ComfyUI Setup

Ordinary Animator uses ComfyUI to generate images and video. Before running any recipe you need at least one backend configured and tested.

Choose your mode

Mode	Best for
Comfy Cloud	Getting started fast -- a paid hosted service (pay for the compute you use); no local install required, larger GPUs available, access to the latest high-end models
Local ComfyUI	No usage fees, full control over your environment, access to any custom node (some custom nodes are not available on Comfy Cloud)
Both	Recommended -- use cloud for advanced models and heavy jobs, local for iteration and custom workflows

Installing ComfyUI locally takes some effort and requires an NVIDIA GPU. Comfy Cloud requires only an account and API key. If you can set up both, we recommend it -- they complement each other well, and each time you run a workflow you can choose whether to run it locally or in the cloud -- it may default one way, but the choice is always yours to override.

A common pattern is to run smaller models locally for fast, free iteration and reach for Comfy Cloud for the bigger, heavier jobs -- high-end models and large GPUs you may not have on your own machine. And if you'd rather not deal with a local install at all, Comfy Cloud on its own works fine; you just pay for the jobs you run.

Comfy Cloud

Comfy Cloud is a paid, hosted service -- you pay for the compute each job uses, with no local install required.

1. Create an account at cloud.comfy.org if you haven't already.
2. In your Comfy Cloud account, go to API Keys and create a new key. Copy it.
3. In Ordinary Animator, open ComfyUI Settings (from the navigation menu).
4. On the Comfy Cloud card, turn Enable on, paste your API key, and click Save key. The key is stored encrypted.
5. Click Test key -- you should see "Comfy Cloud connection OK."

See ComfyUI Queue & Settings for the full settings reference.

Local ComfyUI

Local ComfyUI runs on your machine. Because the browser cannot talk directly to localhost, Ordinary Animator uses a Chrome extension to proxy those requests.

Chrome extension

Install the Ordinary Animator ComfyUI Connector from the Chrome Web Store, then click the extension icon to confirm it is active. See the Chrome Extension reference for details.

Local ComfyUI install

A compatible local ComfyUI configuration (custom nodes and launch scripts matching Comfy Cloud) is available at github.com/alankent/comfyui-cloud-parity. See Local ComfyUI for setup instructions.

Once the extension is installed and ComfyUI is running:

1. In Ordinary Animator, open ComfyUI Settings.
2. On the Local ComfyUI (localhost) card, turn Enable on.
3. Click Test local connection -- this confirms the extension is active and ComfyUI is reachable. The Status line then names the address it reached and says it got there via the browser extension. If the extension is missing it tells you so and links you to the Chrome Web Store.

Testing both

If you have both configured, run each card's test -- Test key for the cloud, Test local connection for local. A success on both means you are ready to generate. Each card's Enable switch controls whether that backend is offered for new jobs, and both can be on at once.