Workflow2Filename

Workflow2Filename

Workflow → Filename. A tiny ComfyUI node that turns the current workflow's file name into a filename prefix, so every render is named after the workflow it came from — no manual renaming, ever.

workflow file:   SummerCat.json
output file:     SummerCat_00001_.png     <- instead of ComfyUI_00001_.png

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Why this exists (read this first)

ComfyUI names everything it saves with the same boring pattern: ComfyUI_00001_.png, ComfyUI_00002_.png, ComfyUI_00003_.png …

Run thirty workflows and thirty experiments later, the output folder tells you nothing. You cannot tell which render belongs to which workflow, so you end up guessing, sorting by hand, or — worse — keeping a messy side spread-sheet just to remember "the good one was the 14th picture of that SummerCat test".

This plugin exists so that a beginner can open the output folder and know, in one second, which workflow produced each picture.

Because the file name carries the workflow name, the loop closes automatically:

• you find a good render → the name tells you which workflow and which version made it → you open that workflow and read your own parameters;
• a picture looks bad → the name tells you which experiment it was and you adjust only that one;
• you keep a whole folder of renders → each one is a self-documenting record of your process, so you can genuinely learn from what you did instead of re-running the same thing twice.

That is the whole point: workflow file name → output file name, one-to-one. You then add a date or a version tag only when you want more granularity — not because you have to.

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Install

Via ComfyUI-Manager: search for Workflow2Filename.

Via CLI:

comfy node install workflow2filename

Restart ComfyUI after installing (custom nodes are imported once at startup). No models to download, no extra Python packages — only the standard library.

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Usage — 4 steps

1. Right-click the canvas → Add Node → search Workflow2Filename. It appears under utils/io.
2. Leave the filename field alone — it is filled in automatically the moment you press Run. Anything you type there is overwritten.
3. Connect filename → the filename_prefix input of a save node (Save Image, VHS_VideoCombine, Save Video, …).
4. Save the workflow. The workflow must be saved (with a file name) — the node reads your file name, so an unsaved canvas yields UnsavedWorkflow.

That is it. Run it: output/SummerCat_00001_.png.

The four widgets

| Widget | Default | What it does | |---|---|---| | filename | auto | Read-only in practice — the workflow name, filled at queue time. | | suffix | empty | Optional extra tag appended to the name. | | use_workflow_name | ON | Master switch. ON = use the workflow name. | | fallback_prefix | empty | Used when the switch is OFF. |

Output matrix:

| Switch | suffix | Output | Example | |---|---|---|---| | ON (default) | empty | plain workflow name | SummerCat | | ON | 4k | workflow name + suffix | SummerCat_4k | | ON | video/%date:yyyyMMdd% | sub-folder + name + date | output/video/SummerCat_20261002 | | OFF | ignored | fallback_prefix only | h3/daily |

Save into a sub-folder

filename_prefix is not only a name — ComfyUI's save nodes also read the path part of it. So if a suffix (or a fallback_prefix) starts with a folder chain, that becomes a real sub-directory, created on the first render.

Type this in suffix:

new/%date:yyyy-MM-dd_hhmm%

and a render of the SummerCat workflow lands here:

ComfyUI/output/new/SummerCat_2026-10-03_1009_00001_.png
   └──┬──┘  └──┬──┘  └───────────────┬───────────────┘ └──┬─┘
   base root   this node             workflow name      core
   (SaveImage) created `new/`        + expanded date    _00001_

| suffix you type | File lands in | Full result | |---|---|---| | (empty) | output/ | output/SummerCat_00001_.png | | new/%date:yyyy-MM-dd_hhmm% | output/new/ | output/new/SummerCat_2026-10-03_1009_00001_.png | | video/%date:yyyyMMdd% | output/video/ | output/video/SummerCat_20261002_00001_.png | | archive/2026-10-03 | output/archive/ | output/archive/SummerCat_2026-10-03_00001_.png |

| fallback_prefix (switch OFF) | File lands in | Full result | |---|---|---| | h3/daily | output/h3/ | output/h3/daily_00001_.png | | prefix/ZIMAGE/QAZ | output/prefix/ZIMAGE/ | output/prefix/ZIMAGE/QAZ_00001_.png |

Rules worth knowing:

• The folder chain has to sit at the very start of the field. The node moves it in front of the workflow name when the switch is ON, so you get new/<name>_… — never <name>_new/….

• Multiple levels work in both fields. With the switch ON, the trailing segment joins the file name (archive/2026-10-03 → folder archive/, file <workflow>_2026-10-03); with the switch OFF the whole string is the prefix, so prefix/ZIMAGE/QAZ gives folder prefix/ZIMAGE/ and file QAZ_00001_.png, exactly as typed.

• / and \ both work, and the folders are created for you on the first render. No mkdir, no manual tidy-up afterwards.

• A trailing slash is fine too: new/ → folder new/, file <workflow>.

• The root depends on the save node: Save Image writes under output/, VHS_VideoCombine under output/video/. Your folder is always inside that root, so avoid names the node already uses (video, image, custom).

• Keep the whole chain short — the total path has to stay under Windows' MAX_PATH (~260 characters).

