Load Images From Path ♾️Mixlab

Point this at a folder on disk and it loads the images from it - no drag-and-drop, no uploading through the UI, just "read from this path." That alone is handy for batch work. But the real trick is the watcher: turn it on and the node monitors the folder, so when a new image lands, your workflow fires automatically. That's the feature that lets you wire ComfyUI to Photoshop - save a PSD, and the graph runs on it the instant it hits the folder.

If you've ever wanted a live loop where you edit in another program and watch ComfyUI react, this is the input side of that. It's the same idea as the pack's screen-share, but folder-based instead of pixel-grab.

How it works

Given a folder path, it enumerates the image files, sorts them, and outputs them as a list (plus the matching masks from any alpha channels, and the file paths). With the watcher enabled it keeps an eye on the directory and re-triggers execution on change, which is what makes the Photoshop-save-to-run loop possible. The index_variable lets you address the folder like an array - grab image N rather than all of them - which is useful when you're stepping through a sequence one frame at a time.

Inputs and outputs

The one required input:

• file_path (STRING) - the folder (or file) path to read from.

The optional inputs worth knowing:

• sort_by (file_name / newest) - order the images by name or by most-recent. Use newest when you want the latest drop into the folder.
• index_variable (INT, default 0, min -1) - pick a single image by index instead of the whole set. -1 is the "all of them" sentinel.
• watcher (disable / enable) - the live-monitor switch. Enable it for the auto-re-run-on-change behavior.
• white_bg (disable / enable) - flatten transparency onto white, for images with alpha you don't want to keep transparent.

There's also a result (WATCHER) plumbing input, an optional prompt, and a seed.

Outputs: image list (IMAGE, a list - your main output), MASK (a list, the alpha masks), prompt_for_FloatingVideo (STRING, used with the pack's floating-video feature), and filepaths (STRING list - the source paths, handy for naming or logging).

How to install it

Ships with the Mixlab pack.

• ComfyUI Manager: search comfyui-mixlab-nodes, install, restart.
• Manual: cd ComfyUI/custom_nodes && git clone https://github.com/shadowcz007/comfyui-mixlab-nodes.git, install requirements (install.bat on Windows or ../../../python_embeded/python.exe -s -m pip install -r requirements.txt), restart.

Common issues

Path not found / nothing loads: the path is relative to wherever the ComfyUI server runs, not your browser. On a remote or cloud/serverless runner, a path from your local machine means nothing to the server - the folder has to exist on the box doing the execution. This node is really a local-workstation tool; on a hosted runner it's often the wrong choice and you should upload instead.

Watcher doesn't fire: the watch-and-re-run behavior depends on ComfyUI's front-end staying connected and the folder being on the same machine as the server. It's a live feature - a headless/API run has nothing watching. Also confirm you actually flipped watcher to enable; it's off by default.

Wrong image comes out: check sort_by and index_variable together. If you expected the newest file but got the first alphabetically, switch sort_by to newest. If you wanted the whole batch but got one image, index_variable isn't -1.

Transparency looks wrong downstream: some nodes choke on alpha. Flip white_bg to enable to flatten, or use the MASK output to handle transparency deliberately.