comfyui-gallery-loader

Touch-friendly gallery picker for ComfyUI image and path widgets.

Three complementary entry points share one card-grid picker:

1. Load Image (Gallery) node — drop-in LoadImage replacement with the picker rendered inline on the node body. Cards scroll independently of the LiteGraph canvas, so it works on mobile and tablet.
2. Modal picker over stock LoadImage — clicking the image widget on any LoadImage / LoadImageMask / LoadImageOutput opens a card-grid modal with Input / Output / Temp tabs.
3. Filesystem browser for VHS path-loader nodes — 📁 Browse button on VHS_LoadImagePath, VHS_LoadImagesPath, VHS_LoadVideoPath, and VHS_LoadVideoFFmpegPath opens the modal rooted at the ComfyUI install directory. Video files preview as <video> thumbnails; directory loaders get a footer "Use this folder" commit button.

Why

ComfyUI's native image dropdown is alphabetical, single-column, and unsearchable. The card grid is the same UX as the output panel: mtime-sorted by default, fuzzy-searchable, with image thumbnails or video posters. On mobile/tablet the grid is the only viable picker — the native LiteGraph dropdown is unusable on touch.

Install

ComfyUI Manager → "Install Custom Nodes" → search for Gallery Loader. Or clone manually:

cd ComfyUI/custom_nodes
git clone https://github.com/laurigates/comfyui-gallery-loader
# restart ComfyUI; no Python deps beyond what ComfyUI core ships

Load Image (Gallery) node

Output	Type	Notes
image	IMAGE	Same loading semantics as the core LoadImage.
mask	MASK	Alpha channel inverted, matching core.
path	STRING	Resolved on-disk path — handy for SaveImage filename reuse / metadata.

The widget stores either an annotated path (subdir/foo.png [output]) or a bare absolute path. Both forms resolve via folder_paths.get_annotated_filepath.

Modal over stock LoadImage

Click the image combo widget — instead of the native dropdown, the modal opens with three source tabs:

Tab	Reads from	Commits value as
Input	ComfyUI/input/	subdir/foo.png
Output	ComfyUI/output/	subdir/foo.png [output]
Temp	ComfyUI/temp/	subdir/foo.png [temp]

The annotated values are resolved transparently by core LoadImage via folder_paths.get_annotated_filepath. Existing workflows that target input/ keep using the bare-relative form — no value churn.

A 📁 Browse gallery button is also added below the widget so the picker is reachable even on frontends that hijack the combo's click through the Vue Asset Browser overlay.

VHS path-loader integration

VHS path widgets are detected via widget.options.vhs_path_extensions. A 📁 Browse files / 📁 Browse folder button opens the modal in path-mode, rooted at folder_paths.base_path (or inside the widget's current value if set). Selected files commit as a raw absolute path — the format VHS already accepts.

Node	Mode	Extensions
VHS_LoadImagePath	File	Image formats
VHS_LoadImagesPath	Directory	(folder picker)
VHS_LoadVideoPath	File	Video formats
VHS_LoadVideoFFmpegPath	File	Video formats

Directory mode: file cards render but are inert; clicking a folder descends, clicking the footer "Use this folder" button commits the current absolute path.

Endpoints

Route	Purpose
GET /gallery_loader/list	Directory listing. Params: type=input|output|temp|path, subfolder, path, extensions (CSV). Image dims (width/height) are populated for image entries only.
GET /gallery_loader/base	Returns base_path, input_dir, output_dir, temp_dir, user_dir. Used by the modal to default VHS path-mode to the ComfyUI install root.
GET /gallery_loader/thumb	Webp 512px thumbnail for images at an arbitrary absolute path. Managed-type listings use core /api/view directly.
GET /gallery_loader/file	Streams a whitelisted-extension file (images + common video formats) at an absolute path. Used for video posters in path-mode where core /api/view doesn't apply.

Compatibility

• ComfyUI frontend >= 1.40 (widget onPointerDown hook).
• Works alongside the legacy node combo and the modern Vue Asset Browser — the modal strips image_upload from LoadImage node specs before the widget is constructed, falling back to a plain canvas combo whose click we can intercept.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.