Wildcard Pipeline
Modular procedural prompt generation — wildcards, fixed values, combines, derivations and constraints resolved in a context pipeline, with a manager UI for a reusable module library.
Nodes (12)
The Node That Makes Wildcard Pipeline a Pipeline Instead of a Dice Roll
Push Any ComfyUI Output Into Your Wildcard Context
N Coherent Prompts From One Generate (and It Pairs Seeds for You)
Finally, You Can See What the Wildcards Actually Picked
Stop the Run and Pick Which Images Get Upscaled
Teach Your Prompt Template Which Checkpoint It's Running
Where Your Wildcard Variables Finally Become a Prompt
A Reasonable Lint Pass for Prompts That Look Like a Cat Walked on the Keyboard
One Seed In, N Matching Seeds Out — So Your Loop's Prompts and Renders Stay Married
Making a Wildcard Flip a Switch in Your Graph
Turning Wildcard Picks Into Denoise Values and CFG Sliders
When Your Wildcard Picks the Resolution, Not Just the Words
Plain wildcards pick every part of a prompt on its own, so you get a snowy beach at noon under the stars. Wildcard Pipeline builds the prompt step by step, and each step can see what the earlier ones picked. If the weather comes out as rain, the mood can lean gloomy and the lighting can follow. Every Generate gives you a fresh prompt that still hangs together.
Install
Needs ComfyUI 0.11 or newer and Python 3.10 or newer. The canvas
side is built against ComfyUI frontend 1.42 (the
@comfyorg/comfyui-frontend-types version in package.json); it uses some
frontend internals, so a much older or newer frontend may break parts of it.
- ComfyUI Manager (recommended): search for Wildcard Pipeline by dumiflex, click Install and restart ComfyUI.
- By hand: download the zip from the
latest release,
unzip it into
ComfyUI/custom_nodes/and restart ComfyUI.
A git clone has no built frontend, so you need Node.js and pnpm:
cd ComfyUI/custom_nodes
git clone https://github.com/DumiFlex/ComfyUI-Wildcard-Pipeline
cd ComfyUI-Wildcard-Pipeline
pnpm install
pnpm build
Quick start
- Open the Wildcard Pipeline manager from the ComfyUI sidebar and create a
wildcard called
subjectwith three options:a cat,a dog,a fox. - On the canvas, chain WP Context → WP Prompt Assembler →
CLIP Text Encode. Add your wildcard to the Context node and type
a photo of $subjectinto the Assembler. - Queue a few times. Each run picks a new subject.
The Quick Start wiki page walks through a fuller example.
Example workflows
Prefer to start from something that already runs? Open Workflow › Browse
Templates and pick Wildcard Pipeline. Four workflows ship in
example_workflows/, all built on one family of
packs that describe people in plain words and name no style, so they suit any
model (Person, Location, Wardrobe, Light, Camera, Direction, and a Render pack
that writes the quality words for Illustrious / NoobAI by default, Pony or Flux):
| Workflow | Shows |
|---|---|
| 1 - One image | The core chain, WP Debug, and WP Toggles as the switchboard: LoRA switches that bypass their loaders and swap in trigger words (Context Injector, derivations), and a switch for the group that reads size, sampler and CFG from the model (Model Info, Var → Int / Float / Choice, passed on by a Mode Relay to a Node Group). |
| 2 - Batches and grids | A Context Loop sweep (3 shots × 3 lights, one held person) laid out as an XY plot with Label & Grid, a Quick / Full pick in WP Toggles that sets the steps (Var → Int) and the image size (Var → Bool, If/Else Switch), and an optional Seed List. |
| 3 - Pick and refine | Four drafts of one held person, a pause at Image Filter to pick the keepers, then an upscale and a second pass on the picks only. |
| 4 - Sets and stories | One loop, three ways, picked in WP Toggles (Pick one mutes the other canvas groups): every frame different, a photo shoot (one held person, outfit and place, a shot list per frame) and a storyboard (four six-beat scripts written by a derivation on $story and $iteration), each pausing at Image Filter so you pick what goes on the sheet. |
They run on an empty library: every list is stored on its WP Context as
bundles and sub-bundles. The packs are generated by
scripts/example_workflows/ (python scripts/example_workflows/build.py), and a test runs every workflow on an
empty library. Their bundles show a grey EXAMPLE chip; right-click a header →
Push to library… to keep one. A Start here note in each one lists
the steps and links to the docs, Discord and the Community; the step notes
double as bookmarks that frame their group (number keys 1, 2… on the canvas), and
Start here is a bookmark too. Select any node and press the indigo ? in
the toolbar above it for its help page.
How it works
You stack modules inside a WP Context node. Each module sets one or more
$variables, and the WP Prompt Assembler drops them into your template.
| Module | What it does |
|---|---|
| Wildcard | Picks one option from a weighted list. |
| Fixed Values | Sets variables to values you choose, like a style or quality tags. |
| Combine | Builds one variable out of others, e.g. $style $subject. |
| Derivation | If/else rules: "if $weather is rain AND $time is night, set $lighting to neon". Conditions can be grouped with AND / OR. |
| Constraint | Makes an earlier pick change the odds of a later one, or rule options out entirely. |
| Bundle | A saved group of modules you can drop in as one piece. |
An option can draw from another wildcard: type @ in the option and pick it from
the list, and it goes in as a reference chip (@{…}). If the module you want
doesn't exist yet, pick Placeholder from the @ list and connect it later.
