Ard Text Box Counter

ARD Text Box Counter is a pairing node. It takes a text string and a counter value, and hands both back out untouched. The point is bundling: one node that emits your prompt and the current step count together, so a downstream node doesn't have to reach across the graph to find the counter.

The node's own description says "to be used with ARD Counter" - that's the same pack's ARD_COUNTER, a node that increments a count by x_input each run until it hits x_total, then resets to zero. ARD Text Box Counter is the companion that glues that count onto text. The natural pairing is with ARD Prompt Travel, which takes a text box, adds its content to other text, and can be driven by a counter - that's how you'd step through a changing prompt across a batch.

What it actually does

Two required inputs, two outputs:

• input_text - a STRING field (multiline, with the dynamicPrompts flag, same as ARD Text Box).
• ard_counter - a FLOAT, default 1.0. Feed this from ARD Counter's x_count_float output (it's also FLOAT, so the types line up cleanly - the x_count_int output would work too, but the float is the natural match).
• string_out - your text, verbatim.
• ard_counter - the counter value, verbatim.

That's it. The code is two return statements. It doesn't count anything itself, and if you feed it without an ARD Counter upstream, it's just a text box with an extra float in and out.

The part that surprises people

The counting lives in ARD Counter, and ARD Counter keeps its state in a JSON file - ard_data/ard_counter.json inside the pack's folder. So the counter persists between runs, and it resets by deleting that file when x_total is reached. If you're testing a workflow and the count "doesn't reset" or jumps unexpectedly, that JSON file is why. It's a legit design for long batch runs (the state survives a ComfyUI restart), but it's a behavior to know about before it bites you mid-batch.

Install

Same pack, same story: ComfyUI-Ardenius. ComfyUI Manager → search "Ardenius", or:

cd ComfyUI/custom_nodes
git clone https://github.com/ArdeniusAI/ComfyUI-Ardenius

Restart, find it under Ardenius as "Ard Text Box Counter". No models, no extra deps for this node specifically. It only earns its place if you're doing counter-driven batch or prompt-travel work inside this pack - for a standalone text field, ARD Text Box (or the stock Text node) is the simpler pick. This one is a pairing tool, and that's its entire job.