fix: harden media URLs and portable setup

Author: gokayfem

README.md

@@ -51,19 +51,28 @@ Every live public model on fal became a node: ~1,400 auto-generated nodes built
 
 ## Installation
 
-1. Navigate to your ComfyUI custom nodes directory:
+The recommended installation method is **ComfyUI Manager**: search for
+`ComfyUI-fal-API`, install it, and restart ComfyUI. Manager installs the
+dependencies into the same Python environment ComfyUI uses.
+
+For a manual installation:
+
+1. Navigate to your ComfyUI custom-nodes directory and clone this repository:
    ```
    cd custom_nodes
-   ```
-2. Clone this repository:
-   ```
    git clone https://github.com/gokayfem/ComfyUI-fal-API.git
+   cd ComfyUI-fal-API
+   ```
+2. Install the dependencies with **ComfyUI's Python**, not an unrelated system
+   `pip`:
    ```
-3. Install the required dependencies:
+   python -m pip install -r requirements.txt
    ```
-   pip install -r requirements.txt
+   From the root of **ComfyUI Windows Portable**, use its embedded interpreter:
+   ```powershell
+   .\python_embeded\python.exe -m pip install -r .\ComfyUI\custom_nodes\ComfyUI-fal-API\requirements.txt
    ```
-4. Configure your API key (below) and restart ComfyUI. Curated nodes appear under the **FAL** category, auto-generated nodes under **FAL/Models/<category>** (e.g. `FAL/Models/text-to-image`), and hand-picked models under **FAL/Featured** — or just search for any model by name.
+3. Configure your API key (below) and restart ComfyUI. Curated nodes appear under the **FAL** category, auto-generated nodes under **FAL/Models/<category>** (e.g. `FAL/Models/text-to-image`), and hand-picked models under **FAL/Featured** — or just search for any model by name.
 
 ## Configuration
 
@@ -169,12 +178,23 @@ The full LoRA-training pipeline needs nothing else: Load Image Folder → Batch
    ```
    cd custom_nodes/ComfyUI-fal-API
    git pull
-   pip install -r requirements.txt
-   ```
-3. If you're using ComfyUI Windows Portable, you may need to install fal-client manually:
+   python -m pip install -r requirements.txt
    ```
-   ComfyUI_windows_portable>.\python_embeded\python.exe -m pip install fal-client
+3. **Windows Portable Python is blocked or no longer starts after installing a node?**
+   Do not keep rerunning `pip`. From the portable root, first check the exact
+   interpreter and dependency state:
+   ```powershell
+   .\python_embeded\python.exe -c "import sys; print(sys.executable); print(sys.version)"
+   .\python_embeded\python.exe -m pip check
    ```
+   This project installs Python packages only; it does not replace or modify
+   `python.exe`. If the first command itself is blocked or the executable was
+   quarantined, review Windows Security **Protection history**. Restore a file
+   only when the portable archive came from the official ComfyUI release, or
+   re-extract a clean official portable build and move your `models`, `input`,
+   `output`, and `user` data across. Avoid disabling antivirus globally. Then
+   reinstall this node through ComfyUI Manager, or use the exact embedded-
+   interpreter requirements command from the Installation section.
 4. **Dynamic nodes not appearing?** Check the ComfyUI console for a line like `Registered N dynamic fal nodes` at startup. If it says the nodes are disabled, remove `enabled = false` from the `[dynamic_nodes]` section of your `config.ini` (and check the `categories` filter isn't excluding what you're looking for). Any registry loading error is also printed there.
 5. **`VIDEO` output is `None` or video sockets are missing?** Update ComfyUI — native `VIDEO`/`AUDIO` types require a recent ComfyUI version.
 6. **API calls failing?** Failed fal requests raise visible errors that include fal's actual error message (validation issues, content policy, quota). Read the error text in ComfyUI — it usually tells you exactly which parameter to fix.

nodes/utils/media.py

@@ -33,6 +33,27 @@ def _is_http_url(value: str) -> bool:
     return value.startswith(("http://", "https://"))
 
 
+def _require_http_url(value: Any, operation: str) -> str:
+    """Return a normalized HTTP(S) URL or raise an actionable fal error.
+
+    ``requests`` otherwise turns values such as ``"E"`` (historically the
+    first character of an error string routed through a list output) into a
+    cryptic ``MissingSchema`` exception. Validate at the media boundary so
+    the bad upstream value and the responsible operation remain visible.
+    """
+    url = str(value or "").strip()
+    parsed = urlparse(url)
+    if parsed.scheme.lower() not in {"http", "https"} or not parsed.netloc:
+        preview = repr(url if len(url) <= 120 else f"{url[:117]}...")
+        raise FalApiError(
+            operation,
+            f"Expected an HTTP(S) media URL, got {preview}. "
+            "The upstream generation may have failed, or a non-URL output "
+            "may be connected to a media input.",
+        )
+    return url
+
+
 def _suffix_from_url(url: str, default: str) -> str:
     """Derive a file suffix from a URL path, falling back to a default."""
     suffix = os.path.splitext(urlparse(url).path)[1]
@@ -164,9 +185,15 @@ class MediaUtils:
     http(s) URL inputs pass through untouched.
     """
 
