AUTO PASS 3 · STOP / UNLOAD

What this node does

Pass 3 is the refiner stage, and SayaImagePhase3Stop is where it comes to rest. The node does three things in one move: it saves the refined image and its manifest to disk as the phase-3 checkpoint, marks that checkpoint validated, and signals the frontend - which then unloads the refiner's models from VRAM and queues pass 4 (pre-detail upscale) after a short pause.

It's a fixed-phase member of the pack's STOP family, so the mechanism is identical to its siblings and the phase-1 variant: candidate first, then an atomic promote with rollback, so pass 4 never inherits a half-written file. Output files are phase_3_refiner.candidate.png/.json becoming phase_3_refiner.png/.json under ComfyUI/output/image/checkpoints/ (relative to the ComfyUI output folder).

Inputs, outputs and the record

The inputs are the same manifest-recording set you see on every STOP: image, seed, positive_prompt, negative_prompt, the models_json/vaes_json/samplers_json metadata notes, and optional source_path plus a compatibility save_receipt that the node accepts but ignores. Outputs: image (passed through), validated_path, and manifest_json. Remember the metadata widgets are record-keeping only - they describe what ran; they never control the next phase. That's the job of the seed and prompt values baked into the manifest.

Three things to internalize

Three things worth internalizing if you're assembling a full run:

• VRAM hygiene is the point. The refiner is often the phase people pick a specialist model for. When this STOP fires, that model gets freed before phase 4 loads its own - the isolation is what lets a six-phase pipeline run on a modest card.
• Unload is deferred on purpose. The node doesn't yank models while the prompt is still alive; the browser frees them after ComfyUI reports execution success, then queues the next pass. Headless users lose only the auto-queue, never the checkpoint.
• Order is enforced, not assumed. Phase 4's LOAD demands this node's validated output. If you discard the phase-3 candidate (via the redo endpoint) or skip the pass, phase 4 will refuse with a "not validated" error rather than build on thin air.

Honest fit: this whole STOP/LOAD dance only pays off inside the author's automated multi-phase architecture. A single refined image doesn't need checkpoint files - it needs a SaveImage. Install via ComfyUI Manager (search saya-comfy-couple-plus) or git clone https://github.com/alphaziod/saya-comfy-couple-plus into custom_nodes, restart, and treat updates with care: the pack is WIP and the README itself tells you to keep workflow backups before pulling.