Checkpoint Loader Small (Pipe)

Checkpoint Loader Small (Pipe) is the RvTools version of the classic checkpoint loader, with one difference: instead of three separate outputs (model, clip, vae), it hands you a single pipe - a bundle of model, clip, vae, latent, width, height, batch_size, model_name and vae_name riding one wire. It's the "small" loader because it skips the extra bells and whistles of the v1/v2/v3 pipe loaders in this pack.

How it works

Under the hood it's the same load_checkpoint_guess_config call every ComfyUI loader uses, plus the RvTools twist: the loaded pieces get packed into a 9-slot pipe list. vae_name defaults to Baked VAE, meaning it uses the VAE baked into the checkpoint rather than a separate VAE file - pick a named VAE from the dropdown and it loads that instead. Baked_Clip (default on) and Use_Clip_Layer (default on) control whether the checkpoint's CLIP is used and whether the stop_at_clip_layer adjustment applies; set that to -2 (default here) for the SDXL convention of using the penultimate CLIP layer.

The inputs that matter

• ckpt_name - which checkpoint file to load.
• vae_name - Baked VAE or a specific VAE.
• Baked_Clip, Use_Clip_Layer, stop_at_clip_layer - the CLIP handling.
• batch_size - baked into the pipe.

Output pipe plugs into any RvTools pipe consumer - a Pipe Switch, a Pipe In Context node, or the pack's sampler-settings nodes that read the bundle. If your downstream nodes want the pieces separately, the Pipe In Context node will split the pipe back into individual model/clip/vae outputs.

Installing

cd ComfyUI/custom_nodes
git clone https://github.com/r-vage/ComfyUI-RvTools_v2

Restart ComfyUI or use ComfyUI Manager (search "ComfyUI-RvTools_v2"). No model downloads from this pack - you supply your own checkpoint.

The catch

This specific node is marked DEPRECATED in the pack, superseded within the family by the cleaner, non-deprecated Checkpoint Loader v1 (Pipe) - which has nearly the same inputs and the same pipe output, minus the deprecated flag. The v1 Small (Pipe) loader is the trimmed variant to reach for if you want pipe output with minimal options. As ever with this pack: it's unmaintained and headed toward ComfyUI_Eclipse, and v1-repo workflow references to old node names will fail to install. It still works fine today if a workflow you downloaded uses it - just don't build new stuff on the deprecated ones.