+    @staticmethod
+    def require_http_url(value: Any, operation: str = "media-download") -> str:
+        """Public validation hook for legacy nodes that return media URLs."""
+        return _require_http_url(value, operation)
+
     @staticmethod
     def download_url_to_temp(url: str, suffix: str) -> str:
         """Stream a URL to a temp file and return its local path."""
+        url = _require_http_url(url, "media-download")
         temp_path: str | None = None
         try:
             with requests.get(url, stream=True, timeout=_DOWNLOAD_TIMEOUT) as resp:

nodes/video_node.py

@@ -2770,8 +2770,16 @@ def generate_video(self, prompt, image, duration, end_image=None, negative_promp
                 "fal-ai/bytedance/seedance/v1/pro/image-to-video", arguments, variations
             )
 
-            # Return list of video URLs
-            return ([r["video"]["url"] for r in results],)
+            # Validate before exposing URLs to downstream loaders. Older error
+            # paths could leak an error string through this list output; a
+            # downstream loader would then receive its first character ("E")
+            # and raise requests.exceptions.MissingSchema.
+            endpoint = "fal-ai/bytedance/seedance/v1/pro/image-to-video"
+            video_urls = [
+                MediaUtils.require_http_url(r["video"]["url"], endpoint)
+                for r in results
+            ]
+            return (video_urls,)
 
         except Exception as e:
             return ApiHandler.handle_video_generation_error(

tests/conftest.py

@@ -76,3 +76,8 @@ def factory_mod():
 @pytest.fixture(scope="session")
 def errors_mod():
     return _submodule("nodes.utils.errors")
+
+
+@pytest.fixture(scope="session")
+def media_mod():
+    return _submodule("nodes.utils.media")

tests/test_media_urls.py

@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+"""Regression tests for malformed media URLs and legacy Seedance output."""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import sys
+
+import pytest
+
+
+def test_download_rejects_missing_schema_before_requests(monkeypatch, media_mod):
+    called = False
+
+    def unexpected_get(*_args, **_kwargs):
+        nonlocal called
+        called = True
+        raise AssertionError("requests.get must not receive a malformed URL")
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(media_mod.requests, "get", unexpected_get)
+
+    with pytest.raises(media_mod.FalApiError, match=r"Expected an HTTP\(S\) media URL"):
+        media_mod.MediaUtils.download_url_to_temp("E", ".mp4")
+
+    assert called is False
+
+
+def test_url_validator_normalizes_whitespace(media_mod):
+    assert (
+        media_mod.MediaUtils.require_http_url("  https://fal.media/video.mp4  ")
+        == "https://fal.media/video.mp4"
+    )
+
+
+def test_seedance_pro_rejects_non_url_result(pack, monkeypatch):
+    node_cls = pack.NODE_CLASS_MAPPINGS["SeedanceProImageToVideo_fal"]
+    module = sys.modules[node_cls.__module__]
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(
+        module.ImageUtils,
+        "upload_image",
+        staticmethod(lambda _image: "https://fal.media/input.png"),
+    )
+    monkeypatch.setattr(
+        module.ApiHandler,
+        "submit_multiple_and_get_results",
+        staticmethod(lambda *_args, **_kwargs: [{"video": {"url": "E"}}]),
+    )
+
+    with pytest.raises(module.FalApiError, match=r"Expected an HTTP\(S\) media URL"):
+        node_cls().generate_video("prompt", object(), "5")
+
+
+def test_seedance_pro_returns_validated_url_list(pack, monkeypatch):
+    node_cls = pack.NODE_CLASS_MAPPINGS["SeedanceProImageToVideo_fal"]
+    module = sys.modules[node_cls.__module__]
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(
+        module.ImageUtils,
+        "upload_image",
+        staticmethod(lambda _image: "https://fal.media/input.png"),
+    )
+    monkeypatch.setattr(
+        module.ApiHandler,
+        "submit_multiple_and_get_results",
+        staticmethod(
+            lambda *_args, **_kwargs: [
+                {"video": {"url": "https://fal.media/output.mp4"}}
+            ]
+        ),
+    )
+
+    assert node_cls().generate_video("prompt", object(), "5") == (
+        ["https://fal.media/output.mp4"],
+    )