pack_Unpack

If you found this node in a workflow and you're trying to figure out what it does: stop, and check whether you actually need it, because the pack itself files this one under its own "Deprecated" category in the node menu. That's not a guess or an inference - it's exactly where the pack puts it now, next to its other retired nodes.

What it did

pack_Unpack takes a single required input of a custom type called PACK and outputs one value, typed as a wildcard (*). That's the whole node - read whatever was packed into a PACK, hand back one untyped value. Simple, but that simplicity is also exactly the problem: a generic wildcard output means ComfyUI can't tell you at graph-build time what's actually going to come out of it, or catch a type mismatch before you hit run. You only find out you wired it wrong when the run fails.

Why it's deprecated

ComfyUI-Apt_Preset has since built out a family of typed pack/unpack pairs that do the same basic job - bundle several values into one wire so your graph doesn't turn into a mess of individual connections - but properly typed and multi-output: Model_Preset_pack/Model_Preset_Unpack for model file selections, param_preset_pack/param_preset_Unpack for numeric parameters, and photoshop_preset_pack/photoshop_preset_Unpack for a canvas/mask/prompt bundle. Each of those unpacks into several separately-named, correctly-typed outputs instead of one generic value - exactly the two things a wildcard pack/unpack pair can't give you. That's almost certainly why this older, generic version got retired: it's the same idea, done worse, once the pack had built better versions for specific cases.

What to do instead

If you're rebuilding an old workflow that used pack_Unpack, figure out what was actually being carried in the PACK - model filenames, numeric parameters, or a canvas/mask/prompt bundle - and swap in the matching typed pair from the list above. There's no drop-in generic replacement inside the pack; the typed nodes are the replacement, and picking the right one means knowing what you were actually bundling.

Installing the pack

If you want the pack for its active nodes rather than this one, ComfyUI Manager is the easy route: search "ComfyUI-Apt_Preset", install, restart. Manually:

cd ComfyUI/custom_nodes
git clone https://github.com/cardenluo/ComfyUI-Apt_Preset.git

Restart ComfyUI afterward. Windows gets install.bat for dependencies from the repo; on Linux/Mac, install from the requirements file inside your ComfyUI venv the usual way.

Common issues

pack_Unpack doesn't show up when searching the node menu normally. That's expected once a node is filed under a pack's deprecated category - some node-search UIs hide or de-prioritize deprecated entries by default. It's still there in an installed pack (deprecation in this ecosystem almost never means deletion, just a signal not to use it going forward), but you may need to browse the deprecated category directly to find it if you're trying to open an old saved workflow that references it.

An old workflow fails to load with a missing-node error for this one. If you're on an older install of the pack where this node genuinely predates the typed replacements, updating the pack won't remove it - deprecated nodes generally stay importable so old graphs don't break outright. If it's still failing, that points at a version mismatch or a broken install rather than the node having actually been deleted; reinstall the pack and check the console for the real error before assuming this specific node is the cause.