diff --git a/studio/frontend/src/features/recipe-studio/dialogs/llm/general-tab.tsx b/studio/frontend/src/features/recipe-studio/dialogs/llm/general-tab.tsx
index 90ba25f822..eb342c26de 100644
--- a/studio/frontend/src/features/recipe-studio/dialogs/llm/general-tab.tsx
+++ b/studio/frontend/src/features/recipe-studio/dialogs/llm/general-tab.tsx
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ import {
 } from "@/components/ui/select";
 import { Switch } from "@/components/ui/switch";
 import { Textarea } from "@/components/ui/textarea";
-import { type ReactElement, type RefObject, useMemo, useState } from "react";
+import { type ReactElement, type RefObject, useMemo } from "react";
 import { useRecipeStudioStore } from "../../stores/recipe-studio";
 import type { LlmConfig } from "../../types";
 import { isLikelyImageValue } from "../../utils/image-preview";
@@ -151,7 +151,7 @@ export function LlmGeneralTab({
   }, [imageColumnOptions, imageContext.column_name, seedColumns]);
   const traceModeId = `${config.id}-trace-mode`;
   const reasoningToggleId = `${config.id}-reasoning-content`;
-  const [advancedOpen, setAdvancedOpen] = useState(false);
+  const advancedOpen = config.advancedOpen === true;
 
   return (
     <div className="space-y-4">
@@ -358,7 +358,10 @@ export function LlmGeneralTab({
           </p>
         )}
       </div>
-      <Collapsible open={advancedOpen} onOpenChange={setAdvancedOpen}>
+      <Collapsible
+        open={advancedOpen}
+        onOpenChange={(open) => onUpdate({ advancedOpen: open })}
+      >
         <CollapsibleTrigger asChild={true}>
           <button
             type="button"
diff --git a/studio/frontend/src/features/recipe-studio/dialogs/samplers/category-dialog.tsx b/studio/frontend/src/features/recipe-studio/dialogs/samplers/category-dialog.tsx
index 49fb6c62a1..3a776fadd9 100644
--- a/studio/frontend/src/features/recipe-studio/dialogs/samplers/category-dialog.tsx
+++ b/studio/frontend/src/features/recipe-studio/dialogs/samplers/category-dialog.tsx
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ export function CategoryDialog({
   onUpdate,
 }: CategoryDialogProps): ReactElement {
   const [conditionDraft, setConditionDraft] = useState("");
-  const [advancedOpen, setAdvancedOpen] = useState(false);
+  const advancedOpen = config.advancedOpen === true;
   const conditionInputId = `${config.id}-conditional-rule`;
   const conditional = config.conditional_params ?? {};
   const conditionalCount = Object.keys(conditional).length;
@@ -112,7 +112,10 @@ export function CategoryDialog({
           />
         </div>
       </div>
-      <Collapsible open={advancedOpen} onOpenChange={setAdvancedOpen}>
+      <Collapsible
+        open={advancedOpen}
+        onOpenChange={(open) => onUpdate({ advancedOpen: open })}
+      >
         <CollapsibleTrigger asChild={true}>
           <button
             type="button"
diff --git a/studio/frontend/src/features/recipe-studio/dialogs/seed/seed-dialog.tsx b/studio/frontend/src/features/recipe-studio/dialogs/seed/seed-dialog.tsx
index 94e292c479..0e2b744b26 100644
--- a/studio/frontend/src/features/recipe-studio/dialogs/seed/seed-dialog.tsx
+++ b/studio/frontend/src/features/recipe-studio/dialogs/seed/seed-dialog.tsx
@@ -212,7 +212,7 @@ async function toUnstructuredUploadFile(file: File): Promise<File> {
 export function SeedDialog({ config, onUpdate, open }: SeedDialogProps): ReactElement {
   const [inspectError, setInspectError] = useState<string | null>(null);
   const [isInspecting, setIsInspecting] = useState(false);
-  const [advancedOpen, setAdvancedOpen] = useState(false);
+  const advancedOpen = config.advancedOpen === true;
   const [previewRows, setPreviewRows] = useState<Record<string, unknown>[]>([]);
   const [expandedPreviewRows, setExpandedPreviewRows] = useState<Record<number, boolean>>({});
   const [localFile, setLocalFile] = useState<File | null>(null);
@@ -618,7 +618,10 @@ export function SeedDialog({ config, onUpdate, open }: SeedDialogProps): ReactEl
             </div>
           )}
 
