XB-BOX - CLIP Name Broadcaster

ComfyUI lets you convert almost any widget into an input, but model names are the exception: the loader nodes keep their dropdowns as dropdowns, so a downstream node can't know which CLIP you loaded without you retyping it. XB_CLIPNameBroadcaster fixes that in the cheapest way possible - a dropdown that outputs the selected CLIP filename as a wire, using the wildcard * type so it can plug into anything that wants a name. It's pure plumbing, and that's the entire job.

It's one of the "wiring" utilities in XB_ToolBox (the pack ships the same trick as XB_UNetNameBroadcaster for UNet files), and it sits alongside the Dynamic Bus in a family aimed at keeping workflows tidy. Where it shines: LLM-driven workflows where a llama node needs to know which CLIP the graph loaded, filename-based save paths, or anywhere a name must be visible to logic nodes.

How it works

Under the hood it's embarrassingly simple:

• The clip_name dropdown enumerates folder_paths.get_filename_list("clip") - every file ComfyUI knows about in its clip / text_encoders folders.
• Its single output, CLIP_Name, is typed * (ANY), so ComfyUI lets you wire it into any input that accepts a string-ish value - a text concatenator, a filename template, a prompt-routing node.
• On execution it just returns the selected filename string.

Because the output type is *, you can't connect it to a strictly-typed STRING socket directly on all frontends - which is the one gotcha. If a node's input is specifically STRING, the wildcard may be rejected; in that case run it through a tiny string node or the Dynamic Bus first.

The inputs that matter

Just one: clip_name - the dropdown of your installed CLIP/text-encoder files. Pick the one that matches what your CLIP loader is actually loading.

Output: CLIP_Name - the filename as a * wire.

Installing

Comes with XB_ToolBox - ComfyUI Manager → search XB_ToolBox, or

cd ComfyUI/custom_nodes
git clone https://github.com/WJLUOXIAO/XB_ToolBox.git

restart, done. Zero dependencies.

Common issues

• Can't connect it to a STRING input - expected behavior of a * output. Insert a string/any-type bridge if the target is strictly typed.
• Name mismatch - the dropdown shows every file in your clip folders, including ones you're not using. It does not auto-detect what your loader loaded; you're asserting the name by hand, so keep the two in sync or your downstream node will write the wrong filename.

Is it life-changing? No. But when a llama node needs to caption "the CLIP you used" and you've lost the name, this one small dropdown saves a manual copy-paste - and it never silently drifts, because it's the same dropdown the loader would use.