=============================================================================
NOTE: These are the original planning notes. Use install_backend.sh instead —
it reproduces what is ACTUALLY installed, with versions pinned.

Two things below do not match the real installation:

  * "cu128 for your 3090" — the machine has an RTX 4070 Ti SUPER (16 GB).
    The cu128 wheels are still correct; only the comment is wrong.

  * The `conda install -c conda-forge portaudio libsamplerate ffmpeg espeak-ng
    git` line was never actually applied. The environment contains only the 27
    base Python packages from conda-forge. ffmpeg is used from the system
    (/usr/bin/ffmpeg) and espeak-ng is not installed at all. Everything works
    without them, so install_backend.sh does not install them either — it only
    warns if ffmpeg is missing, since lektor_ai_comfy.py needs it (ComfyUI
    itself does not).
=============================================================================

Option A — Conda/Mamba (cleanest match for "a virtual environment, no system changes")

Miniforge gives you its own Python and the native libs (portaudio, ffmpeg, espeak-ng…) inside the environment prefix, so there's no deadsnakes, no sudo apt, nothing in /usr.

bash
# Install Miniforge into its own dir — fully self-contained, removable
wget https://github.com/conda-forge/miniforge/releases/latest/download/Miniforge3-Linux-x86_64.sh
bash Miniforge3-Linux-x86_64.sh -b -p ~/miniforge3

# Activate WITHOUT running `conda init` so it doesn't even touch your .bashrc:
source ~/miniforge3/etc/profile.d/conda.sh

conda create -n comfy-tts python=3.12 -y
conda activate comfy-tts

# The libs that were apt before — now inside the env, no sudo:
conda install -c conda-forge portaudio libsamplerate ffmpeg espeak-ng git -y

# PyTorch via pip wheels (more current than conda's channel), cu128 for your 3090:
pip install torch torchvision torchaudio --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cu128

Then ComfyUI + the suite, all inside the env:

bash
mkdir -p ~/comfy-tts-app && cd ~/comfy-tts-app
git clone https://github.com/comfyanonymous/ComfyUI.git
cd ComfyUI && pip install -r requirements.txt
cd custom_nodes
git clone https://github.com/diodiogod/TTS-Audio-Suite.git
cd TTS-Audio-Suite && python install.py

Launch:

bash
source ~/miniforge3/etc/profile.d/conda.sh
conda activate comfy-tts
cd ~/comfy-tts-app/ComfyUI && python main.py --port 8189

To remove all of it: conda env remove -n comfy-tts, delete ~/comfy-tts-app, and if you want it truly gone, rm -rf ~/miniforge3. Your system Python and apt are never touched.