The most part of the LaTEX IDE (I use texStudio) allow to use !TEX codes to change the behavior of the compilation. E.g.:
%%!TEX root = main.tex
Adding this in the beginning of each file include at main.tex by \include{*} directive will make the IDE compile always by main.tex, even if you try to compile by a included file.
I know that have more resource than this. Someone have the full list of !TEXcomands?
TeXstudio has a list of its available magic comments / Advanced headers at http://texstudio.sourceforge.net/manual/current/usermanual_en.html#SECTION_TEXCOM.
They include spellcheck and encoding, and ways to set how the file is built (write a script, or set the program and a program to generate the bibliography).
A list of which editors support which magic comments (taken from https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/84687/36296)
E P R S
TeXShop x x x x
TeXStudio x x x x
TextMate ? x x ?
TeXworks x x x x
SublimeText o x x x
Atom o x x o
Vim (vimtex) o x x o
Overleaf ? x ? ?
| | | |
x = yes | | | Spellcheck
o = no | | Root
? = ? | Program
Encoding