ComfyUI for beginners: a complete guide (2026)

Updated September 2026 · Reading time: about 15 minutes.

The images that stop you mid-scroll on Instagram, the AI videos that look like they were shot on a real film camera, the covers, the characters, the animations you see on social media every day: behind a huge share of them there's the same free program, and you can install it tonight. It's called ComfyUI.

The first time you open it, it looks like the control panel of a spaceship: boxes, colored wires, technical words everywhere. Plenty of people close it after five minutes. That's a shame, because behind that look there's a very simple idea, the same one as an assembly line. Once it clicks, ComfyUI becomes the most powerful and most open tool there is for creating with AI: no subscription, no limits, no censorship imposed by a company, and your files never leave your computer.

This guide is the handbook we wish we'd had when we started: no formulas, just the concepts you really need. By the end you'll be able to read any workflow, know which files to download and where to put them, find ready-made models and workflows, and know where to start with your first creations.

What is ComfyUI

ComfyUI is a free, open-source program you install on your computer (Windows, Mac and Linux) and use from your browser or a dedicated app. It isn't an AI model: it's the program that runs the models. Stable Diffusion, Flux, Qwen-Image, Z-Image, Wan, LTX and dozens of others are the "engines"; ComfyUI is the workshop where you mount them, connect them and make them work together.

It has become the standard for local generative AI for a simple reason: when a new model comes out, it usually works in ComfyUI from day one. Today, with the same program, you can create images, edit them, generate videos with audio, music, voices and even 3D models.

Why use it instead of an online service

• Free and unlimited: once it's installed you only pay for electricity, and you can experiment as much as you like.
• Creative freedom: no corporate filter blocking your prompt. You choose the model, and you remain responsible for respecting the law and the licences.
• Total privacy: images, prompts and reference photos stay on your computer. ComfyUI even works completely offline.
• Full control: you see and change every step, something online services simply don't allow.
• Repeatable: a saved workflow gives the same result a year from now, and you can share it as a single file.

If you want the full comparison with online services, including real electricity costs, read AI images: local or online? (in Italian)

How it works: nodes, wires and workflows

Picture an assembly line. Each station does one job: one takes the raw material, one processes it, one finishes it, one packs it. In ComfyUI each station is a node, the conveyor belts are the wires (links) and the whole line is the workflow.

• A node is a box with a name at the top. On the left it has inputs (what it receives), on the right outputs (what it produces), and in the middle the parameters you can adjust: a text, a number, a menu.
• A wire carries data from an output to an input. You can only connect data of the same type, and every type has its own color: that's why you can't really get a connection "wrong".
• The workflow is the whole set of nodes and wires. You save it as a file and reload it with one click.

The data types that travel through the wires

The basic 6-node workflow

Almost every image workflow, even the most complicated ones, is a variation of this chain. Understand this one and you understand everything else.

1. Load Checkpoint — loads the model and provides the three ingredients: MODEL, CLIP and VAE.
2. CLIP Text Encode (twice) — one node for the positive prompt (what you want) and one for the negative prompt (what you don't want).
3. Empty Latent Image — prepares the empty "canvas": width, height and how many images to generate.
4. KSampler — the heart of it all: starting from pure noise, step by step, it "cleans" it up until it matches the prompt. Here you choose the seed, the number of steps, how closely to follow the prompt (CFG) and the method (sampler and scheduler).
5. VAE Decode — turns the compressed draft into the real image.
6. Save Image — saves the result in the ComfyUI/output folder.

Why the "compressed version"? Models don't work directly on the millions of pixels in an image: it would be painfully slow. They work in a latent space, a kind of much smaller draft that holds the essence of the image. Only at the end does the VAE "develop" it into pixels, like film in a darkroom.

Run, queue and cache: how a job starts

Press Run (or Ctrl+Enter) and the workflow goes into the queue: you can line up as many as you want and go grab a coffee. ComfyUI is smart: if you run the workflow again changing only the prompt, it doesn't recompute the nodes that haven't changed (for example, it doesn't reload the model), so the second image arrives much faster than the first.

Models: what the files are and where they go

ComfyUI doesn't include any models: you download them separately. Each file type has its own folder inside ComfyUI/models, and this is where many beginners get lost. Here's the map.

File formats. Always prefer .safetensors files: they're safe because they only contain data. You'll also find fp8 versions (about half the memory, almost identical quality) and GGUF versions (even lighter, for cards with little video memory). Avoid old .ckpt and .pt files from unknown sources: they can contain executable code.

The easiest way: open a template from the workflow menu. ComfyUI offers to download the right files for you and puts them in the right folders.

Where to find models

• Hugging Face — the official "library" of artificial intelligence: this is where companies and labs publish their original models (Stability AI, Black Forest Labs, Alibaba, Baidu, Lightricks…), with the licence clearly displayed. It's the right place for base models and for versions optimized for ComfyUI.
• Civitai — the biggest community of user-made models: custom models, LoRAs for styles and characters, and workflows too. Every file comes with sample images and the prompts used, ratings and comments: it's the best place to find a specific style.
• Civitai "red" — since April 2026 Civitai has been split into two sites. civitai.com shows only content suitable for everyone, while civitai.red is the version that also shows NSFW content (short for Not Safe For Work: nudity and adult content). The reason for the split is the rules of payment processors. The account is the same and there's a single catalog; only what's visible changes. It's for adults only, and the law and the site's rules still apply there too.
• The ComfyUI Manager — from inside the program you can search for and download models and nodes without opening the browser.

