Short answer
For making images every day, HEISS UI is quicker. Pick any model file and it’s ready to prompt, anything missing is one click away, and every result lands in one gallery you can also reach from your phone. ComfyUI stays underneath and runs every job.
For building custom pipelines, or trying a model the day it comes out, the graph is the better tool. App Mode suits one workflow you run over and over.
Pick HEISS UI if
- You switch between models and want each one ready to prompt, with settings that fit it, without touching a graph.
- You want missing pieces listed with their sizes before anything downloads, then fetched in one click.
- You’d like a first model picked to fit your graphics card or Mac.
- You want to prompt and browse from your phone while the computer renders.
- You want one gallery for everything, with search, stars, a trash and a locked, encrypted Hidden space.
Pick ComfyUI’s graph if
- You build or debug workflows, or want to see every step between prompt and pixels.
- A model came out this week. ComfyUI supports new models first, often on release day.
- You run one workflow over and over. App Mode turns it into a form, with nothing else to install.
- You rely on custom nodes, ControlNet, masks or inpainting.
Only in HEISS UI
- Starts from any model file. It recognises the model and sets it up. No workflow needed.
- Missing pieces, shown first. Each one with its size and a button, fetched in one click.
- A first model for your computer. Three sizes each of Krea 2, Flux.2 and SDXL, the one that fits marked.
- A phone studio. Made for one thumb, with its own sign-in.
- One gallery for everything. Every model and workflow, searchable, with your old folders in it.
- Hidden. An encrypted place for private images, opened with Touch ID, Windows Hello or a password.
At a glance.
| Feature | HEISS UI | ComfyUI graph | App Mode |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starts from | Any model file | A workflow or template | A workflow set up in App Builder |
| Model setup | Automaticrecognised from the file, settings that fit | Per template | As savedin the workflow |
| Missing pieces | Listed firstsizes shown, one click, free space checked | Templateslist missing files with downloads | Same as the graph |
| First model | Picked for your computer | You choose | n/a |
| On a phone | Phone studiomade for one thumb | Not made for touch | Tab layouton narrow screens |
| Private images | Hiddenencrypted, Touch ID or password | No | No |
| Gallery | One for everythingsearch, stars, trash, old folders | Queue and assets | Assets panel |
| Upscale, compare | One clickwith a compare slider | With nodes | If the workflow has it |
| Node packs | Betainstalled when a model needs one | YesManager installs missing nodes | Same as the graph |
| Models | 28 familiesanything else as your own workflow | Allusually on release day | Whatever the workflow runs |
| Inpainting, ControlNet | Noonly inside an imported workflow | Yeswith nodes | If the workflow has it |
| Licence | MIT | GPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0, part of ComfyUI |
Checked 29 September 2026 against ComfyUI’s docs and repository. App Mode is marked beta by Comfy Org.
The graph is for building. The loop is for making.
ComfyUI’s graph shows every step: which loader reads the model, which encoder reads the prompt, which sampler runs, what happens to the latent. That’s why new models work there first, and why people build remarkable pipelines in it.
For everyday use it asks more of you. Each model family wants its own loader, text encoder, VAE, sampler, steps and CFG, and a template only covers the model it was made for. HEISS UI reads the model file itself. It recognises the family from the weights, so a renamed file still works, and starts it with a sampler, scheduler, steps, CFG, shift and size drawn from the official ComfyUI templates and model cards. Krea 2 Turbo starts at 8 steps and CFG 1, Flux.2 Klein at 4 steps, SDXL at 25 steps and CFG 7. Only the controls that model uses show up.
ComfyUI still runs the job. HEISS UI builds the graph for you and sends it, the same way ComfyUI’s own templates would.
Missing text encoders, VAEs and nodes.
HEISS UI starts from any model you pick, not just a template’s. Its setup lists what’s missing, whether that’s a text encoder, a VAE, a companion file like Wan 2.2’s low-noise half, a node pack or a newer ComfyUI. Each part gets a button, and Get all adds up the sizes and checks free space first. Files go into the folders ComfyUI reads, including ones from extra_model_paths.yaml. Downloads resume, retry and check their SHA-256, and nothing downloads until you press the button.
