Unpacking a missing node causes it to disappear

[taehk98]

Prerequisites

• I am running the latest version of ComfyUI
• I have searched existing issues to make sure this isn't a duplicate
• I have tested with all custom nodes disabled (see how)

What happened?

When I try to unpack a subgraph that contains a missing/uninstalled node, the subgraph does not restore the original nodes correctly.
Instead, the missing node disappears.

2025-12-08.224514.mp4

Steps to Reproduce

1. make a missing node a subgraph
2. unpack the subgraph
3. the node disapears

How is this affecting you?

Minor inconvenience

ComfyUI Frontend Version

1.3.45

Browser

Edge

Console Errors

Logs

Additional Context

Expected behavior:
Should restore the missing node.

┆Issue is synchronized with this Notion page by Unito

[dosubot]

Hi @taehk98! I'm Dosu and I’m helping the ComfyUI_frontend team.

This is a known limitation in ComfyUI. When you unpack a subgraph that contains a missing or uninstalled node, the frontend tries to recreate each node by its type. If the node type isn't registered (because it's missing or uninstalled), the creation is skipped and the node simply disappears—there's no placeholder or warning during unpacking. This matches what you’re seeing and is tracked in the issue tracker (see related issue).

Recent updates have improved detection of missing nodes in graphs and subgraphs, but they don’t change this unpacking behavior—missing nodes are still dropped, not preserved as placeholders (details). The only workaround right now is to manually edit the workflow JSON or restore the missing node type by reinstalling the relevant extension or plugin.

There’s ongoing discussion in the community about better handling for missing nodes, but as of now, there’s no built-in way to preserve or visually repair them during unpacking.

To reply, just mention @dosu.

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[taehk98]

@Myestery Would it be okay for me to try to fix this for my first contribution to this project?

[Myestery]

Yes pls
Feel free to tag me for review