Fix: after opening new tab and insert, closing the tab, then coming back to the first and only tab, kept listed buffer count to 1. But then after inserting on it added 1 more hidden buffer so total listed buffer count became 2 while the total tab+file was 1.

lua/plugins/custom/alpha.lua

@@ -46,10 +46,24 @@ return {
 			alpha.redraw()
 		end
 
+		-- Function to handle New File logic
+		local function new_file_alpha()
+			local listed = vim.fn.getbufinfo { buflisted = 1 } -- all listed buffers
+			local tabs = vim.api.nvim_list_tabpages() -- all tabs
+			-- If exactly one listed buffer AND one tab, delete all listed buffers and open insert mode in a new buffer
+			if #listed == 1 and #tabs == 1 then
+				for _, buf in ipairs(listed) do
+					pcall(vim.api.nvim_buf_delete, buf.bufnr, { force = true })
+				end
+			end
+			vim.cmd 'enew'
+			vim.cmd 'startinsert'
+		end
+
 		-- Setup buttons
 		dashboard.section.buttons.val = {
 			-- New file
-			dashboard.button('i', '  New File', '<Cmd>enew<CR><Cmd>startinsert<CR>'),
+			dashboard.button('i', '  New File', new_file_alpha),
 			-- Create new tab and open Alpha
 			dashboard.button('<leader>e', '  New Tab', '<Cmd>tabnew<CR><Cmd>lua require("alpha").start(true)<CR>'),
 			-- Open Neo-tree in current directory