ComfyUI’s own tools cover part of this. Its templates check for missing model files and offer downloads, and ComfyUI-Manager, now built in, installs missing custom nodes. The template check matches files by name in the top-level model folder, and in a browser install the Download button can hand the file to the browser instead of saving it into ComfyUI’s folders.
The missing-models panel dropped single downloads and the hint about which folder a file belongs in.
Download opens the browser’s own download instead of saving into ComfyUI’s model paths. Comfy Desktop 1.0.20 fixed it there.
App Mode, and where it stops.
Since March 2026 ComfyUI has App Mode. In App Builder you pick a workflow’s inputs and outputs, and the graph turns into a clean form. On a narrow screen it switches to tabs, and ComfyHub shares finished apps. Comfy Org calls it beta. If you run one workflow all day, App Mode may be all you need, and it’s already in your ComfyUI.
It starts from a workflow, though. It runs the values that workflow saved, so switching to another model family means another workflow and another app. Share links need Comfy Cloud. HEISS UI starts from the model instead: pick Krea 2, then Flux.2, then an SDXL fine-tune, and each one arrives with its own settings and its own list of missing parts.
Your workflows come along.
Built something good in the graph? Export it (API format works best, the regular file works too) and drop it on HEISS UI’s Workflow Gallery. The prompt, negative prompt, size, seed, steps, CFG, sampler, scheduler, denoise, frames and start image are connected for you. The review marks the connections it guessed, lets you change any of them, and points out nodes that run code, touch files elsewhere or go online.
It’s a similar idea to App Mode, and it needs no extra nodes in your graph. The workflow then sits in the model menu under Your workflows, next to the built-in models, with the same gallery and phone studio. The workflow guide has the details.
On a phone.
The graph is made for a mouse. App Mode adapts to a narrow screen with tabs for inputs, outputs and assets. HEISS UI has a studio laid out for one thumb: the gallery edge to edge, one Describe… pill for the prompt, and a long press on any image to share, upscale, star or hide it.
Turn on Settings › Connection › Open on other devices, set a studio password and scan the code. Updates, installs and other admin stay at the computer unless you allow them.
Where the graph is the better pick.
Custom pipelines, masks and inpainting, ControlNet, and any model on the day it comes out. That’s what the graph is for, and HEISS UI keeps it one export away.
Use both.
Start ComfyUI
ComfyUI Desktop, the portable build or a manual install. HEISS UI finds it on this computer by itself.
Unzip HEISS UI and start it
Double-click Start HEISS UI. It opens at
localhost:8787and lists the models ComfyUI has.Bring your graphs
Export a workflow from ComfyUI and drop it on the Workflow Gallery. Keep building in the graph, generate in the studio.
Questions.
Is there a ComfyUI front end without nodes?
Yes, several. ComfyUI’s own App Mode turns one workflow into a form. SwarmUI, Krita AI Diffusion and HEISS UI run on ComfyUI with their own interfaces. HEISS UI is a prompt box and gallery that sets each model up for you.
Does HEISS UI replace ComfyUI?
No. ComfyUI runs every job, and HEISS UI needs it running. You keep the graph for building workflows and use HEISS UI for the everyday loop.
What’s the difference between App Mode and HEISS UI?
App Mode makes a form from one workflow you already built. HEISS UI starts from a model file, sets it up, lists its missing parts, and keeps one gallery across every model and imported workflow.
Will HEISS UI change my ComfyUI install?
Only with the model files and node packs you choose to download, which go into ComfyUI’s own folders. It doesn’t update or reconfigure ComfyUI.
Can I use a model ComfyUI supports but HEISS UI doesn’t list?
Yes. Get it running in ComfyUI, export the workflow and import it into HEISS UI. It then shows up under Your workflows in the model menu.
Sources: ComfyUI on GitHub, App Mode docs, App Mode announcement, templates docs, the new ComfyUI-Manager, Comfy Desktop, issue #12961, #13676, #14287, HEISS UI README.
