ComfyUI-Save-Separate-Metadata

ComfyUI Save Separate Metadata

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/a3fc8205-fa33-42da-bb3f-99dfdd886967

Save images from ComfyUI as clean JPG, WebP, or PNG files while keeping the workflow metadata in separate sidecar JSON files.

The image stays an ordinary image. The workflow lives next to it.

Concept

ComfyUI normally embeds workflow data inside PNG files. That is convenient, but it also means the image file carries hidden workflow data with it.

This custom node uses a sidecar layout instead:

output/
└── 2026-05/
    ├── image_00001_.webp
    ├── image_00002_.jpg
    ├── image_00003_.png
    └── .meta/
        ├── image_00001_.json
        ├── image_00002_.json
        └── image_00003_.json

Each .meta/*.json file contains the ComfyUI prompt and workflow data for the image with the same stem.

Nodes

| Node | Output format | Options | |---|---|---| | Save JPG (Separate Meta) | .jpg | Quality, default 95 | | Save WebP (Separate Meta) | .webp | Quality, default 90 | | Save PNG (Separate Meta) | .png | Clean PNG, no embedded workflow |

All nodes support the usual ComfyUI filename_prefix behavior, including date variables, width/height variables, and subfolders.

Why Use This?

Advantages

• Save workflow metadata for JPG and WebP outputs.
• Keep PNG files free of embedded workflow chunks.
• Share an image without automatically sharing the workflow.
• Keep workflow metadata even if an image editor strips embedded PNG text chunks.
• Store metadata in a readable JSON file that can be archived, inspected, or versioned separately.

Tradeoffs

• The image and its .meta/*.json sidecar need to stay together if you want workflow restore to keep working.
• Moving files outside ComfyUI or Drawer may leave sidecars behind.
• Some tools hide dot-folders such as .meta.
• External websites and image viewers will not know about the sidecar metadata.

Restore Workflows

You can restore a workflow in two ways:

• Drag a saved JPG, WebP, or PNG onto the ComfyUI canvas.
• Drag the matching .meta/*.json file onto the ComfyUI canvas.

Sidecars are matched by filename stem, including spaces. For example, embedded metadata.jpg matches .meta/embedded metadata.json.

If both a sidecar and embedded workflow metadata exist for an image, this extension uses the sidecar first. If no sidecar is found, ComfyUI's normal file handling can still run.

For image drag and drop, sidecar lookup is limited to ComfyUI's output directory. For exact restores outside that lookup scope, drag the .meta/*.json file directly. Drawer Gallery integration uses the selected gallery item's folder, so it can resolve the exact sidecar for that item.

When an image is dragged in from outside ComfyUI, the browser only provides the filename, not the original folder. If more than one sidecar with the same filename exists under output, this extension refuses to guess. In that case, drag the exact .meta/*.json file or use Drawer Gallery.

Drawer Integration

This extension works without ComfyUI-Drawer. The save nodes and basic drag and drop restore do not require Drawer.

If ComfyUI-Drawer is installed, the sidecars become easier to manage:

• Drawer Gallery can read sidecar metadata for workflow restore and metadata viewing.
• Drawer Gallery search indexes sidecar metadata through Drawer's Python raw metadata provider API. Rebuild the Gallery search index, or run Drawer's metadata refresh, after installing or updating this extension so existing sidecars become searchable.
• Gallery move, rename, conflict-rename, delete, and root-crossing move events keep .meta/*.json files in sync.

Drawer is optional. If it is not installed, Drawer-specific integration simply does nothing.

Scope And Notes

• LoadImage context-menu actions are not sidecar-copy operations. They upload an image into ComfyUI's input folder as an input asset, and do not copy the workflow sidecar.
• File operations performed outside ComfyUI/Drawer are not monitored.
• Sidecars are matched by filename stem. In one folder, do not keep multiple images with the same stem and different extensions, such as image.jpg and image.png, unless you intentionally want them to share one sidecar.
• The cleanup setting can delete orphaned .meta/*.json files if external file operations leave metadata behind.
• If ComfyUI is started with metadata disabled, sidecar metadata is not written.
• Sidecar JSON is sanitized so NaN and Infinity are written as null, which keeps the JSON valid for browser parsing.

Installation

ComfyUI Manager

After publication, install from ComfyUI Manager by searching for:

Save Separate Metadata

Manual

Clone this repository into ComfyUI/custom_nodes:

cd ComfyUI/custom_nodes
git clone https://github.com/Kuroi961/ComfyUI-Save-Separate-Metadata.git

Restart ComfyUI after installation.

No extra pip dependencies are required.

Developer API

These endpoints are provided for integration with other extensions:

| Endpoint | Method | Purpose | |---|---|---| | /sepmeta/get_meta | GET | Read sidecar metadata for an image. Supports filename, subfolder, and exact=1. | | /sepmeta/move_meta | POST | Move or rename sidecars after a file move event. Supports root, srcRoot, and per-file source/destination fields. | | /sepmeta/delete_meta | POST | Delete sidecars after file delete events. | | /sepmeta/cleanup_meta | POST | Delete orphaned sidecars that no longer have matching image files. |

When ComfyUI-Drawer is installed, this extension also registers a Python raw metadata provider named save-separate-metadata. Drawer reads standard ComfyUI prompt and workflow data from that provider for Gallery workflow loading and SQLite metadata search indexing.

The sidecar convention is:

<image folder>/.meta/<image stem>.json

For example:

output/2026-05/example_00001_.webp
output/2026-05/.meta/example_00001_.json

License

MIT