Generate Images and Videos with ComfyUI

Quick start (optional)

If you prefer an automated setup, download and run the provided script to perform Steps 1–6 in one go (prerequisite check, virtual environment, PyTorch, ComfyUI, dependencies, and model download):

curl -fsSL "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NVIDIA/dgx-spark-playbooks/refs/heads/main/nvidia/playbook-comfyui/assets/setup.sh" | bash

When it finishes, launch the server from the same directory where you ran setup.sh (it expects comfyui-env/ and ComfyUI/ in the current directory):

curl -fsSL "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NVIDIA/dgx-spark-playbooks/refs/heads/main/nvidia/playbook-comfyui/assets/launch.sh" | bash

Then continue from Step 8. Validate installation.

To learn what each step does, follow the manual instructions below instead.

Verify system prerequisites

Check that your hardware platform meets the requirements before proceeding with installation.

python3 --version
pip3 --version
nvidia-smi

Expected output should show Python 3.8+, pip available, and GPU detection.

Create Python virtual environment

You will install ComfyUI on your host system, so you should create an isolated environment to avoid conflicts with system packages.

python3 -m venv comfyui-env
source comfyui-env/bin/activate

Verify the virtual environment is active by checking the command prompt shows (comfyui-env).

Install PyTorch with CUDA support

Install PyTorch with CUDA 13.0 support.

pip3 install torch torchvision --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cu130

This installation targets CUDA 13.0 compatibility with Blackwell architecture GPUs.

Clone ComfyUI repository

Download the ComfyUI source code from the official repository.

git clone --branch v0.33.2 https://github.com/comfyanonymous/ComfyUI.git
cd ComfyUI/

Install ComfyUI dependencies

Install the required Python packages for ComfyUI operation.

pip install -r requirements.txt

This installs all necessary dependencies including web interface components and model handling libraries.

Download the models that will be used in Step 9

Z-Image-Turbo ships as three separate files — a diffusion model, a text encoder, and a VAE — each in its own directory under models/.

wget -P models/diffusion_models/ https://huggingface.co/Comfy-Org/z_image_turbo/resolve/main/split_files/diffusion_models/z_image_turbo_bf16.safetensors
wget -P models/text_encoders/ https://huggingface.co/Comfy-Org/z_image_turbo/resolve/main/split_files/text_encoders/qwen_3_4b.safetensors
wget -P models/vae/ https://huggingface.co/Comfy-Org/z_image_turbo/resolve/main/split_files/vae/ae.safetensors

The downloads total about 20 GB (12 GB diffusion model, 8 GB text encoder, 335 MB VAE) and may take several minutes depending on network speed.

Launch ComfyUI server

Start the ComfyUI web server with network access enabled.

python main.py --listen 0.0.0.0

The server will bind to all network interfaces on port 8188, making it accessible from other devices.

Validate installation

The server from Step 7 keeps running in the foreground, so run the following in a second terminal.

Check that ComfyUI is running correctly and accessible via your web browser.

curl -I http://localhost:8188

Expected output should show HTTP 200 response indicating the web server is operational.

Open a web browser and navigate to http://<HARDWARE_IP>:8188 where <HARDWARE_IP> is your device's IP address.

Run a template flow

Test the installation with a basic image generation workflow:

1. Access the web interface at http://<HARDWARE_IP>:8188

   NOTE

   If the page fails to load, make sure the device you are browsing from is allowed to access your local network:

   • macOS: Open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Local Network and enable access for your browser. macOS blocks local-network connections until an app is granted this permission. See Control access to your local network on Mac.
   • Windows: Set your network profile to Private (not Public) so the device can reach others on the network. See Make a Wi-Fi network public or private in Windows.

2. Load a starter workflow:

   1. Click Templates on the left side of the menu (skip this if the template window pops up automatically)
   2. Choose Image on the left side of the template window
   3. Choose Z-Image-Turbo: Text to Image, the first template
   4. Click the Run button at the top right

3. Monitor GPU usage with nvidia-smi in a separate terminal

The image generation should complete within 30 seconds.

Optional - Cleanup and rollback

If you need to remove the installation completely, follow these steps:

deactivate
rm -rf comfyui-env/
rm -rf ComfyUI/

To rollback during installation, press Ctrl+C to stop the server and remove the virtual environment.