-          <Collapsible open={advancedOpen} onOpenChange={setAdvancedOpen}>
+          <Collapsible
+            open={advancedOpen}
+            onOpenChange={(openState) => onUpdate({ advancedOpen: openState })}
+          >
             <CollapsibleTrigger asChild={true}>
               <button
                 type="button"
diff --git a/studio/frontend/src/features/recipe-studio/dialogs/validators/validator-dialog.tsx b/studio/frontend/src/features/recipe-studio/dialogs/validators/validator-dialog.tsx
index be87c7b912..fa6e3341fb 100644
--- a/studio/frontend/src/features/recipe-studio/dialogs/validators/validator-dialog.tsx
+++ b/studio/frontend/src/features/recipe-studio/dialogs/validators/validator-dialog.tsx
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ import {
   SelectTrigger,
   SelectValue,
 } from "@/components/ui/select";
-import { type ReactElement, useMemo, useState } from "react";
+import { type ReactElement, useMemo } from "react";
 import { useRecipeStudioStore } from "../../stores/recipe-studio";
 import type { ValidatorConfig } from "../../types";
 import { isValidatorCodeLang } from "../../utils/validators/code-lang";
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ export function ValidatorDialog({
   const configs = useRecipeStudioStore((state) => state.configs);
   const targetColumnId = `${config.id}-target-column`;
   const batchSizeId = `${config.id}-batch-size`;
-  const [advancedOpen, setAdvancedOpen] = useState(false);
+  const advancedOpen = config.advancedOpen === true;
   const codeOptions = useMemo(
     () =>
       Object.values(configs)
@@ -106,7 +106,10 @@ export function ValidatorDialog({
           </p>
         )}
       </div>
-      <Collapsible open={advancedOpen} onOpenChange={setAdvancedOpen}>
+      <Collapsible
+        open={advancedOpen}
+        onOpenChange={(open) => onUpdate({ advancedOpen: open })}
+      >
         <CollapsibleTrigger asChild={true}>
           <button
             type="button"
diff --git a/studio/frontend/src/features/recipe-studio/types/index.ts b/studio/frontend/src/features/recipe-studio/types/index.ts
index 70bd4edba6..1b8a829192 100644
--- a/studio/frontend/src/features/recipe-studio/types/index.ts
+++ b/studio/frontend/src/features/recipe-studio/types/index.ts
@@ -70,6 +70,8 @@ export type CategoryConditionalParams = {
 export type SamplerConfig = {
   id: string;
   kind: "sampler";
+  // ui-only
+  advancedOpen?: boolean;
   // biome-ignore lint/style/useNamingConvention: api schema
   sampler_type: SamplerType;
   name: string;
@@ -174,6 +176,8 @@ export type LlmTraceType = "none" | "last_message" | "all_messages";
 export type LlmConfig = {
   id: string;
   kind: "llm";
+  // ui-only
+  advancedOpen?: boolean;
   // biome-ignore lint/style/useNamingConvention: api schema
   llm_type: LlmType;
   name: string;
@@ -248,6 +252,8 @@ export type ExpressionConfig = {
 export type ValidatorConfig = {
   id: string;
   kind: "validator";
+  // ui-only
+  advancedOpen?: boolean;
   name: string;
   drop?: boolean;
   // biome-ignore lint/style/useNamingConvention: api schema
@@ -272,6 +278,8 @@ export type MarkdownNoteConfig = {
 export type SeedConfig = {
   id: string;
   kind: "seed";
+  // ui-only
+  advancedOpen?: boolean;
   name: string;
   drop?: boolean;
   // ui-only: explicit per-column drop for structured seed sources (hf/local)
diff --git a/studio/frontend/src/features/recipe-studio/utils/import/importer.ts b/studio/frontend/src/features/recipe-studio/utils/import/importer.ts
index dcec8b071e..def08974bc 100644
--- a/studio/frontend/src/features/recipe-studio/utils/import/importer.ts
+++ b/studio/frontend/src/features/recipe-studio/utils/import/importer.ts
@@ -5,7 +5,10 @@ import type {
   MarkdownNoteConfig,
   NodeConfig,
   RecipeProcessorConfig,
+  SeedConfig,
+  SamplerConfig,
   SeedSourceType,
+  ValidatorConfig,
 } from "../../types";
 import { buildEdges } from "./edges";
 import { isRecord, parseJson, readString } from "./helpers";
@@ -39,6 +42,7 @@ type UiInput = {
   unstructured_file_name?: unknown;
   unstructured_chunk_size?: unknown;
   unstructured_chunk_overlap?: unknown;
+  advanced_open_by_node?: unknown;
 };
 
 type UiMarkdownNoteNode = {
@@ -256,6 +260,42 @@ function parseUiMarkdownNoteNodes(input: unknown): UiMarkdownNoteNode[] {
   return noteNodes;
 }
 
