ComfyUI Just Moved Into Photoshop: Free AI Layers, No Sub

Wait, Photoshop and ComfyUI Are Dating Now?

Let me set the scene. You are sitting in Photoshop, doing actual work with actual layers, and somewhere in the back of your head you think: "Wouldn't it be wild if I could just generate an AI image right here, in my little corner of Adobe-land, without bouncing between three browsers and a tool that disappeared into the void?"

Well. OpenLayer just showed up and said "hold my .ccx file." It is a free, open-source Photoshop plugin that connects straight to your local ComfyUI. It generates AI images, previews them, and then drops the result back into your document as a real, editable, transparent layer. Not a flattened PNG that you paste in and pray. A layer.

The best part? It costs literally nothing. No subscription, no credits, no metering, no account, no upload quota. Say that sentence out loud and watch the ghost of Software-as-a-Service start sweating.

Everything Stays on Your Machine

Here is the privacy bait that should get your attention: nothing leaves your computer. ComfyUI runs on your own box, on your own models. OpenLayer is just the polite middleman that hands pixels back and forth. Your moody cat photoreal painting never has to meet a stranger's server.

The whole pitch is baked into its tagline: "Local AI layers, inside Photoshop." It is almost disturbingly clean.

Eleven Little Robots in a Trench Coat

Counting them, OpenLayer ships eleven generation tools, and honestly it is a tiny festival:

• Text to Image, Image to Image, and Sketch to Image, which is your line art getting a personality upgrade.
• Inpaint and Outpaint, so you can repaint a selection in place or extend the canvas off the edges like it owes you money.
• Upscale, Prompt from Layer, Style Reference, Multi-Reference, Live Painting, and an Unflatten tool that splits a flat picture into separate layers with real transparency.

That Unflatten one alone is the kind of magic that makes flat-art traditionalists consider starting a niche religion.

Your AI Assistant Can Drive It Too

Because the world did not have enough chaos, every single one of those generation tools is also reachable over the Model Context Protocol. That means Claude or Codex can click the panel's own buttons in your open document. You can casually say "generate a foggy forest, then upscale it" instead of doing eleven clicks with your own human fingers.

It is off by default, so scaredy-cats are safe, and it runs entirely on your machine. Still, the mental image of an AI assistant politely operating your Photoshop like a tiny coworker is a very 2026 development.

The Fine Print Nobody Reads

Let me be honest about the catch, because the internet needs more of that. This is alpha software, v0.20.0-alpha to be exact. It is a public testing checkpoint, not production software. It is stable enough to work with, and the project is refreshingly honest about where it stops.

You will need Photoshop 2024 or newer, a local ComfyUI server, and a GPU with 8 GB VRAM or more (12 GB is the sweet spot they target). One more snag: the plugin is not signed and not from Adobe Exchange, so Creative Cloud will flash a "not verified by Adobe" prompt. That is expected. Click through it like you are late for a meeting.

How Getting It Going Works

The setup is aggressively simple, which is suspicious for a Photoshop plugin:

1. Grab the .ccx file and double-click it. Adobe Creative Cloud installs the panel.
2. PhotoShop then lists it under Plugins, OpenLayer. Two clicks in, honestly.
3. Start your ComfyUI server (it defaults to port 8190 so it does not fight another tool already squatting on 8188).
4. Open a document, press Check ComfyUI, pick a workflow, type a prompt, and hit Generate.

There is a Windows 11 quirk where double-clicking sometimes does nothing, but the project documents the command-line installer workaround, so you are never truly stranded.

The Takeaway

For months, local AI image generation has been a power-user sport. You had to babysit a node graph, memorize workflow names, and explain to friends why your computer fans sounded like a jet engine every night. OpenLayer drags all of that into the most comfortable editing studio on the planet and makes the result a real layer.

Adobe may or may not have opinions about a free plugin handing Photoshop a local AI superpower for zero dollars. But for anyone who lives in Photoshop and has been quietly tempted by the AI side of the fence, this is the friendliest way over it yet. Just mind the alpha label, keep 12 GB of VRAM handy, and let your Art History instructor cope.