comfy-duplicate-model-roots

# Duplicate/conflicting model-root configs (ComfyUI-family apps) Several ComfyUI launchers and package managers layer their OWN model-root list on top of plain ComfyUI's `extra_model_paths.yaml`, and that extra layer is where this bug actually lives. Confirmed on ComfyUI Desktop 2026-09-29; almost certainly the same class of problem on Stability Matrix (not yet verified — see the placeholder section below) and any other manager that lets several installs/packages "share" one model library. **The core pattern, regardless of which app**: there is more than one place a model-root path can be configured, they don't always agree, and nothing warns you when they don't. Symptoms: the app takes longer to start than it used to (scanning N roots, some possibly on a slow or since-unplugged drive), a model/LoRA browser shows a handful of files instead of the real library, or shows files with no preview image, or "the same install acts different depending on how you start it" (when in fact it's not the same config being read both ways). ## Diagnose (works for any manager) 1. Find every place the manager stores a model-root path: its own settings/config file (JSON/YAML/TOML), any *generated* derived config it writes for the underlying ComfyUI process to read, and the plain `extra_model_paths.yaml` inside whichever ComfyUI checkout it's driving. A generated file usually says so at the top ("do not edit manually") — believe it, and go find what generates it instead of hand-editing it. 2. List every root path across all of those, then **count real files per root** — never trust "the folder exists" or "the folder has subfolders" as evidence of anything: ```bash find "<root>/models" -type f \( -iname "*.safetensors" -o -iname "*.gguf" -o -iname "*.ckpt" -o -iname "*.pt" -o -iname "*.bin" \) | wc -l ``` 3. A root with 0 files is pure overhead: still gets scanned/watched, adds nothing. A root with real files stays, even if it isn't the "main" library — these apps union every registered root per model kind (checkpoints, loras, vae, clip/text_encoders, diffusion_models/unet, gguf, clip_vision, embeddings, controlnet, upscale_models, etc.), they don't pick one and ignore the rest. ## Fix (works for any manager) 1. Back up the config file you're about to edit first (it's always small). 2. If more than one root has real files, ask the user which is their real library before consolidating — a second root with a handful of files may be intentional (e.g. kept on a faster local drive on purpose), not a mistake to merge away. 3. Edit the *config* to drop empty/duplicate entries and add whatever path the user actually wants loaded. Never delete files or folders to "fix" this — it's a config problem, not a files problem. 4. The app usually needs a full quit and reopen to pick up a hand-edited config file, since it may hold its own copy in memory and overwrite your edit on exit before ever re-reading it. If computer-use isn't available for that app, say so and ask the person to quit/reopen it themselves rather than trying to automate the click. 5. Verify against the ORIGINAL file counts from step 2 of diagnosis, not just "something showed up now" — confirm the number of files the browser reports actually matches what's really on disk across every kept root. ## Worked example: ComfyUI Desktop (verified 2026-09-29) Three separate places, only the first is meant to be hand-edited: - `%APPDATA%\Comfy Desktop\settings.json` -> `modelsDirs` (array). The real, user-editable source of truth for Desktop's *extra* shared roots. - `%APPDATA%\Comfy Desktop\shared_model_paths.yaml` and `%APPDATA%\Comfy Desktop\instance-model-paths\inst-*.yaml` — GENERATED from `modelsDirs` (+ the install's own `extra_model_paths.yaml`). Literally headed "do not edit manually" — true, edit `settings.json` instead. - The install's own `extra_model_paths.yaml` (inside `.../ComfyUI/`, next to `main.py`) — a third, independent source, additive to `modelsDirs`. Found on one machine: `modelsDirs` listed two D: drive paths, one of them (`ComfyUI-Shared\models`) completely empty (0 files) after a past drive reorganization, while the real 99-file library lived on F: via `extra_model_paths.yaml` the whole time. Removing the empty entry from `modelsDirs` fixed both the slow startup and the model browser's low count, without touching a single file. ## Stability Matrix — not yet verified, do this next Same class of bug is suspected (multiple packages sharing one model library is Stability Matrix's whole premise, which is exactly the shape that produces this bug elsewhere), but its actual config file names/locations have not been checked yet. Before assuming anything about Stability Matrix's format, apply the generic "Diagnose" steps above to it directly: find its own settings store, find whatever it generates for each package (Package Config in Stability Matrix terms) to consume, and count real files per root the same way. Update this section with the verified specifics once that's done — do not guess at exact file paths here ahead of checking. ## Related See the `comfy-mcp-fixes` skill for other ComfyUI Desktop / comfy-mcp specifics. This skill is scoped to the model-root-duplication bug class, so it applies the same way to launchers that skill does not cover.