+function parseAdvancedOpenByNode(input: unknown): Record<string, boolean> {
+  if (!isRecord(input)) {
+    return {};
+  }
+  const out: Record<string, boolean> = {};
+  for (const [nameRaw, value] of Object.entries(input)) {
+    const name = nameRaw.trim();
+    if (!name || typeof value !== "boolean") {
+      continue;
+    }
+    out[name] = value;
+  }
+  return out;
+}
+
+type AdvancedOpenConfig = LlmConfig | SamplerConfig | SeedConfig | ValidatorConfig;
+
+function isAdvancedOpenConfig(config: NodeConfig): config is AdvancedOpenConfig {
+  return (
+    config.kind === "llm" ||
+    config.kind === "sampler" ||
+    config.kind === "seed" ||
+    config.kind === "validator"
+  );
+}
+
+function applyAdvancedOpen(
+  config: NodeConfig,
+  advancedOpenByNode: Record<string, boolean>,
+): void {
+  if (!isAdvancedOpenConfig(config)) {
+    return;
+  }
+  config.advancedOpen = advancedOpenByNode[config.name] === true;
+}
+
 function attachLlmTooling(
   config: LlmConfig,
   toolConfigsByAlias: Map<string, LlmToolConfig>,
@@ -336,6 +376,7 @@ export function importRecipePayload(input: string): ImportResult {
   const uiUnstructuredChunkOverlap = readStringNumber(
     ui?.unstructured_chunk_overlap,
   );
+  const uiAdvancedOpenByNode = parseAdvancedOpenByNode(ui?.advanced_open_by_node);
   const uiMarkdownNotes = parseUiMarkdownNoteNodes(ui?.nodes);
 
   for (const note of uiMarkdownNotes) {
@@ -364,7 +405,9 @@ export function importRecipePayload(input: string): ImportResult {
       preferredSourceType: uiSeedSourceType,
       seed_columns: uiSeedColumns,
       seed_drop_columns:
-        uiSeedDropColumns ?? payloadSeedDropColumns,
+        uiSeedDropColumns && uiSeedDropColumns.length > 0
+          ? uiSeedDropColumns
+          : payloadSeedDropColumns,
       seed_preview_rows: uiSeedPreviewRows,
       local_file_name: uiLocalFileName,
       unstructured_file_name: uiUnstructuredFileName,
@@ -372,6 +415,7 @@ export function importRecipePayload(input: string): ImportResult {
       unstructured_chunk_overlap: uiUnstructuredChunkOverlap,
     });
     if (seedConfig) {
+      applyAdvancedOpen(seedConfig, uiAdvancedOpenByNode);
       if (nameToId.has(seedConfig.name)) {
         errors.push(`Duplicate column name: ${seedConfig.name}.`);
       } else {
@@ -441,6 +485,7 @@ export function importRecipePayload(input: string): ImportResult {
     if (config.kind === "llm") {
       attachLlmTooling(config, toolConfigsByAlias, mcpProvidersByName);
     }
+    applyAdvancedOpen(config, uiAdvancedOpenByNode);
     if (nameToId.has(config.name)) {
       errors.push(`Duplicate column name: ${config.name}.`);
       return;
diff --git a/studio/frontend/src/features/recipe-studio/utils/payload/build-payload.ts b/studio/frontend/src/features/recipe-studio/utils/payload/build-payload.ts
index 7f97547549..0d8945a443 100644
--- a/studio/frontend/src/features/recipe-studio/utils/payload/build-payload.ts
+++ b/studio/frontend/src/features/recipe-studio/utils/payload/build-payload.ts
@@ -66,6 +66,29 @@ function pushUniqueJson(
   }
 }
 
+function collectAdvancedOpenByNode(
+  configs: Record<string, NodeConfig>,
+): Record<string, boolean> {
+  const out: Record<string, boolean> = {};
+  for (const config of Object.values(configs)) {
+    if (
+      !(
+        config.kind === "sampler" ||
+        config.kind === "llm" ||
+        config.kind === "validator" ||
+        config.kind === "seed"
+      )
+    ) {
+      continue;
+    }
+    if (config.advancedOpen !== true) {
+      continue;
+    }
+    out[config.name] = true;
+  }
+  return out;
+}
+
 // biome-ignore lint/complexity/noExcessiveCognitiveComplexity: payload build
 export function buildRecipePayload(
   configs: Record<string, NodeConfig>,
@@ -333,6 +356,7 @@ export function buildRecipePayload(
   if (seedDropProcessor) {
     recipeProcessors.push(seedDropProcessor);
   }
+  const uiAdvancedOpenByNode = collectAdvancedOpenByNode(configs);
 
   return {
     errors,
@@ -386,6 +410,10 @@ export function buildRecipePayload(
           firstSeed.unstructured_chunk_overlap !== undefined && {
             unstructured_chunk_overlap: firstSeed.unstructured_chunk_overlap,
           }),
+        ...(Object.keys(uiAdvancedOpenByNode).length > 0 && {
+          // biome-ignore lint/style/useNamingConvention: ui schema
+          advanced_open_by_node: uiAdvancedOpenByNode,
+        }),
       },
     },
   };
diff --git a/studio/frontend/src/features/recipe-studio/utils/payload/types.ts b/studio/frontend/src/features/recipe-studio/utils/payload/types.ts
index ceaec9c9b0..af048107ce 100644
--- a/studio/frontend/src/features/recipe-studio/utils/payload/types.ts
+++ b/studio/frontend/src/features/recipe-studio/utils/payload/types.ts
@@ -67,6 +67,8 @@ export type RecipePayload = {
     unstructured_file_name?: string;
     unstructured_chunk_size?: string;
     unstructured_chunk_overlap?: string;
+    // ui-only: per-node advanced accordion state
+    advanced_open_by_node?: Record<string, boolean>;
   };
 };