ComfyUI "model not found" / missing .safetensors — how to fix
Also seen as: "Could not find model", "FileNotFoundError", "No such file .safetensors"
Direct answer
How do I fix "Could not find model"?
ComfyUI couldn't find the checkpoint/LoRA the workflow references. The filename in the graph doesn't match any file in the models directory — often an exact-name or subfolder mismatch.
Key facts
- iFilename in the workflow differs from the downloaded file (e.g. _0.9vae suffix).
- iModel downloaded to the wrong subfolder (checkpoints vs unet vs diffusion_models).
- iDownload never completed or was interrupted.
Next step
- 1Match the CheckpointLoaderSimple ckpt_name to the exact filename on disk.
- 2Confirm the file is in the right subfolder for its type.
- 3Re-download and verify the file size matches the source.
If that didn't fix it
- A partial download shows the file present but fails to load — check the byte size.
Not sure this workflow will run before you rent a GPU?
Paste your ComfyUI workflow JSON into the free checker — it flags known dependencies and an estimated hardware requirement. It does not run the workflow, verify GPU capacity or judge output quality. No signup.
Other ComfyUI errors
Frequently Asked Questions
What causes "Could not find model" in ComfyUI?
Filename in the workflow differs from the downloaded file (e.g. _0.9vae suffix).
How do I fix "Could not find model"?
Match the CheckpointLoaderSimple ckpt_name to the exact filename on disk. Confirm the file is in the right subfolder for its type.