Installation and First Steps

Hardware Requirements

Recommended GPU

Configuration VRAM Supported Models
Minimum 4 GB SD 1.5 (slow)
Recommended 8 GB SD 1.5, SDXL
Comfortable 12 GB+ SD 1.5, SDXL, Flux
Optimal 24 GB+ All models, high resolution

GPU Support

  • NVIDIA (CUDA): native support, best performance, recommended
  • AMD (ROCm): supported on Linux, decent performance
  • Apple Silicon (MPS): supported, good performance on M1/M2/M3

Installation

Method 1: Manual Installation (recommended)

# Install Python 3.10 or 3.11
python --version

# Install PyTorch (NVIDIA CUDA 12.1)
pip install torch torchvision torchaudio --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cu121

# Clone and setup ComfyUI
git clone https://github.com/comfyanonymous/ComfyUI.git
cd ComfyUI
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Launch
python main.py

The interface will be available at http://127.0.0.1:8188.

Method 2: Portable Package (Windows)

Download from the official GitHub Releases page, extract, and run run_nvidia_gpu.bat.

Method 3: Docker

docker run -it --gpus all -p 8188:8188 \
  -v $(pwd)/models:/app/models \
  -v $(pwd)/output:/app/output \
  comfyanonymous/comfyui

File Organization

ComfyUI/
├── models/
│   ├── checkpoints/           # Main models (.safetensors)
│   ├── loras/                 # LoRAs (style/subject adapters)
│   ├── controlnet/            # ControlNet models
│   ├── vae/                   # Custom VAEs
│   ├── upscale_models/        # Upscale models (ESRGAN, etc.)
│   ├── clip_vision/           # CLIP Vision models (for IP-Adapter)
│   └── embeddings/            # Textual inversions
├── input/                     # Input images
├── output/                    # Generated images
└── custom_nodes/              # Installed extensions

Your First Generation

  1. Select your model in the Load Checkpoint node
  2. Write a positive prompt and a negative prompt
  3. Configure the KSampler (25 steps, cfg 7.0, dpmpp_2m sampler)
  4. Set resolution in Empty Latent Image (512x512 for SD 1.5, 1024x1024 for SDXL)
  5. Click Queue Prompt

Installing ComfyUI Manager

cd ComfyUI/custom_nodes
git clone https://github.com/ltdrdata/ComfyUI-Manager.git

Restart ComfyUI. A new Manager button appears in the menu, allowing you to install custom nodes, missing nodes, and models directly from the interface.

Saving and Loading Workflows

  • Ctrl + S: save as JSON
  • Ctrl + O: open a JSON file
  • Drag and drop a JSON or PNG image onto the canvas to load a workflow
  • Workflow metadata is embedded in every generated PNG

Common Troubleshooting

  • CUDA out of memory: reduce resolution, use --lowvram flag
  • Red/missing nodes: install via ComfyUI Manager → Install Missing Nodes
  • Black or noisy image: check VAE connection, increase steps, lower cfg