Load ControlNet Model (diff) (Online)

Load ControlNet Model (diff) (Online) is the pack's wrapper for loading diffusers-format ControlNets - the HuggingFace-flavored packaging of ControlNet weights, as opposed to the single-file .pth/.safetensors checkpoints the plain DTControlNetLoader handles. The "(diff)" in the name is the whole story.

The one structural difference from its sibling is the model input: this node takes the MODEL you've already loaded and passes it to ComfyUI's diffusers ControlNet loader, because diffusers-format ControlNets need to be aligned against the model's architecture when they load. You don't get away with just picking a file - the node wants to know what it's conditioning.

Inputs and output

• model - a MODEL socket, from your checkpoint loader. This is the required difference; the plain loader doesn't take one.
• control_net_name - the dropdown, fed from the pack's separate controlnetdiff catalog.

The single output is CONTROL_NET, wired into ControlNetApplyAdvanced exactly like the non-diff variant - with positive/negative conditioning and a preprocessed control image on the other inputs. In a full workflow this node slots in right after the checkpoint loader, feeding the same MODEL the sampler will eventually use.

The honest state of it

Like a couple of other nodes in this pack, the diffusers ControlNet catalog is currently empty. I checked the live API (api.aiart.doubtech.com/comfyui/controlnetdiff) and it returns an empty list, so the dropdown has no entries and the node can't do anything today. It's not misconfigured - the server side is bare. If you're staring at an empty dropdown, that's why, and there's no refresh button; the list only repopulates on a ComfyUI restart (assuming DoubTech adds entries at all).

Install

cd ComfyUI/custom_nodes
git clone https://github.com/yolanother/DTAIComfyLoaders

or search "DTAIComfyLoaders" ("Comfy UI Online Loaders") in ComfyUI Manager, then restart. Only dependency is requests.

Where people get burned

• Empty dropdown = empty catalog. Don't reinstall, don't restart repeatedly. Confirm the server side at https://api.aiart.doubtech.com/comfyui/controlnetdiff.
• Forgetting the model input. Unlike the plain ControlNet loader, this node genuinely needs the MODEL socket filled or the load can't align the weights. If the catalog ever fills in, wire your checkpoint's MODEL in first.
• Base-model mismatch. Diffusers ControlNets are architecture-specific too - an SD 1.5-era diffusers ControlNet won't condition a Flux or SDXL model. The KB's ControlNet essay hammers this: every architecture needs its own weights.

Realistically, until DoubTech hosts diffusers-format ControlNets, this node is shelfware. When you actually need one of these, stock ComfyUI's DiffControlNetLoader against a HuggingFace download is the dependable path - same node, local file, no dependency on a third-party catalog that's currently empty.