Hi, thanks for sharing this issue.

The 'pinned' status is a state flag that is stored with the representation of the test inside NCrunch's .NCrunch_SolutionName\SolutionName.crunchsolution.cache file. This allows it to persist between sessions of NCrunch.

However, when you unpin a test, this flag gets cleared. The test shouldn't repin itself without you specifically choosing to do so.

At which point do the tests repin themselves? Is this after you reload the IDE? Or is there something else that appears to trigger it?

Is it possible you have this .cache file checked into your VCS/git?

For step 4, is the engine restarting automatically, or is this being done manually in the UI?

If you restart VS during switching of branches, do you experience the same problem? If not, what kind of behaviour do you see if you have the NCrunch engine shut down when you switch branch?

Thanks for these extra details. I think I understand what is happening here.

The 'Run pinned tests automatically, others manually' default engine mode is configured with a config setting override that will automatically pin a test when it is newly discovered.

When you switch branches, this causes NCrunch to discover a bunch of new tests (that happen to exist in the branch being switched to, but not in the previous branch). This then results in the new tests being pinned.

NCrunch itself doesn't have knowledge or handling of things like branch switches. As far as the synchronisation system is concerned, it's just a bunch of changes. So we don't have a way to discriminate between tests that are actually newly created compared with tests that have reappeared as a result of branch switch.

For the way you're working, the easiest options may be to edit the pinned test engine mode to remove the config setting override. As long as you adjust the Tests Window filters to make sure that new tests are listed, you can simply pin them manually as they show up. Child tests will automatically inherit the pinned status from their fixture, which may also help with auto-pinning when writing new tests.

Look for the Tests Window toolbar button with a blue question mark on it with a little eye in the corner. As long as this button is pushed/checked, new tests will be visible in the Tests Window.