Nodes
| Node | What it does |
|---|---|
| WP Context | Holds your module stack and outputs the picked variables. Chain several together. |
| WP Prompt Assembler | Fills $variables in a template and collects their negative words into a second output. |
| WP Context Loop + WP Seed List | Run the whole chain N times from one Generate, each with its own prompt and seed, or sweep every combination of chosen wildcard options. |
| WP Context Injector | Turns any ComfyUI output (text, a number) into a $variable. |
| WP Model Info | Reads the loaded checkpoint into $model_family / $model_variant (Pony, Illustrious, …) so rules can pick LoRAs and tags per model. |
| WP Toggles | Several on/off switches in one node: each writes a true/false $variable for rules, can have a BOOLEAN output, and can mute or bypass the nodes wired into it. Merges existing Boolean nodes. |
| WP Node Group | Gathers nodes so one WP Toggles switch mutes or bypasses them all. With nothing wired in, it stands for the canvas group it sits in (frontend only, never runs). |
| WP Mode Relay | Watches nodes' mute / bypass and passes a mode on to a WP Node Group, for chains (frontend only, never runs). |
| WP Bookmark | Marks a spot on the canvas to jump back to with a shortcut or from the Bookmarks dock: pick the corner, edge or centre it lands at and the zoom; the shortcut field shows clashes with ComfyUI and other extensions. Can hide itself from the canvas (frontend only, never runs). |
| WP Image Filter | Pauses the run so you pick which images go on to the upscaler. Their latent, conditioning, prompt text and Context are filtered with them, and you can edit a prompt or paint a mask before they go on. |
| WP Label & Grid | Writes labels on images and lays them out in one labelled grid, or an XY plot sorted by each image's sweep options. Works on one image, a batch, a list or a loop's frames; grid presets follow the shape of the run. |
| WP Prompt Cleaner | Tidies the final prompt: spacing, stray commas, empty (), nested weights, LoRA tags, duplicates, a blocklist. |
| WP Debug | Shows what happened during a run (see below). |
| WP Var → Int / Float / Bool | Use a variable to drive a number or switch, like image size or steps. |
| WP Var → Choice | Use a variable to pick from a dropdown, like the checkpoint or sampler. Matches it against the real list. |
| WP Note | A frameless note that explains a workflow: numbered steps, warnings with an icon, or a small label, with links into the built-in docs and pictures (pasted, dropped or shipped). Never runs. |
Select a WP node and the indigo ? in ComfyUI's selection toolbar opens its page of the built-in docs over the canvas (WP Toggles, WP Note and WP Bookmark also get an indigo pencil there that opens their editor, in place of a pencil on the node). Most nodes also have a help page in ComfyUI's node info panel, and the wiki covers nodes, modules and concepts in depth.
The manager
Open it from the ComfyUI sidebar. It's where your modules live between workflows.
<p align="center"> <img src="public/images/docs/spa_manager.png" alt="Wildcard Pipeline manager dashboard with module counts, quick create buttons and recently opened items" /> </p>- Library: create, edit and search your modules, bundles and prompt templates. The Tags page groups them into collections, and you can rename or merge a tag across the whole library.
- Library health: one page that finds broken references, constraint rules for options that are gone, variables nothing sets, duplicates and unused items, with a way to fix or ignore each, and checks how varied a bundle's prompts are.
- Test Runner: try a set of modules over many seeds without generating images. See how often each option comes up and which rules fired, save a baseline, and after an edit see exactly which outputs changed.
- Community: browse and install modules other people have shared on the community site, and publish your own.
- Import / Export: move modules between machines as JSON files, or bring in
wildcard packs from A1111 or Forge (Dynamic Prompts, PPP, Impact Pack and Umi AI
.txt,.yaml,.jsonor a.zip, or an installed extension's wildcard folder) on the Wildcard packs tab. Variables, template arguments and if-conditions become stacks. You review the plan and sample prompts before anything is imported. - AI assistant (optional, off by default): connect a model you run yourself (Ollama, LM Studio, llama.cpp) or your own Claude or OpenAI key. It drafts and edits modules in every editor, answers questions about your library in a chat, explains Test Runner runs, organizes your library and builds whole packs from a description. Every change comes back for you to review, and nothing is saved until you apply it. A short About my library note in its settings (your naming, style, model, what to never add) is read by every request.
- Constraint preview: a table of each target option's chance for every source option, so you can see what a constraint does before running it.
- Themes: six colour themes (Orbit, Native, Nebula, Tide, Ember, High contrast) and seven looks (Orbit, Crisp, Soft, Terminal, Editorial, Compact, TUI) in Settings › Appearance. Mix any colours with any look, in dark or light.
- Documentation: the full guide, built into the app.
Checking a run
Connect WP Debug to a Context node and generate. It shows:
- Variables: every value, and which step set it.
- Trace: each step, and why it did what it did: which derivation rule fired, a wildcard's odds and what re-weighted them, where a nested pick came from.
- Warnings: anything that went wrong, linked to the step that caused it.
- Raw: the underlying data, for bug reports.
Help and sharing
Discord is the place for all of it: there are channels for questions, bug reports, feature requests and showing what you made. You can also report bugs on GitHub Issues.
Made something you like? Post your images and workflows on Discord, and publish your modules on the community site so others can install them from the manager's Community page.
Support
Wildcard Pipeline is free and made by one person. If it helps you, you can support it on GitHub Sponsors, Buy Me a Coffee or PayPal. The same links are in the manager under Settings › About.
Privacy
Everything runs locally. The extension only goes online to check for updates (you can turn this off in Settings), when you open the Community page, or when you choose to download the optional tag list for autocomplete. The optional AI assistant is off until you turn it on, and then talks only to the model server you choose (a local one keeps everything on your PC), plus the search engine, page reader or Danbooru lookup if you set those up. Details are in docs/network-access.md.
Contributing
PRs are welcome. CONTRIBUTING.md explains the dev setup.
License
Copyright (C) 2026 DumiFlex.
Wildcard Pipeline is free software, released under the GNU General Public License v3.0 or later.