ComfyUI Basics: Nodes, Models, and Workflows

Pick an official starting point

Start with the smallest learning goal, not the largest graph. The built-in template documentation is the route for finding templates exposed by ComfyUI. The official basic text-to-image tutorial is the focused route for following one foundational generation task. Use the current wording and files on those pages rather than copying commands from this bridge.

Read nodes, models, and connections as a contract

A workflow is useful when its requirements are explicit. Before changing a graph, inventory what the source file declares: the nodes present, the inputs each node expects, the models and other assets referenced, and the outputs passed onward. Record missing items instead of guessing replacements.

• Node identity: write down the node name and whether it is available in the current environment.
• Inputs and outputs: follow each connection and identify the data the next step expects.
• Model provenance: record the source, version or revision, and hash of each local model file used.
• Workflow identity: save the unmodified source file and calculate a hash before editing.
• Local changes: save a new file when modifying the reference so the upstream original remains distinguishable.

This process does not prove that the graph will run. It produces the inventory needed to diagnose a run and to explain exactly what was tested.

Choose a next task from the registered routes

• InpaintingOfficial ComfyUI tutorial · upstream · no local execution receipt
• ControlNet scribbleOfficial ComfyUI tutorial · upstream · no local execution receipt
• SDXL examplesOriginal ComfyUI examples · upstream · no local execution receipt
• Two-pass hires fixOriginal ComfyUI examples · upstream · no local execution receipt

Inpainting and ControlNet are task-oriented tutorials. The SDXL and two-pass pages are original example collections. They are later study routes, not evidence that a particular model, resolution, or machine has been tested by 42 UK.

Document a first local run

A first run becomes reviewable when another person can identify the exact reference and environment. Capture the source URL and retrieval date, workflow hash, ComfyUI revision, dependency and model provenance, input hashes, launch settings, observed outcome, errors, and output hash. Keep failure receipts; they prevent a failed configuration from being rediscovered as if it were new.

1. Download one unmodified reference from the registered source.
2. Hash the workflow and record every declared dependency you can identify.
3. Record the local software and model revisions before execution.
4. Run the reference, then save the outcome and any generated artifact hashes.
5. Label the record successful, failed, or incomplete without converting one state into another.