feat(assets): enable asset system by default; remove --enable-assets

The asset system is now always on. Removes the --enable-assets opt-in
flag and the conditional registration it gated:

- Asset API routes are always registered (with the user manager)
- The background asset scanner always runs (hashing stays opt-in via
  --enable-asset-hashing, default off — no new blake3 cost on a default launch)
- /upload/image asset registration and output enrichment always active
- The "assets" server feature flag is now unconditionally true
- A database-init failure degrades gracefully instead of hard-exiting,
  matching the prior default-path behavior

app/assets/api/routes.py

@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ def _require_assets_feature_enabled(handler):
             return _build_error_response(
                 503,
                 "SERVICE_DISABLED",
-                "Assets system is disabled. Start the server with --enable-assets to use this feature.",
+                "Assets system is unavailable.",
             )
         return await handler(request)
 

comfy/cli_args.py

@@ -239,7 +239,6 @@ database_default_path = os.path.abspath(
     os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), "..", "user", "comfyui.db")
 )
 parser.add_argument("--database-url", type=str, default=f"sqlite:///{database_default_path}", help="Specify the database URL, e.g. for an in-memory database you can use 'sqlite:///:memory:'.")
-parser.add_argument("--enable-assets", action="store_true", help="Enable the assets system (API routes, database synchronization, and background scanning).")
 parser.add_argument("--enable-asset-hashing", action="store_true", help="Compute blake3 content hashes when scanning assets. Hashing enables future asset-portability features (deduplication, cross-machine model resolution) but adds startup cost and per-output cost on large models directories. Off by default; enable to opt in.")
 parser.add_argument("--feature-flag", type=str, action='append', default=[], metavar="KEY[=VALUE]", help="Set a server feature flag. Use KEY=VALUE to set an explicit value, or bare KEY to set it to true. Can be specified multiple times. Boolean values (true/false) and numbers are auto-converted. Examples: --feature-flag show_signin_button=true  or  --feature-flag show_signin_button")
 parser.add_argument("--list-feature-flags", action="store_true", help="Print the registry of known CLI-settable feature flags as JSON and exit.")

comfy_api/feature_flags.py

@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ _CORE_FEATURE_FLAGS: dict[str, Any] = {
     "max_upload_size": args.max_upload_size * 1024 * 1024, # Convert MB to bytes
     "extension": {"manager": {"supports_v4": True}},
     "node_replacements": True,
-    "assets": args.enable_assets,
+    "assets": True,
 }
 
 # CLI-provided flags cannot overwrite core flags

comfy_execution/asset_enrichment.py

@@ -6,15 +6,11 @@ import os
 def enrich_output_with_assets(output_ui: dict) -> dict:
     """Register file-type output entries as assets and inject their ``id``.
 
-    Runs at output-processing time, once per produced output, when
-    --enable-assets is set. Returns a new dict; entries without a resolvable
-    on-disk file path are left unchanged. Errors are caught per-entry so a
-    failure never blocks execution or the other entries.
+    Runs at output-processing time, once per produced output. Returns a new
+    dict; entries without a resolvable on-disk file path are left unchanged.
+    Errors are caught per-entry so a failure never blocks execution or the
+    other entries.
     """
-    from comfy.cli_args import args
-    if not args.enable_assets:
-        return output_ui
-
     import folder_paths
     from app.assets.services.ingest import register_file_in_place, DependencyMissingError
 

main.py

@@ -457,9 +457,8 @@ def setup_database():
     try:
         if dependencies_available():
             init_db()
-            if args.enable_assets:
-                if asset_seeder.start(roots=("models", "input", "output"), prune_first=True, compute_hashes=args.enable_asset_hashing):
-                    logging.info("Background asset scan initiated for models, input, output")
+            if asset_seeder.start(roots=("models", "input", "output"), prune_first=True, compute_hashes=args.enable_asset_hashing):
+                logging.info("Background asset scan initiated for models, input, output")
     except Exception as e:
         if "database is locked" in str(e):
             logging.error(
@@ -468,16 +467,6 @@ def setup_database():
                 "  --database-url sqlite:///path/to/another.db"
             )
             sys.exit(1)
-        if args.enable_assets:
-            logging.error(
-                f"Failed to initialize database: {e}\n"
-                "The --enable-assets flag requires a working database connection.\n"
-                "To resolve this, try one of the following:\n"
-                "  1. Install the latest requirements: pip install -r requirements.txt\n"
-                "  2. Specify an alternative database URL: --database-url sqlite:///path/to/your.db\n"
-                "  3. Use an in-memory database: --database-url sqlite:///:memory:"
-            )
-            sys.exit(1)
         logging.error(f"Failed to initialize database. Please ensure you have installed the latest requirements. If the error persists, please report this as in future the database will be required: {e}")
 
