(Deno) Advanced Image Source Loader

The standard (Deno) Multi Image Loader assumes your images live in ComfyUI/input, which is the right assumption for most people and most workflows. (Deno) Advanced Image Source Loader is for the rest: external local folders anywhere on disk, absolute file paths, and web image URLs. If your references sit in a shared project folder, a NAS, or a URL list, this node loads them without you copying anything into the input folder first - and it still hands you a clean batch tensor at the other end.

What's actually different

The gallery and resize machinery are familiar from the Multi Image Loader, with real upgrades:

• External sources - image_paths accepts files, folders, absolute paths, and web URLs. Load Path reads an external folder directly without importing it into ComfyUI/input first (the Upload Folder... button is an optional browser helper, not a requirement).
• recursive_folders - pull in images from nested subfolders.
• Masonry thumbnails - mixed portrait/landscape references are much easier to scan than a uniform grid.
• Disable without deleting - click a thumbnail to toggle a source off; skipped sources are saved in disabled_image_paths so your selection survives reloads.
• Optional images input - chain an upstream image batch into the same output stream.

The two outputs that matter

This is where it beats the simpler loader. It outputs both a batch - all active sources resized into one same-size IMAGE tensor for normal batch workflows - and an image_list, for workflows that need per-image handling at different sizes. list_output_mode controls which: Original Size preserves mixed source resolutions in the list (useful for passing each reference at native res), Match Batch Size makes the list match the resized batch. You also get width, height, and image_count so downstream logic can react to what actually loaded.

The sizing inputs are the Deno standard: mode (Keep Input Ratio / Preset Ratio / Manual), megapixels (1), divisible_by (32), width/height (1024), interpolation (lanczos), and resize_method - this one has four options including center/top/bottom crop-fill.

Install and when to use it

Same pack, same install:

cd ComfyUI/custom_nodes
git clone https://github.com/Deno2026/comfyui-deno-custom-nodes.git
# restart ComfyUI

No extra dependencies. The author is explicit that the standard Multi Image Loader remains the simpler recommended option for normal input-folder workflows - this node is the advanced sibling, and it costs you a slightly busier UI. Reach for it when you find yourself copying folders into input just to test a workflow, or when a pipeline needs to pull references from a path that changes between runs.

The gotcha to know: image_paths is a UI-managed string - don't hand-type paths into it expecting them to stick, because the gallery state is the source of truth and hand edits get overwritten. And URL loading depends on network access from the ComfyUI process, so if a URL source silently fails, check your proxy/VPN situation before suspecting the node.