep 1, 2025

   

   stepperpig

   on Sep 1, 2025

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   Hi @Stefterv, I'd be interested in looking into this issue.
3. Stefterv commented on Sep 2, 2025

   

   Stefterv

   on Sep 2, 2025

   MemberAuthor

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   Hi @stepperpig Great that you are interested, could you give us a quick overview of what your approach would be?
4. skools-here commented on Sep 8, 2025

   

   skools-here

   on Sep 8, 2025

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   Hi, I’d like to work on this issue.

   According to me currently, the CLI enforces the rule that the main .pde file must match the sketch folder name (e.g. sketch/sketch.pde). If the file is renamed (e.g. main.pde), it fails.

   Instead, it must:

   First look for a .pde file matching the folder name (current behavior).

   If not found, fall back to the first .pde file in the sketch folder (same behavior the PDE GUI uses).

   Add tests to ensure sketches with main.pde or other names can still run from the CLI.

   I think this will work good.
5. Stefterv commented on Sep 8, 2025

   

   Stefterv

   on Sep 8, 2025

   MemberAuthor

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   Hi @skools-here thank you for this description! I can tell you that the PDE looks for the sketch defined in the sketch.properties file if no matching PDE is found, if no sketch.properties exists then the process should error out.
6. skools-here commented on Sep 8, 2025

   

   skools-here

   on Sep 8, 2025

   More actions

   Thanks for the clarification!

   So for the fix, I can update the CLI so that:

   It first looks for .pde as it does now.

   If that’s missing, it will check sketch.properties for the main entry and use that file as the entry point.

   If neither .pde nor sketch.properties exists, the CLI will return an error.

   This should bring the CLI in line with the PDE’s behavior. I’ll also add/update tests to cover the cases with main.pde and with/without sketch.properties.
7. Stefterv

   assigned

   skools-here

   on Sep 8, 2025
8. Mr-KRAMA commented on Sep 23, 2025

   

   Mr-KRAMA

   on Sep 23, 2025

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   Hi @Stefterv, I'm interested in contributing to Processing. I see #1219 is already assigned, but I'd be happy to help with other CLI-related issues or review/test the current fix. Are there any other good first issues I could work on?
9. Stefterv

   unassigned

   skools-here

   on Oct 14, 2025
10. avinxshKD commented on Oct 30, 2025

    

    avinxshKD

    on Oct 30, 2025

    Contributor

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    hey @Stefterv is this issue still available? I would like to work on this, pls assign
11. Stefterv

    assigned

    avinxshKD

    on Oct 30, 2025
12. avinxshKD

    added a commit that references this issue on Nov 18, 2025

    fix(cli): support sketches with custom main file names

    This issue will close once commit 8a4ea97 is merged into the 'main' branch.

    8a4ea97
13. catilac

    closed this as completedin #1329on Jan 28, 2026
14. pull

    added a commit that references this issue on Jan 28, 2026

    fix(cli): support sketches with custom main file names (processing#1329)

    This issue will close once commit fa85cd4 is merged into the 'main' branch.

    fa85cd4

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