Getting Started

This page walks you through everything you need before your first generation, from prerequisites to configuration to the actual prompt-to-output workflow.

Prerequisites

CodeComfy talks to a running ComfyUI server over HTTP. You need that server up and reachable before the extension can do anything useful.

ComfyUI (required)

ComfyUI must be running and accessible at an HTTP URL. The default is http://127.0.0.1:8188, which is what you get when you start ComfyUI locally with no extra flags.

If you are running ComfyUI on a different machine, a different port, or inside Docker, you will configure the URL in the extension settings (see below).

Quick health check: open http://127.0.0.1:8188/system_stats in a browser. If you see JSON, ComfyUI is ready.

FFmpeg (required for video)

Video generation assembles individual frames into an MP4 file. That assembly step needs FFmpeg.

• Windows: download the build from ffmpeg.org, extract it, and either add the bin folder to your system PATH or point the codecomfy.ffmpegPath setting at the full path to ffmpeg.exe.
• macOS: brew install ffmpeg
• Linux: sudo apt install ffmpeg (or your distro’s equivalent)

Image generation does not need FFmpeg at all — skip this if you only plan to generate stills.

NextGallery (optional)

NextGallery is a companion gallery viewer that can open automatically when a generation finishes. It is not required for generation itself. On Windows, CodeComfy tries to auto-detect the NextGallery path; on other platforms, set codecomfy.nextGalleryPath manually if you use it.

Installation

CodeComfy is distributed as a .vsix file (it is not yet on the VS Code Marketplace).

1. Download the latest .vsix from the Releases page.
2. Open VS Code, go to the Extensions sidebar, click the ··· menu at the top, and choose Install from VSIX…
3. Select the downloaded file and reload the window when prompted.

After installation, the CodeComfy commands appear in the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P).

Configuration

Open Settings > Extensions > CodeComfy in VS Code, or add the keys directly to your settings.json.

Available settings

Setting	What it controls	Default
codecomfy.comfyuiUrl	The HTTP URL of your ComfyUI server. Change this if ComfyUI runs on a different host or port.	http://127.0.0.1:8188
codecomfy.ffmpegPath	Absolute path to the FFmpeg binary. Leave empty to let the extension find ffmpeg on your system PATH.	"" (PATH lookup)
codecomfy.autoOpenGalleryOnComplete	Whether to launch NextGallery automatically after a generation finishes.	true
codecomfy.nextGalleryPath	Absolute path to the NextGallery executable. On Windows the extension auto-detects this; set it explicitly on macOS or Linux.	Auto-detect
codecomfy.defaultNegativePrompt	A negative prompt string pre-filled every time you start a generation. Useful for things you always want to exclude (e.g. “blurry, watermark”).	""

Example settings.json

{
  "codecomfy.comfyuiUrl": "http://127.0.0.1:8188",
  "codecomfy.ffmpegPath": "C:\\ffmpeg\\bin\\ffmpeg.exe",
  "codecomfy.autoOpenGalleryOnComplete": true,
  "codecomfy.defaultNegativePrompt": "blurry, watermark, low quality"
}

Your first generation

Once ComfyUI is running and the extension is installed, you are ready to generate.

Generate an image

1. Open the Command Palette: Ctrl+Shift+P (or Cmd+Shift+P on macOS).
2. Type CodeComfy: Generate Image (HQ) and select the command.
3. Enter your prompt — describe what you want to see. For example: masterpiece, soft lighting, mountain landscape at dawn, 8k.
4. Optionally enter a negative prompt — things you want the model to avoid.
5. Optionally enter a seed — a whole number between 0 and 2,147,483,647. Leave it blank for a random seed.
6. Watch the status bar at the bottom of VS Code. It updates in real time: queued then generating then done.
7. The finished image appears in .codecomfy/outputs/ inside your workspace. If NextGallery is configured, it opens automatically.

Generate a video

The workflow is the same, but choose CodeComfy: Generate Video (HQ) instead. Video generation produces individual frames, downloads them, and then assembles them into an MP4 using FFmpeg.

Videos are short by design (1 to 15 seconds) with a frame cap of 450 total frames. This keeps generation times reasonable and prevents accidental resource exhaustion.

Cancel a running generation

Open the Command Palette and run CodeComfy: Cancel Generation, or click the status bar item while a job is active. There is a 2-second cooldown between consecutive jobs to let the server settle.

Where outputs go

All outputs live inside a .codecomfy/ directory in your workspace root:

• .codecomfy/outputs/ — finished images and videos.
• .codecomfy/runs/ — run metadata (prompt, seed, timestamps, status).

Structured logs are also available in the CodeComfy Output channel (Ctrl+Shift+U, then select “CodeComfy” from the dropdown).