create_list

ComfyUI's "list" is a genuinely weird concept until you've met one, and create_list is the node that makes them. Wire a bunch of values into its dynamic value_1, value_2, … ports and you get back a true list - a socket that carries many items in parallel, marked is_list in the schema. A node downstream that wants a list can then iterate over every item you dropped in, instead of seeing one bundled object. If you've ever wondered why some nodes have sockets that multiply when you connect them, this is that mechanism in action.

How it works

Mechanically it's the same collection routine as create_array - walk the workflow, gather everything wired into the value* inputs, in port order, into one Python list. The difference is entirely in how it's presented: create_list declares its output is_list: true, so ComfyUI treats the socket as carrying N items rather than one container. That flips what happens downstream - a consumer expecting a list gets each element as a separate item, which is what lets batch-style processing fan out.

So the practical distinction in this pack, spelled out because it trips up everyone once:

• create_list → a real ComfyUI list (many parallel items on one socket).
• create_array → a LIST container (one wire holding a Python list as a single object).

If a node's list input won't accept your array, you need type_ArrayToList (array → list); if you collected a list and want to carry it as one object, type_ListToArray (list → array) is the reverse. create_list is the entry point for the "make it a list" direction.

Where you'd use it

Anytime the target node wants items one at a time. Gather a set of prompts or seeds, turn them into a list, and let a downstream per-item node chew through all of them in one run. It also plays well with the flow pipeline's flow_stage_list, which hands you both shapes at once - but when you're building the list by hand from loose wires, this is the node.

Install

Same pack as always: ComfyUI Manager → search "ComfyUI-Apt_Preset", or clone into custom_nodes and run install.bat, then restart. No models or extra deps. The trap to remember is the direction: this makes lists, not arrays, and plenty of "why won't this connect" moments in this pack are just array-versus-list mismatches that type_ArrayToList/type_ListToArray exist to fix.