Luma Reference

Some nodes generate; some nodes glue. Luma Reference is a glue node, and its job is dead simple: it takes an image, wraps it in a little package with a weight, and hands that package to a Luma generation node so your generation actually respects the reference. On its own it does nothing visible - no image comes out, no credits are spent - and that's exactly why it exists. In the Luma partner-node family, reference images don't travel as loose IMAGE wires; they travel as typed luma_ref objects, and this is the node that builds them.

You'll reach for it whenever a Luma image or video node offers a reference slot. Feed it a character sheet, a product shot, or a style frame; set a weight; pass the luma_ref output into the generation node's reference input. The downstream node then uses your image as a conditioning anchor instead of just guessing from the prompt.

The inputs that matter

• image - the reference image itself. This is the content.
• weight - 0 to 1, default 1.0, step 0.01. How hard the generation leans on the reference. 1.0 means "this is basically the subject"; something like 0.3 means "keep the general vibe, do your own thing." This is the dial you'll actually tune.
• luma_ref - an optional incoming reference chain. Luma's pattern mirrors the other partner helpers: you can chain references by feeding one node's output into the next node's luma_ref input, and each node appends one more image to the chain. The final output is a chain object, not an image.

Output is the luma_ref wire (type LUMA_REF), which plugs into the corresponding reference input on Luma's generation nodes - most obviously Luma Image to Image (LumaImageModifyNode) and the Luma Text-to-Image / video nodes that take reference conditioning.

Cost and setup

It's a built-in ComfyUI core node - no install. And because it's only packaging data, this node charges nothing. The credits show up on the generation node that consumes the reference, at that node's normal rate. You still need a Comfy account with credits to run the consuming node, and a current ComfyUI; the usual localhost-login rule applies to the whole partner family.

The gotcha

The trap with glue nodes is expecting them to do more than they do. If you wire a Luma Reference into a node that doesn't accept luma_ref, nothing happens - the wire just won't connect, because the types don't match. And if your generation is ignoring the reference entirely, check the weight before you blame the model: a weight near 0 is "ignore me," which is why the default of 1.0 exists. Set it, don't leave it thinking; this node is boring on purpose, and that's the whole value - one clean package per reference, chainable up, cost-free, exactly what a workflow organizer wants.