CMK Flow · 01 START HERE · Create Image

If you have loaded a CMK Flow reference workflow and wondered where you are actually supposed to type things, it is this node. The display name is the tell: CMK Flow · 01 START HERE · Create Image. Everything upstream of it is loaders. Everything downstream is numbered - 05 ControlNet, 10 KSampler, 15 InstantID, 20 Refiner - and this node is the switchboard that decides which of those numbered modules even exist in your run.

What it does

It builds the task: prompt, resolution, family, inpaint mode, the image canvas and its mask. Then it hands you back a PROCESS contract bound to a model family, plus the authoritative IMAGE and a structured LOG.

That "family-bound" part is the whole point and the part that confuses newcomers. The node does not have one PROCESS output. It has PROCESS SDXL (CMK_PROCESS_SDXL) and PROCESS ZIT (CMK_PROCESS_Z_IMAGE). These are different socket types on purpose. You cannot wire a Z-Image Turbo process into an SDXL sampler, because ComfyUI will refuse the link. The pack's own README calls this a contract against mis-wiring, and it reads as rigid right up until the moment it saves you from a silent 40-minute run that was never going to work.

model_family picks between SDXL, Z-Image Turbo, and Hybrid. Hybrid is the interesting one: SDXL builds the composition and Z-Image Turbo finishes it, with hybrid_sdxl_handoff deciding where the baton passes.

The inputs you actually touch

• model_family - set this first. It drives which downstream modules light up and which PROCESS output is live.
• GLOBAL PROMPT POS / PROMPT NEG - the prompts for the entire flow, not one sampler. Downstream modules inherit them.
• resolution - defaults to 1152x832, an SDXL-shaped list. Watch what happens to your aspect ratio when you switch families.
• INPAINT_MODE - Text2Image or Inpaint. Switching to Inpaint reveals IMAGE, MASK, FILENAME and the whole masked workflow, plus process_mode presets: Custom, Replace Object, Remove Object, Extend Image.

On those presets, trust the author's own wording over your instinct: process_mode "selects a guided inpaint preset; it does not perform semantic object recognition." It is a bundle of sampler settings with good defaults, not a magic object-remover. Replace Object uses your prompt and keeps LoRAs; Remove Object bypasses all LoRAs and reconstructs from neutral background guidance; Extend Image builds an outpaint canvas with a Navier-Stokes fill and context reference.

There is also device (cpu/cuda/mps), which looks like a model-placement switch but is really about where the OpenCV mask fills run.

Outputs

You get PROCESS SDXL, PROCESS ZIT, IMAGE, LOG, VISUAL and an optional diagnostic. Route IMAGE, PROCESS and LOG together to the next module - the pack treats that trio as the handoff, and skipping the LOG wire means the Visualizer and summary nodes downstream have nothing to show you.

Installing the pack

ComfyUI Manager → search CMK Flow → install the entry from CMKFlow → restart. Or manually, with ComfyUI fully closed:

git clone https://github.com/CMKFlow/cmk_nodes.git custom_nodes/cmk_nodes
python3 custom_nodes/cmk_nodes/scripts/install_cmk_requirements.py

You want CMK dependency check: OK at the end. Model weights are deliberately not part of the Python package - run scripts/check_cmk_resources.py --models-root /your/shared/models afterwards to audit and optionally download them.

Common issues

Nodes render as grey LiteGraph boxes. CMK needs ComfyUI's Vue Nodes / Nodes 2.0 setting. Without it, the dynamic widget switching this node relies on - the whole INPAINT_MODE reveal - degrades. The pack prints a startup notice if the setting is off.

No MODEL input, so where does the model come from? Not here. MODEL travels on its own role wire from CMK Checkpoint VAE Loader -Pipe- and meets your PROCESS at the sampler module. This node never loads a checkpoint and never will.

Z-Image Turbo Inpaint. The README is blunt: it stays EXPERIMENTAL and frozen for now, because of memory and runtime cost. Use SDXL or Hybrid inpaint if you value your afternoon.