LZ Merge Recipe Random

Sometimes you don't have a theory about which blocks should win - you just want to see what a merge looks like when the weights are left to chance. LZ Merge Recipe Random is exactly that: no inputs, one output, and every time it runs it rolls a fresh 19-block merge recipe with each weight drawn randomly from 0.1 to 1.0 in 0.1 increments. It's the "I'm feeling lucky" button for model merging.

How it works

There's nothing to configure - the node has zero inputs. On execution it generates 19 random values, each round(uniform(0.1, 1.0) / 0.1) * 0.1, formats them to one decimal place, and emits them as a single comma-separated recipe STRING in the standard merge order: IN00–IN08 (input blocks), M00 (middle), OUT00–OUT08 (output blocks). That's the whole node.

The workflow around it is what gives it purpose: feed the recipe string into a model-merge node (or merge tool), run the merge, generate, and look. Repeat until something clicks, then save that recipe. It's random exploration made one-click - the merge-recipe equivalent of randomizing a seed.

Why this is a thing

Merging is a search problem with a huge space, and most people explore it either by copying recipes they saw posted or by nudging one or two blocks at a time. Random sampling is a legitimate third strategy: the block-weight space has surprising pockets, and a fully random recipe occasionally lands on a combination nobody would have reasoned their way to. The sensible use is shotgun exploration - roll twenty recipes, merge a few cheap models, and let the outliers teach you what your parents can do together. It's also handy as a baseline: if a random recipe beats your hand-tuned one, your hand-tuning was pointing the wrong way.

Installing it

cd ComfyUI/custom_nodes
git clone https://github.com/liz-ils/ComfyUI-LZNodes

restart → MyCustomNodes/Merge. ComfyUI Manager: ComfyUI-LZNodes. No extra dependencies.

The honest take

This is the most disposable node in the merge trio. The fully-random version doesn't let you constrain the range at all (that's what LZMergeRecipeRandomAdvanced is for - it takes min/max/step), and it doesn't let you lock blocks you already know you want (that's LZMergeRecipeManual). Its entire value is the zero-effort randomness, which is exactly what the Advanced variant also gives you with more control. If you only install one merge node, make it the Manual or the Advanced one; this one is the toy - a genuinely fun toy, but a toy.

One expectation to set: random recipes are mostly bad, occasionally weird, and rarely great. The win rate is low by design. If you want exploration with guardrails, skip this and use Random Advanced with a sane min/max band.