---
name: ltx-director
description: Drive the LTX Director (Timeline) node. Its Add Image/Text/Audio buttons are DOM-only and cannot be clicked by an agent; edit the hidden timeline_data JSON widget instead. Load when a workflow contains LTXDirector / LTXDirectorGuide / PromptRelayEncodeTimeline, or when asked to add, move, retime, or remove timeline segments (image / text / audio / motion).
---

# LTX Director (Timeline)

`LTXDirector` (pack: **WhatDreamsCost-ComfyUI**, category `WhatDreamsCost`) is a
video *timeline editor* node. Its on-canvas UI has **Add Image**, **Add Text**
and **Add Audio** buttons.

## You cannot click those buttons. Don't try.

They are not node inputs. The pack builds them as raw DOM elements with JS
handlers:

```js
addTextBtn.addEventListener("click", () => this.addTextSegmentFreeSpace());
```

Panel/MCP tools drive the LiteGraph **node model** (widgets + inputs). They
cannot invoke arbitrary DOM handlers, so "click Add Text" is impossible. This
is a hard limitation, not flakiness. Say so plainly rather than retrying.

## The real control surface: `timeline_data`

Everything those buttons do is serialized into ONE string widget, `timeline_data`.
The pack's own code treats it as *"the absolute source of truth"*. Set it and the
editor renders it.

It is listed in the pack's `HIDDEN_WIDGET_NAMES`, so it does **not** appear in the
node's visible widget list, but it is an ordinary input and is settable:

```
create_workflow(action="modify", workflow=<the graph>, operations=[
  { op: "set_input", node_id: "42",
    input_name: "timeline_data", value: "<json string>" },
])
```

The value is a JSON **string**, not an object. Empty state is `"{}"`.

Sibling hidden widgets: `local_prompts`, `segment_lengths`, `guide_strength`,
`audio_data`, `use_custom_audio`, `inpaint_audio`, `use_custom_motion`,
`override_audio`.

## Schema (verified against a real production workflow)

```jsonc
{
  // TRACK GATES — a track's segments are IGNORED unless its gate is true.
  "mainTrackEnabled": true,
  "audioTrackEnabled": false,
  "motionTrackEnabled": false,

  // must mirror the node's start_frame / duration_frames widgets (see Edges)
  "normalStartFrame": 0,
  "normalDurationFrames": 4393,

  "global_prompt": "",
  "overrideAudio": false,
  "inpaint_audio": false,

  // retake mode
  "retakeMode": false, "retakeStart": 24, "retakeLength": 48,
  "retakePrompt": "", "retakeStrength": 1, "retakeVideo": null,
  "retake_global_prompt": "",

  // display-only
  "propHeight": 90, "globalPropHeight": 60, "showFilenames": true,

  "segments": [],        // main track: image AND text segments
  "motionSegments": [],
  "audioSegments": []
}
```

### Text segment (`segments`)

```json
{ "id": "seg1", "start": 0, "length": 48, "prompt": "wide shot, neon city", "type": "text" }
```

### Image segment (`segments`)

```json
{
  "id": "1784657553220x4fxu",
  "start": 0,
  "length": 241.68,
  "prompt": "",
  "type": "image",
  "imageFile": "whatdreamscost/Nintendo_ZeldaUrbosaHotspringKF_00002_.png",
  "imageB64": "/api/view?filename=Nintendo_ZeldaUrbosaHotspringKF_00002_.png&type=input&subfolder=whatdreamscost"
}
```

**`imageB64` is a misnomer. It holds a `/api/view` URL, not base64.** So an
image segment points at a file already in ComfyUI's **input** dir. Full
agent-drivable recipe:

1. `upload_image (action:"image")` → puts the file in the input dir (note its `subfolder`/name)
2. `imageFile` = `"<subfolder>/<name>.png"`
3. `imageB64` = `"/api/view?filename=<name>.png&type=input&subfolder=<subfolder>"`

### Audio segment (`audioSegments`)

```json
{
  "id": "17846562234967gjvk", "type": "audio",
  "start": 0, "length": 4393, "trimStart": 0, "audioDurationFrames": 4393,
  "audioFile": "whatdreamscost/Intergalactic Hip Hop.mp3",
  "fileName": "Intergalactic Hip Hop.mp3",
  "waveformPeaks": [0.047, 0.274, 0.537, "…~200 floats…"]
}
```

`waveformPeaks` is the rendered waveform. It is cosmetic. Omit it or pass `[]` if
you're writing a segment programmatically; the audio still plays. Don't fabricate
plausible-looking peaks and imply they were measured.

## Edges (get these wrong and it silently does nothing)

1. **Track gates.** Pushing into `audioSegments` does nothing while
   `audioTrackEnabled` is `false`. Set the gate in the same edit. (The reference
   workflow ships an audio segment with the track OFF, which is easy to misread
   as broken.)
2. **Frame bookkeeping must agree.** `normalDurationFrames` ==
   `duration_frames` widget == `segment_lengths` widget (observed: all `4393`),
   and `normalStartFrame` == `start_frame`. Change the timeline length and you
   must update all of them.
3. **Frames, not seconds.** `start` / `length` are pixel-space frames and may be
   fractional (`241.68`). `duration_seconds` / `frame_rate` / `time_units` are
   display concerns.
4. **`global_prompt` exists twice**, inside `timeline_data` and as a `forceInput`
   socket on the node. In the reference workflow the socket is wired from a
   `PrimitiveStringMultiline`; prefer the wired source and keep them consistent.
5. **`guide_data` must go somewhere.** `LTXDirector.guide_data` →
   `LTXDirectorGuide`. That partner node is what injects the keyframes.
6. **Unsupported by the pack.** The widget tooltip says *"auto-managed; do not
   edit by hand"*. Well-formed blobs load fine; malformed JSON will break the
   editor. Round-trip and re-read after writing, and tell the user this is
   unofficial.

## Reference wiring (from a working LTX 2.3 Director graph)

```
Power Lora Loader (rgthree) ─ model ─┐
DualCLIPLoader ──────────── clip ────┤
VAELoaderKJ ───────────── audio_vae ─┤   LTXDirector #42
PrimitiveStringMultiline ─ global_prompt ─┘
        │ model         → LTX2_NAG
        │ positive      → ConditioningZeroOut, LTXVConditioning
        │ audio_latent  → LTXVConcatAVLatent
        │ guide_data    → LTXDirectorGuide   ← required partner
        │ frame_rate    → AudioToFrameCount, VHS_VideoCombine
        └ combined_audio→ AudioToFrameCount, PreviewAudio, …
```

## Procedure

1. Find the node: `get_workflow (action:"query")` with `types: ["LTXDirector"]`, `fields: "detail"`
   (or `panel_query_graph` on the live canvas).
2. Read the current `timeline_data` and `JSON.parse` it. **Never** hand-splice the string.
3. Mutate the parsed object (append a segment, flip a track gate, retime).
4. Keep `normalStartFrame` / `normalDurationFrames` in sync with the widgets (edge 2).
5. Write it back as a string via `set_input`.
6. Re-read to confirm it round-trips, then `create_workflow (action:"validate")`.

## Related

`PromptRelayEncodeTimeline` (pack: ComfyUI-PromptRelay) carries the **same**
`timeline_data` hidden-widget pattern, so this skill's approach applies there too.

Any node whose controls are DOM widgets over hidden state is invisible to
clicking and must be driven through its state widget. LTX Director is the
clearest example.

## Sources

- **Official:** none found.
- **Empirical:** timeline_data schema and edge rules from a working LTX 2.3 Director graph.