CLIPLoader_motorway_edition

Not every model ships with a text encoder attached. When you're running a model where the CLIP comes as a separate download - or you want to swap one text encoder for another - you load it with CLIPLoader instead of a checkpoint loader. This is its Motorway-ed clone: you pick the CLIP file, and it lands in the Motorway under a key you name, ready for the text-encode nodes to read.

How it works

The wrapper runs the real core CLIPLoader and stores the loaded CLIP in the Motorway. The inputs that matter:

• clip_name - your CLIP file from models/clip (dynamically populated).
• type - the architecture dropdown, and the field to get right: stable_diffusion, stable_cascade, sd3, stable_audio, mochi, ltxv, pixart, cosmos, lumina2, wan. The type must match the model family you're pairing the encoder with - a CLIP trained for SDXL won't slot into a Flux pipeline, and the text encoder mismatch is exactly the kind of thing that produces garbage without any obvious error.
• device - default or cpu. Leave it on default; the cpu option is for the specific cases where you want the text encoder off your GPU (usually VRAM juggling).
• OUTPUT_CLIP_key - where the CLIP goes, default CLIP.

The node instantiates the real core CLIPLoader, runs it, and writes the result under your output key. The only visible output is the MOTORWAY 🚌💨. Downstream, the appropriate text-encode node reads the CLIP key.

When you'd use it

Two common cases. First, models like Flux and SD3 that expect you to load the T5/CLIP encoders separately rather than bundled in a checkpoint. Second, experiments where you want a specific text encoder paired with a specific diffusion model - say, testing a different CLIP on a base you already have. If your checkpoint bundles everything (CheckpointLoaderSimple_motorway_edition), you don't need this node at all.

The "optional" Motorway trap

Like the other no-connection-input clones, the schema lists MOTORWAY 🚌💨 as optional. Ignore it. The wrapper still calls MOTORWAY.update() and MOTORWAY.clone(), so with no Motorway attached it dies on AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'update'. Always feed it a live Motorway from a MotorwayStart, even though the UI lets you leave it unplugged.

Install

cd ComfyUI/custom_nodes
git clone https://github.com/agilly1989/ComfyUI_agilly1989_motorway

Restart, or search "ComfyUI_agilly1989_motorway" in ComfyUI Manager. No pip dependencies; the pack itself downloads nothing, though the model you load is of course on you.

Fine print

This is an active-development beta pack - the README opens with "BIG BROKEN WITH ASYNC WILL FIX WHEN I GET THE TIME/MOTIVATION" - and the current hotfix release has the _motorway_edition clone generation commented out of __init__.py, so on the newest main these nodes may not load at all. An old workflow that references them and reports missing nodes is hitting exactly that. Keys overwrite as they flow down the Motorway, and a key that was never written throws the signature 'MotorwayClass' object has no attribute 'hash_' error. Report problems via GitHub issues; the author's Discord DMs are, by his own words, a dead end.