 

server.py

@@ -251,11 +251,7 @@ class PromptServer():
             else args.front_end_root
         )
         logging.info(f"[Prompt Server] web root: {self.web_root}")
-        if args.enable_assets:
-            register_assets_routes(self.app, self.user_manager)
-        else:
-            register_assets_routes(self.app)
-            asset_seeder.disable()
+        register_assets_routes(self.app, self.user_manager)
         routes = web.RouteTableDef()
         self.routes = routes
         self.last_node_id = None
@@ -437,20 +433,19 @@ class PromptServer():
 
                 resp = {"name" : filename, "subfolder": subfolder, "type": image_upload_type}
 
-                if args.enable_assets:
-                    try:
-                        tag = image_upload_type if image_upload_type in ("input", "output") else "input"
-                        result = register_file_in_place(abs_path=filepath, name=filename, tags=[tag])
-                        resp["asset"] = {
-                            "id": result.ref.id,
-                            "name": result.ref.name,
-                            "asset_hash": result.asset.hash,
-                            "size": result.asset.size_bytes,
-                            "mime_type": result.asset.mime_type,
-                            "tags": result.tags,
-                        }
-                    except Exception:
-                        logging.warning("Failed to register uploaded image as asset", exc_info=True)
+                try:
+                    tag = image_upload_type if image_upload_type in ("input", "output") else "input"
+                    result = register_file_in_place(abs_path=filepath, name=filename, tags=[tag])
+                    resp["asset"] = {
+                        "id": result.ref.id,
+                        "name": result.ref.name,
+                        "asset_hash": result.asset.hash,
+                        "size": result.asset.size_bytes,
+                        "mime_type": result.asset.mime_type,
+                        "tags": result.tags,
+                    }
+                except Exception:
+                    logging.warning("Failed to register uploaded image as asset", exc_info=True)
 
                 return web.json_response(resp)
             else:

tests-unit/assets_test/conftest.py

@@ -109,7 +109,6 @@ def comfy_url_and_proc(comfy_tmp_base_dir: Path, request: pytest.FixtureRequest)
             "main.py",
             f"--base-directory={str(comfy_tmp_base_dir)}",
             f"--database-url={db_url}",
-            "--enable-assets",
             "--listen",
             "127.0.0.1",
             "--port",

tests-unit/execution_test/test_enrich_output.py

@@ -1,16 +1,9 @@
 """Tests for enrich_output_with_assets in comfy_execution/asset_enrichment.py."""
 import os
-import types
 import unittest
 from unittest.mock import MagicMock, patch
 
 
-def _make_args(enable_assets: bool):
-    a = types.SimpleNamespace()
-    a.enable_assets = enable_assets
-    return a
-
-
 def _make_register_result(ref_id="ref-id-2"):
     result = MagicMock()
     result.ref.id = ref_id
@@ -22,9 +15,8 @@ def _make_register_result(ref_id="ref-id-2"):
 _DEFAULT_BASE = os.path.join(__import__("tempfile").gettempdir(), "asset-enrichment-test-base")
 
 
-def _mocked_modules(*, enable_assets=True, register_file_in_place=None, directory=_DEFAULT_BASE):
+def _mocked_modules(*, register_file_in_place=None, directory=_DEFAULT_BASE):
     return {
-        "comfy.cli_args": MagicMock(args=_make_args(enable_assets)),
         "folder_paths": MagicMock(get_directory_by_type=MagicMock(return_value=directory)),
         "app.assets.services.ingest": MagicMock(
             register_file_in_place=register_file_in_place or MagicMock(return_value=_make_register_result()),
@@ -33,10 +25,9 @@ def _mocked_modules(*, enable_assets=True, register_file_in_place=None, director
     }
 
 
-def _call(output_ui, *, enable_assets=True, file_exists=True, register_result=None, directory=_DEFAULT_BASE):
+def _call(output_ui, *, file_exists=True, register_result=None, directory=_DEFAULT_BASE):
     register_mock = MagicMock(return_value=register_result or _make_register_result())
     mocked = _mocked_modules(
-        enable_assets=enable_assets,
         register_file_in_place=register_mock,
         directory=directory,
     )
@@ -53,11 +44,6 @@ def _call(output_ui, *, enable_assets=True, file_exists=True, register_result=No
 
 class TestEnrichOutputWithAssets(unittest.TestCase):
 
-    def test_disabled_returns_unchanged(self):
-        output = {"images": [{"filename": "a.png", "subfolder": "", "type": "output"}]}
-        result = _call(output, enable_assets=False)
-        self.assertNotIn("id", result["images"][0])
-
     def test_non_list_value_passed_through(self):
         output = {"text": "hello"}
         result = _call(output)