Unified Loader (mini)

Unified Loader (mini) is the diet version of PG Nodes' one-loader-for-everything. The full Unified Loader drags in checkpoint, diffusion model, multiple CLIP encoders, VAE, CLIP vision, ControlNet, IP-Adapter, and upscale models with a pile of type dropdowns. The mini keeps it to the essentials: one checkpoint, plus clip vision, ControlNet, IP-Adapter, and upscale slots - and the CPU offload toggle that's the whole point of the family.

That toggle is the headline feature. Flip device_cpu on and the loader tries to move parts of the loaded stack to CPU, leaving more VRAM for the sampler itself. The author's pitch, and the one that got people's attention in the pack's launch thread on r/StableDiffusion, is "one loader, more VRAM for sampling." On a low-VRAM card, offloading a ControlNet or IP-Adapter to CPU while the KSampler gets the GPU can be the difference between running and OOM. It's best-effort, not magic - the source says so in as many words - but when it works, it works.

How it works

The mini takes a checkpoint (which internally expands into MODEL, CLIP, and VAE), plus optional clip_vision, controlnet, ipadapter, and upscale slots - each a dropdown over its folder with a none default. Every loader delegates to ComfyUI's own machinery; the mini just gathers the outputs onto one node. If device_cpu is on, the internal loaders pass a CPU device hint to ComfyUI's load calls.

Outputs: MODEL, CLIP, VAE (all from the checkpoint), then CONTROLNET, IPADAPTER, UPSCALE_MODEL, and CLIP_VISION. Wire what you need; the rest sit unused.

The trade vs. the full loader: no separate CLIP text-encoder slots (no dual-encoder SDXL/SD3 setups), no diffusion UNet slot, no FP8/CLIP-type dropdowns. If your workflow is a single checkpoint plus a controlnet, this is everything and nothing more. If you're loading separate text encoders for SDXL or Flux, you want the full Unified Loader instead.

The inputs that matter

• checkpoint - your main model. Generates MODEL/CLIP/VAE on one selection.
• device_cpu - the VRAM-saver toggle. Off by default.
• controlnet / ipadapter / clip_vision / upscale - optional auxiliaries, leave on none to skip.

Install

Part of the PG Nodes pack:

ComfyUI Manager → search "PG Nodes" → Install → restart

Manual: git clone https://github.com/GizmoR13/PG-Nodes into custom_nodes (rename to PG-nodes), restart. Under PG. The IP-Adapter loader prefers comfyui_ipadapter_plus if you have it installed; otherwise it falls back to ComfyUI's built-in ipadapter loader, and it degrades gracefully if neither is available. No model downloads required - it loads whatever is already in your models folders.

Common issues

• CPU toggle seems to do nothing. Best-effort, remember. On some model families not everything can move off-GPU. Check the console for load messages and keep expectations proportional.
• IP-Adapter output is None. Either the slot was none, or no ipadapter loader was importable. Install ComfyUI_IPAdapter_plus if you rely on IP-Adapter.
• Missing CLIP slots. That's not a bug - it's the mini. Reach for the full Unified Loader when you need separate text encoders.
• New model file not in dropdown. Lists are built at import; restart ComfyUI after adding files.

The full Unified Loader is the pack's showpiece, but the mini is arguably the more practical default for most single-model workflows - fewer widgets, same CPU trick, zero clutter.