• OFF with an empty fallback_prefix outputs an empty string, so the save node keeps ComfyUI's own default naming (ComfyUI_00001_).

• Widgets that do not apply to the current mode are greyed out.

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Date tokens

Pick one by double-clicking the suffix (or fallback_prefix) field — a small menu pops up with the supported formats. Picking one writes the token in; clicking anywhere else or pressing Esc leaves your value untouched.

| Token | Result | |---|---| | %date:yyyy-MM-dd_hh-mm-ss% | SummerCat_2026-10-02_22-00-04 | | %date:yyyy-MM-dd% | SummerCat_2026-10-02 | | %date:yyyyMMdd% | SummerCat_20261002 | | %date:yyyy-MM-dd_hhmm% | SummerCat_2026-10-02_2248 |

Notes you will actually hit:

• The sample column in the menu is live: it is built from your system clock at the moment the menu opens, so it shows a time you can really get instead of a frozen string baked into the plugin.
• hh is the canonical spelling and it is the 24 hour clock (as is HH). At 22:48 you get …_2248, never …_1048.
• mm is minutes, MM is the month. yyyy is the 4-digit year.
• This node expands the token itself. ComfyUI's own save nodes only know %width% / %height% / %year% / %month% / %day% / %hour% / %minute% / %second% / %batch_num% — they do not understand %date:…%, so without this node the raw token ended up literally in the file name.
• A leading / or \ in suffix / fallback_prefix becomes a sub-folder and is moved in front of the workflow name, so the folder is never glued to the end. See Save into a sub-folder for the exact syntax and the file's final location.

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Unsaved workflows

A canvas that has never been saved has no file name, so the output is tagged with _UnsavedWorkflow to make those files easy to spot.

When a workflow was saved earlier in the session, the node remembers the name together with a fingerprint of the graph and reuses it only for a matching graph (≥75 % node/widget overlap). Different workflows never inherit each other's names. The marker is appended in that case too, e.g. SummerCat_UnsavedWorkflow. Delete workflow_names.json to clear the memory.

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How it works (and why there is a JS file)

A ComfyUI backend only receives the node graph — it has no idea which .json file that graph came from, because workflow files do not store their own name. So the bundled frontend extension (js/workflow_filename.js) captures the open workflow's path and hands it to the node in two independent ways:

1. it writes the name into the node's filename widget (primary);
2. it injects the name into extra_pnginfo.workflow (secondary).

The Python node tries both before falling back to UnsavedWorkflow, so a breaking change in one path does not take the node down.

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Quick reference

| You want | Put in suffix | |---|---| | workflow name only | (leave empty) | | workflow name + version | v2 | | workflow name + date | %date:yyyyMMdd% | | workflow name + date and time | %date:yyyy-MM-dd_hhmm% | | a sub-folder output/new/ | new/%date:yyyy-MM-dd_hhmm% | | a sub-folder output/video/ | video/%date:yyyyMMdd% |

• hh is the 24 hour clock (22:48 → 2248); mm is minutes, MM is the month.
• A folder goes at the start of the field (new/%date:…%), never after the token. The root (output/ vs output/video/) comes from the save node, not from this plugin.
• The date token is expanded by this node — save nodes only know %year% / %month% / %day% ….
• The workflow must be saved and named, otherwise the output carries the _UnsavedWorkflow suffix.
• Right-click the node → Help (DESCRIPTION) for the long version.

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Version history

• 1.0.0 — first public release.
• 1.0.1 — date formats: the menu's date token now uses the lower-case hh spelling with a matching 24-hour sample (%date:yyyy-MM-dd_hhmm% → 2026-10-02_2248); the menu no longer advertises a HH token whose sample looked 12-hour. A mistyped yyyyy is expanded as well. Sub-folders, colon-bearing %date:…% tokens and per-workflow memory behave as in 1.0.0.
• 1.0.2 / 1.0.3 — the English-only cleanup: README rewritten in English (夏日与猫 → SummerCat), then the front end followed.
• 1.0.4 — the front end is all English: the date menu, its title and its Esc hints. The menu's sample column is now built from the live system clock instead of a frozen string baked into the plugin.
• 1.0.5 — README: sub-folder saving is documented properly — multi-level chains work in both suffix and fallback_prefix, plus the exact output path each one produces. No code change.

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Known limitations

• The frontend extension must load. If it does not, the node still runs and returns UnsavedWorkflow — it never crashes the graph. After upgrading, do a hard refresh (Ctrl+F5).
• The extension reads ComfyUI's internal frontend storage keys (verified against comfyui_frontend_package 1.53.6). A future frontend release could change them; the menu/tooltip niceties stop working while the core naming keeps its fallback.
• workflow_names.json is machine-local, never uploaded, and excluded from the published package. It may be lost if you update through the Manager.
• The internal node type key is WorkflowFilename (not Workflow2Filename) for backwards compatibility with graphs saved before the rename. Workflow JSON therefore shows WorkflowFilename even though the UI says Workflow2Filename.

Privacy

No network access, no telemetry, no model downloads. The only file written is workflow_names.json, kept locally next to the node.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.