ComfyUI on Google Colab

Run ComfyUI in Google Colab with optional Google Drive persistence, one-click model downloads, and public access via Cloudflare Tunnel or Localtunnel.

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Features

• Mount or unmount Google Drive to persist your ComfyUI workspace
• Clone and optionally update the upstream ComfyUI repository
• Download models from Civitai or Hugging Face with fast aria2
• Optional custom nodes installation (examples included, commented)
• Start ComfyUI and expose it publicly via:
  • Cloudflare Tunnel (trycloudflare)
  • Localtunnel (fallback)

Quick start

1. Click the Colab badge above to open ComfyUIonColab.ipynb.
2. In the first cell, set MODE to MOUNT and run to mount Google Drive (recommended for persistence).
3. (Optional) Set DRIVE_PATH in the Setup cell, e.g. /content/drive/MyDrive. If set, the workspace will be created at <DRIVE_PATH>/ComfyUI and will persist across sessions. If left empty, the workspace is /content/ComfyUI (ephemeral).
4. Run the Setup cell to clone/update ComfyUI and install dependencies.
5. Use the Models section to download checkpoints and VAEs into ./models/checkpoints and ./models/vae.
6. Start ComfyUI:
   • Cloudflare Tunnel cell prints a public URL ending with trycloudflare.com once port 8188 is ready
   • Or use the Localtunnel cell as an alternative

Notebook structure (what each section does)

• Mount/Unmount Google Drive
  • MODE = "MOUNT" | "UNMOUNT" mounts to /content/drive and cleans up when unmounting
• Setup and Update ComfyUI
  • DRIVE_PATH (string, optional). When provided, workspace is set to <DRIVE_PATH>/ComfyUI
  • Clones https://github.com/comfyanonymous/ComfyUI if not present
  • If UPDATE_COMFY_UI = True, runs git pull
  • Installs dependencies with pip install xformers!=0.0.18 -r requirements.txt and CUDA wheels extra-indexes
• Models download helpers
  • Installs aria2 for fast, segmented downloads
  • downloadModel(url, filename=None) supports Civitai and Hugging Face
  • Civitai API token is read from Colab user secrets via:

    from google.colab import userdata
    CIVITAI_API_TOKEN = userdata.get('CIVITAI_API_TOKEN')

    Add a secret named CIVITAI_API_TOKEN in Colab (Manage user secrets) if you download private/protected links.
  • Example targets used in the notebook:
    • Checkpoints: ./models/checkpoints
    • VAEs: ./models/vae
• Custom nodes (optional)
  • Helper: install_custom_node(url) clones into /content/ComfyUI/custom_nodes
  • Example lines for ComfyUI Manager/Impact Pack are included but commented out—uncomment to enable
• Start and expose ComfyUI
  • Cloudflare: downloads cloudflared .deb, starts tunnel, and prints a trycloudflare.com URL when port 8188 is ready
  • Localtunnel: global lt install and public URL; also prints your endpoint IP for password prompt if required

Persistence tips

• Recommended DRIVE_PATH: /content/drive/MyDrive
• With Drive mounted and DRIVE_PATH set, your ComfyUI install, models, and custom nodes live in Drive and survive runtime restarts
• Without Drive, everything under /content is temporary and will be lost when the Colab session ends

Troubleshooting

• Cloudflared hangs or prints no URL:
  • Re-run the cell after ComfyUI fully starts, or use the Localtunnel cell as fallback
• Civitai 403 or auth errors:
  • Ensure CIVITAI_API_TOKEN is set in Colab user secrets and the link is valid
• Hugging Face gated models:
  • Accept the model license on the model page and ensure the direct URL is accessible
• Out-of-memory or slow starts:
  • Use a smaller checkpoint, avoid heavy custom nodes, or try a Colab runtime with more VRAM

Folder layout (within the workspace)

• ./models/checkpoints – base models (e.g., SD1.5, XL, etc.)
• ./models/vae – VAE files
• ./custom_nodes – optional custom node repos

License

This repository is licensed under the AGPL-3.0. See LICENSE.

The underlying ComfyUI project is developed by the ComfyUI authors; please refer to their repository and license for details.

Acknowledgements

• ComfyUI by comfyanonymous
• Community model authors on Civitai and Hugging Face