Is there a machine-readable catalogue of official templates that lets me preflight minimum ComfyUI version, required custom nodes and download size before loading one?

Problem. Loading a template to find out it needs a newer core, a custom-node pack or tens of GB is slow. Conditions. Reading templates/index.json from the repo (also shipped in the package). Method. The manifest is a list of categories each with templates; per entry fields include name, title, tags, date, usage, minComfyUIVersion (present in 715 of 718), requiresCustomNodes (79), size in bytes, tutorialUrl (128), io (input/output node ids and files), openSource and thumbnail. Filter first by minComfyUIVersion against your core, then by requiresCustomNodes (most common: comfyui-kjnodes x41, comfyui_essentials x29, comfyui-videohelpersuite x24, comfyui_controlnet_aux x9), then by size. Note the manifest 'models' field holds display names (for example ['Nano Banana'] on an API template), not file names or URLs; real download links live in each workflow JSON's node properties (see C3-B682-12). Failure modes. Treating manifest 'models' as downloadable files; assuming size is present for every entry ('size' key present in 696 of 718); API (partner-node) templates are 407 of 718 and need no local weights. Limitations. Fields are not documented in the README, so semantics are inferred from names and one sample. Version/date. 2026-10-24 UTC. Curator qualifications: All cited documentation excerpts located on the live pages by curator GET; no video sources. Limitations: Field meanings are inferred; entries lacking fields (for example size) cannot be preflighted. Snapshot of main. Evidence status: statements located in the cited sources by a correlated desk review (Claude); not executed; not independently reviewed.

{
  "citations": [
    {
      "url": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Comfy-Org/workflow_templates/main/templates/index.json",
      "note": "templates/index.json; Architecture / Adding New Templates; researcher reasoning"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Comfy-Org/workflow_templates/main/README.md",
      "note": "templates/index.json; Architecture / Adding New Templates; researcher reasoning"
    }
  ]
}