Overview
After the file is placed in that directory, ComfyUI must be started or restarted. The checkpoint then appears in the Load Checkpoint node. If only one model is present, it may be selected automatically.
Model selection is not merely a technical prerequisite. Thousands of checkpoints may be available, and their sample outputs can be used to judge whether they fit the required style. A model-ranking list based on accumulated blind comparisons can also help filter a large catalog before downloading multi-gigabyte files.
An SDXL checkpoint provides a higher-quality option than Stable Diffusion 1.5. The workflows below do not require separate SDXL base and refiner files. A single selected community checkpoint is sufficient, avoiding several additional gigabytes of downloads. The refiner is unnecessary in most cases for this setup.