Publish to Flow

Publish to Flow is the payoff node of the comfyui_vfx-flow pack - the reason the whole thing exists. The upstream nodes browse projects and shots so that this node can do the one thing a pipeline actually cares about: take the file you just rendered, register it in Autodesk Flow as a new version on the right shot, and make it visible to everyone downstream of you. Version control for AI-generated frames, done the way your studio already versions everything else.

If you've seen the reddit job posts asking for artists who can "publish versioned assets to ShotGrid" from ComfyUI workflows, this is the missing piece they mean. Studios want AI output to land in the production system of record, not in a folder named outputs_final_v2.

How it works

Give it the flow pipe, the file_path of your render, and a description, and it creates a Version record in Flow linked to the shot. It fills in the version code from the context, tags the task and user if they're present, and - nice touch - accepts an optional thumbnail IMAGE input, which it downscales to a JPEG and uploads to the version so reviewers see a thumbnail without opening the file.

Two details matter before you run it:

• do_publish defaults to false. This is the pack's safety toggle, and it's a good one. Nothing gets uploaded until you explicitly flip it on. The README frames it as protection against accidentally publishing during workflow development, and it does that job - the downside is the classic "I ran it and nothing happened" moment, because the node just returns a "Publish disabled" message. If you expect a version to appear in Flow, check this box.
• status is the three-letter Flow status code: rev (Pending Review), vwd (Viewed), apr (Approved). Default rev, which is right for a first publish.

Outputs: version_id (STRING - the ID of the created version, or empty if you didn't publish) and info (STRING - a report with the version ID, code and status, or the skip/error message).

One wiring tip: version_id isn't just for display. Feed it into the Add Note node's version_id input and you can attach a review note to the exact version you just published.

Installing it

ComfyUI Manager → search VFX Flow → install → restart. Manual:

cd ComfyUI/custom_nodes
git clone https://github.com/beverlyhillscop90210/comfyui_vfx-flow
cd comfyui_vfx-flow
pip install -r requirements.txt

Only shotgun_api3>=3.3.0; no model files.

Where people get burned

• "File not found". The file_path is a string you have to type or wire in. On Windows, watch your path separators - a save node's output path is the safest source for this input.
• The safety toggle is the number-one confusion. do_publish off + workflow runs fine + no version in Flow. It's not broken; it's deliberate. The node even returns a message telling you to enable it.
• The publish code path is rough as shipped. Reading the source, the version-creation branch references a variable the function never defines, so the first real publish may come back with a name 'pipe' is not defined style error. This pack is young - one commit, pre-1.0 - so the safety-toggle design is solid but the code behind the upload is still being beaten into shape. Expect the author to tighten it; verify a real publish on your own instance before you build a farm around it.

Publish to Flow is the node that makes "ComfyUI in the pipeline" real: generate, save, version, review - all from the graph. Just flip the switch.