<You must modify a main.c> function to read/use an argument list when creating a standalone executable; it doesn't happen by default (as you've discovered).
Follow the above link in detail, it progresses through the steps of showing how/where the default main.c file is created and then how to modify a copy to include the things your application needs....eventually it gets to illustrating the use of the C command line argument functions to (in the example) read a specific input file instead of using the builtin default image the example starts with.
Follow the bread crumbs trail through the woods and, like Hansel and Gretel, you'll eventually get back from the witch's house to the land of Oz...or is it Kansas?