Before downloading, check the licence: some models are free for commercial work too, others for personal use only, and some even exclude the EU. When in doubt, read the model's official page.

LoRA, ControlNet, upscalers: how to power up a workflow

• LoRA — a small file (often from a few MB to a few hundred) that "teaches" the model something new: a painting style, your character, a product. You add it with a node between the model loader and the rest of the chain, and you can stack several together.
• ControlNet — gives you control over composition: you draw a pose, provide a depth map or outlines, and the image follows it. It's the pros' tool for getting exactly the shot they want.
• Image-to-image and inpainting — instead of starting from an empty canvas you start from a photo or a drawing, and you can redraw just one part of the image (inpainting) while leaving the rest untouched.
• Upscalers — they enlarge the image while adding detail, so you can reach print resolutions.

Custom nodes and the Manager

Beyond the core nodes, the community has created thousands of custom nodes that add new features. You install them with the Manager, which is also a beginner's lifesaver: when you open a downloaded workflow and red nodes appear, it means some custom nodes are missing, and the Manager installs them in one click. A tip: only install popular, well-maintained nodes, because they're programs running on your computer.

Where to find ready-made workflows (and how to load them)

The trick nobody tells you at the start: images created with ComfyUI contain the workflow that generated them. Drag the PNG image into the ComfyUI window and you get the whole chain of nodes, ready to use and study. It's the fastest way to learn.

• ComfyUI Examples — the official collection of examples made by the creator of ComfyUI: image-to-image, inpainting, LoRA, ControlNet, upscaling, models like SDXL, Flux, Qwen-Image, plus video, audio and 3D. Every image contains its workflow: drag it into ComfyUI and off you go.
• The built-in templates — from the workflow menu, with a ready-configured template for almost every model. You can also find them online in the Comfy workflow library.
• Our free workflows — three workflows for Stable Diffusion 1.5, SDXL and Flux Schnell, also designed for cards with little memory (instructions in Italian). You'll find them at the bottom of the installation guide.
• Civitai — many creators also publish workflows alongside their models.

Features that make ComfyUI even easier

• Subgraph — pack a group of nodes into a single reusable "super-node", so big workflows stay tidy.
• App Mode — turns a workflow into a simple interface with just a few fields, handy to use yourself (or hand to others) without seeing the nodes.
• Loops — since version 0.36 the Start Loop and End Loop nodes let you repeat part of a workflow, for example to generate a long video in chunks.
• Partner nodes — let you use some paid online models inside ComfyUI. They're optional: if you only want to work locally, you can turn them off with the launch option --disable-api-nodes.

What you can create with ComfyUI

What computer you need

ComfyUI runs on Windows, Mac and Linux. What matters most is your graphics card's memory (VRAM): with 8 GB you can use Stable Diffusion and SDXL, with 12 GB also Flux and Z-Image in their reduced versions, with 16 GB you work comfortably with almost every image model and can start with video; for the most demanding video work you need 24 GB or more. All the details are in our guide to the best graphics cards for AI.

• NVIDIA RTX 3060 12 GB – the budget choice we use every day
• NVIDIA RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB – the sweet spot: 16 GB for almost every image model and your first videos
• NVIDIA RTX 5070 Ti 16 GB – same memory, much more speed
• NVIDIA RTX 5090 32 GB – no compromises, even for the heaviest video models
• Ready-made PC with RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB – if you'd rather not build one yourself

The path to learning ComfyUI

1. Install ComfyUI following our step-by-step guide for Windows: Desktop app or portable version, Manager and your first image.
2. Generate your first image with a template or with our free workflows, and try changing the prompt, seed and steps.
3. Pick the right models for your graphics card: start with our guide on how to generate AI images locally (in Italian).
4. Study other people's workflows: drag the ComfyUI Examples images into ComfyUI and take the workflows apart node by node.
5. Move on to advanced techniques: LoRA, ControlNet, inpainting, upscaling and then video.

We publish new tutorials, with videos and workflows, as we go: you'll find them all on the AI and ComfyUI page. Want to know when the next one is out? Subscribe to our YouTube channel (videos in Italian).

Quick glossary

Useful links

• ComfyUI on GitHub — the official project, with downloads and news.
• Official ComfyUI documentation — guides and tutorials for every model.
• ComfyUI Examples — official examples with the workflows embedded in the images.
• Comfy workflow library — the official templates, always up to date.
• Hugging Face and Civitai — for downloading models and LoRAs.
• AI and ComfyUI on Tutorial3D — all our tutorials (in Italian).

ComfyUI FAQ

Is ComfyUI hard to learn?

Less than it looks. You don't need to know how to code: you start from a ready-made workflow and just change the prompt. Once you understand the basic 6-node workflow, within a few hours you'll be able to modify other people's workflows.

Is ComfyUI free?

Yes, it's free and open source, and it works completely offline. Most models are free too; some, however, have licences that restrict commercial use.

Is ComfyUI available in other languages?

The interface is available in several languages, which you can choose in the settings, but the documentation and node names are almost always in English. The good news: once you know the basic nodes, you can follow any tutorial.

What are the red nodes when I open a workflow?

They're custom nodes you haven't installed yet. Open the Manager, use the install-missing-nodes option and restart ComfyUI.

ComfyUI or Automatic1111?

ComfyUI: it's constantly updated and supports images, video and audio. Automatic1111 is no longer developed and only works with older image models.

What's the difference between civitai.com and civitai.red?

They're the same site, with the same catalog and the same account. Since April 2026 civitai.com shows only content suitable for everyone, while civitai.red, for adults only, also shows NSFW content.