diff --git a/src/components/ProjectsContextProvider.tsx b/src/components/ProjectsContextProvider.tsx
index 1f59ec545..b242b1f85 100644
--- a/src/components/ProjectsContextProvider.tsx
+++ b/src/components/ProjectsContextProvider.tsx
@@ -402,8 +402,10 @@ const ProjectsContextDesktop = ({
           }
 
           // Create the project around the file if newProject
+          let fileLoaded = false
           if (input.method === 'newProject') {
             await createNewProjectDirectory(projectName, input.code)
+            fileLoaded = true
             message = `Project "${projectName}" created successfully with link contents`
           } else {
             message = `File "${fileName}" created successfully`
@@ -420,13 +422,16 @@ const ProjectsContextDesktop = ({
           })
 
           fileName = name
-          const codeToWrite = newKclFile(
-            input.code ?? '',
-            settings.modeling.defaultUnit.current
-          )
-          if (err(codeToWrite)) return Promise.reject(codeToWrite)
-          await window.electron.writeFile(path, codeToWrite)
+          if (!fileLoaded) {
+            const codeToWrite = newKclFile(
+              input.code ?? '',
+              settings.modeling.defaultUnit.current
+            )
+            if (err(codeToWrite)) return Promise.reject(codeToWrite)
+            await window.electron.writeFile(path, codeToWrite)
+          }
 
+          // TODO: Return the project's file name if one was created.
           return {
             message,
             fileName,
diff --git a/src/lib/desktop.ts b/src/lib/desktop.ts
index 5e252aaa8..455e0c4a8 100644
--- a/src/lib/desktop.ts
+++ b/src/lib/desktop.ts
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import {
   parseProjectSettings,
 } from 'lang/wasm'
 import {
+  DEFAULT_DEFAULT_LENGTH_UNIT,
   PROJECT_ENTRYPOINT,
   PROJECT_FOLDER,
   PROJECT_IMAGE_NAME,
@@ -21,6 +22,7 @@ import {
 import { DeepPartial } from './types'
 import { ProjectConfiguration } from '@rust/kcl-lib/bindings/ProjectConfiguration'
 import { Configuration } from '@rust/kcl-lib/bindings/Configuration'
+import { newKclFile } from 'lang/project'
 
 export async function renameProjectDirectory(
   projectPath: string,
@@ -113,7 +115,18 @@ export async function createNewProjectDirectory(
   }
 
   const projectFile = window.electron.path.join(projectDir, PROJECT_ENTRYPOINT)
-  await window.electron.writeFile(projectFile, initialCode ?? '')
+  // When initialCode is present, we're loading existing code.  If it's not
+  // present, we're creating a new project, and we want to incorporate the
+  // user's settings.
+  const codeToWrite =
+    initialCode ??
+    newKclFile(
+      '',
+      configuration?.settings?.modeling?.base_unit ??
+        DEFAULT_DEFAULT_LENGTH_UNIT
+    )
+  if (err(codeToWrite)) return Promise.reject(codeToWrite)
+  await window.electron.writeFile(projectFile, codeToWrite)
   const metadata = await window.electron.stat(projectFile)
 
   return {