VAE Decode Pipe

Same idea as its encode twin, at the other end of the pipe: latent in, image out, and the VAE passed through so the decode doesn't break your visual supply line. VAE Decode Pipe is the companion to VAE Encode Pipe in the early braintacles pack - encode bundles the VAE forward, this node carries it on past the decode.

How it works

There's no cleverness here, which is the point. It runs the standard vae.decode on your latent and hands the original VAE back out alongside the image. Inputs: samples (LATENT), vae (VAE). Outputs: IMAGE, VAE.

That VAE output can be left dangling - it's a pass-through, not a requirement. The reason it exists is so a graph can keep a single, traceable VAE line from the loader through encode and decode, which genuinely helps in the kind of batch or multi-pass workflows where you'd otherwise be re-finding "which VAE loader fed this node again?"

The honest problem

Like the other pipe nodes, this one isn't in the current pack. It shipped in the early releases and was removed in May 2024 when the pack shrank to five nodes; the version in GitHub and ComfyUI Manager doesn't have it. If your saved workflow asks for it, that's the explanation - it's not a typo and not a corrupt install.

The behavior itself is trivially reproduced with the core VAE Decode node plus a second wire from your VAE loader. Same result, one extra line. If you'd rather keep the pipe, you can pin the pack to the last release that had it:

git clone https://github.com/braintacles/braintacles-comfyui-nodes
cd braintacles-comfyui-nodes
git checkout 26732fd

My recommendation stays the same as for its sibling: the pipe is a nicety. If the missing-node error is what brought you here, swap in core VAE Decode, wire the VAE twice, and get on with generating.