Symbiotica Reference Browser

Most of the Symbiotica pipeline is driven by an order: a client brief says what to make. Reference Browser is the branch for when there's no order - you just want to build a reference template from the game's asset library. Wire the Studio Library's path in, browse the folders in this node, tick what you want, and the node hands a SYMBIOTICA_ORDER to the Auto Packer.

The mental model is simple: a ticked folder becomes one sheet row, and the images inside it become that row's cells. It's a visual way to compose style-guide sheets from art that already exists, with zero client briefs in the loop.

How it works

The node opens a browser rooted at root_path - normally the Studio Library's output, so it's browsing the studio's own volume. Every folder you tick is collected into a picks structure (stored in the selection widget, which the browser writes for you). On execution it emits a minimal order object that encodes those picks, and the Auto Packer consumes it to lay the sheets out. Because the selection lives in the widget, it survives workflow saves and reloads.

The inputs

• root_path (required) - the library folder to browse. Wire the Studio Library's path here, or type one.
• name - base name for the generated sheets. Empty = the folder's name.
• selection - the picks JSON, set by the node's browser. You don't type this.

The output

• order - a SYMBIOTICA_ORDER carrying your picks. Wire it into the Auto Packer's order input.

One output, and it's not an image - it's the contract object that tells the packer what to build. That's the node's whole reason for existing: it converts a browse-and-tick gesture into the same order shape the rest of the pipeline uses, so everything downstream is interchangeable.

Install

Standard pack install:

cd ComfyUI/custom_nodes
git clone https://github.com/symbiotica-ai/comfyui-nodes.git symbiotica
pip install -r symbiotica/requirements.txt

Restart, or search Symbiotica in ComfyUI Manager. No API key, no model - it's a file browser with a JSON encoder.

Gotchas

The selection widget is the source of truth, and the browser writes it - so don't hand-edit that JSON field expecting it to stick; the browser will rewrite it. Also remember the folder tick = row, images = cells contract: a folder with a dozen unrelated images becomes a row with a dozen cells, and there's no re-ordering done for you - sort the folder before you tick it if order matters. And this pack is niche enough that the README is your main documentation; the Reference Browser section is short, but it states the row/cell contract explicitly.