Kandinsky 5.0 Image Lite

Most Runware nodes are deliberately dumbed-down: prompt in, image out, two widgets. Kandinsky 5.0 Image Lite is the exception that proves the rule - it's the one cloud node that hands you the full diffusion control panel. Steps, scheduler, CFG, negative prompt, even a LoRA socket. If you're coming from local ComfyUI and want the same feel without the GPU, this is the bridge.

It's the hosted "Lite" tier of the Kandinsky image model family (Kandinsky is the long-running diffusion line from the Russian Sber-backed labs), served through Runware. The Lite suffix means the fast, economical variant - which, given the control surface, is the sweet spot for people who miss tuning a sampler.

How it works

Required: positivePrompt, width, and height (both default 1024, stepped in multiples of 16 - keep them divisible by 16 like you would locally).

Then the controls that make this node feel like home:

• steps - 10 to 50, default 20. More steps, more detail, longer wait and higher bill.
• scheduler - 13 choices including the DPM++ Karras family, Euler / Euler a, LCM, DDIM, DDPM, and PNDM. This dropdown alone is why you'd pick this node over a plain txt2img.
• CFGScale - 2 to 10, default 7. How hard the model clings to your prompt. 7 is a fine starting point; 10 will overbake, 4–5 gets freer.
• negativePrompt - with CFG above 1 it's respected; the tooltip notes it's ignored when guidance is disabled.
• seed - full 64-bit reproducibility when you lock it.
• lora - a RUNWARE_LORA socket fed by the Runware LoRA builder, so you can stack a community LoRA onto a hosted run. That's a genuinely unusual move for a cloud node and worth knowing about.
• acceleratorOptions - a RUNWARE_ACCELERATOROPTIONS socket (from the Runware Accelerator Options builder) if you want to play with caching tricks.

Output is a native IMAGE, so it drops into Save Image or feeds an upscale pass like any local node.

Installing it

Standard official pack install:

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

Restart, set your API key in ComfyUI Settings → Runware API key or via RUNWARE_API_KEY. Dependencies: runware-sdk, pillow, soundfile. No model downloads - the checkpoint is Runware's.

Where people get burned

Two traps. First: you get more controls here, so you'll fiddle, and every extra step is metered - a 50-step run with CFG 10 costs noticeably more than the defaults, and this is a paid top-up API with the pack's standing $20-minimum complaint. Second: the "Lite" naming - it's the economical tier, not the flagship; don't expect it to out-render a dedicated high-end model. And the usual pack rule: no API key set means instant errors, so check Settings before you blame the scheduler.