Open recent workspace

I need the workspace I was working in yesterday — open the most recent folder named data-pipeline and restore its window layout so my terminal and Explorer panes appear as they were. Check the workspace file loads and the last session files are listed; if any are missing, warn me which ones before I start running anything.

Before I reopen the recent workspace, surface the things I care about: show the last modified files at the top, surface unsaved files, and call out any extensions that failed to activate. If a large search index will rebuild, tell me how long that will likely take and give an option to postpone.

I clicked the recent entry for data-pipeline and the window that opened is an old prototype with a different folder structure. I need to get back to the true recent workspace without losing unsaved changes. Who might have changed the recent list, what should I check first to identify the correct folder, and what is the safest immediate action to restore the right workspace and preserve any unsaved files?

I repeatedly open the wrong workspace because my projects share similar names and the Recent list is noisy. This costs me about five minutes each morning and sometimes loses context. What habit or small setup change will stop this — better naming, pinning important workspaces, or a different session save routine — and how do I implement it so it becomes automatic?