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# Building Custom Blocks

[ModularPipelineBlocks](./pipeline_block) are the fundamental building blocks of a [`ModularPipeline`]. You can create custom blocks by defining their inputs, outputs, and computation logic. This guide demonstrates how to create and use a custom block.

> [!TIP]
> Explore the [Modular Diffusers Custom Blocks](https://huggingface.co/collections/diffusers/modular-diffusers-custom-blocks) collection for official custom blocks.

## Project Structure

Your custom block project should use the following structure:

```shell
.
├── block.py
└── modular_config.json
```

- `block.py` contains the custom block implementation
- `modular_config.json` contains the metadata needed to load the block

## Quick Start with Template

The fastest way to create a custom block is to start from our template. The template provides a pre-configured project structure with `block.py` and `modular_config.json` files, plus commented examples showing how to define components, inputs, outputs, and the `__call__` method—so you can focus on your custom logic instead of boilerplate setup.

### Download the template

```python
from diffusers import ModularPipelineBlocks

model_id = "diffusers/custom-block-template"
local_dir = model_id.split("/")[-1]

blocks = ModularPipelineBlocks.from_pretrained(
    model_id, 
    trust_remote_code=True, 
    local_dir=local_dir
)
```

This saves the template files to `custom-block-template/` locally or you could use `local_dir` to save to a specific location.

### Edit locally

Open `block.py` and implement your custom block. The template includes commented examples showing how to define each property. See the [Florence-2 example](#example-florence-2-image-annotator) below for a complete implementation.

### Test your block

```python
from diffusers import ModularPipelineBlocks

blocks = ModularPipelineBlocks.from_pretrained(local_dir, trust_remote_code=True)
pipeline = blocks.init_pipeline()
output = pipeline(...)  # your inputs here
```

### Upload to the Hub

```python
pipeline.save_pretrained(local_dir, repo_id="your-username/your-block-name", push_to_hub=True)
```

## Example: Florence-2 Image Annotator

This example creates a custom block with [Florence-2](https://huggingface.co/docs/transformers/model_doc/florence2) to process an input image and generate a mask for inpainting.

### Define components

Define the components the block needs, `Florence2ForConditionalGeneration` and its processor. When defining components, specify the `name` (how you'll access it in code), `type_hint` (the model class), and `pretrained_model_name_or_path` (where to load weights from).

```python
# Inside block.py
from diffusers.modular_pipelines import ModularPipelineBlocks, ComponentSpec
from transformers import AutoProcessor, Florence2ForConditionalGeneration


class Florence2ImageAnnotatorBlock(ModularPipelineBlocks):

    @property
    def expected_components(self):
        return [
            ComponentSpec(
                name="image_annotator",
                type_hint=Florence2ForConditionalGeneration,
                pretrained_model_name_or_path="florence-community/Florence-2-base-ft",
            ),
            ComponentSpec(
                name="image_annotator_processor",
                type_hint=AutoProcessor,
                pretrained_model_name_or_path="florence-community/Florence-2-base-ft",
            ),
        ]
```

### Define inputs and outputs

Inputs include the image, annotation task, and prompt. Outputs include the generated mask and annotations.

```python
from typing import List, Union
from PIL import Image
from diffusers.modular_pipelines import InputParam, OutputParam


class Florence2ImageAnnotatorBlock(ModularPipelineBlocks):

    # ... expected_components from above ...

    @property
    def inputs(self) -> List[InputParam]:
        return [
            InputParam(
                "image",
                type_hint=Union[Image.Image, List[Image.Image]],
                required=True,
                description="Image(s) to annotate",
            ),
            InputParam(
                "annotation_task",
                type_hint=str,
                default="<REFERRING_EXPRESSION_SEGMENTATION>",
                description="Annotation task to perform (e.g., <OD>, <CAPTION>, <REFERRING_EXPRESSION_SEGMENTATION>)",
            ),
            InputParam(
                "annotation_prompt",
                type_hint=str,
                required=True,
                description="Prompt to provide context for the annotation task",
            ),
            InputParam(
                "annotation_output_type",
                type_hint=str,
                default="mask_image",
                description="Output type: 'mask_image', 'mask_overlay', or 'bounding_box'",
            ),
        ]

    @property
    def intermediate_outputs(self) -> List[OutputParam]:
        return [
            OutputParam(
                "mask_image",
                type_hint=Image.Image,
                description="Inpainting mask for the input image",
            ),
            OutputParam(
                "annotations",
                type_hint=dict,
                description="Raw annotation predictions",
            ),
            OutputParam(
                "image",
                type_hint=Image.Image,
                description="Annotated image",
            ),
        ]
```

### Implement the `__call__` method

The `__call__` method contains the block's logic. Access inputs via `block_state`, run your computation, and set outputs back to `block_state`.

```python
import torch
from diffusers.modular_pipelines import PipelineState


class Florence2ImageAnnotatorBlock(ModularPipelineBlocks):

    # ... expected_components, inputs, intermediate_outputs from above ...

    @torch.no_grad()
    def __call__(self, components, state: PipelineState) -> PipelineState:
        block_state = self.get_block_state(state)
        
        images, annotation_task_prompt = self.prepare_inputs(
            block_state.image, block_state.annotation_prompt
        )
        task = block_state.annotation_task
        fill = block_state.fill
        
        annotations = self.get_annotations(
            components, images, annotation_task_prompt, task
        )
        block_state.annotations = annotations
        if block_state.annotation_output_type == "mask_image":
            block_state.mask_image = self.prepare_mask(images, annotations)
        else:
            block_state.mask_image = None

        if block_state.annotation_output_type == "mask_overlay":
            block_state.image = self.prepare_mask(images, annotations, overlay=True, fill=fill)

        elif block_state.annotation_output_type == "bounding_box":
            block_state.image = self.prepare_bounding_boxes(images, annotations)

        self.set_block_state(state, block_state)

        return components, state
    
    # Helper methods for mask/bounding box generation...
```

> [!TIP]
> See the complete implementation at [diffusers/Florence2-image-Annotator](https://huggingface.co/diffusers/Florence2-image-Annotator).

## Using Custom Blocks

Load a custom block with [`~ModularPipeline.from_pretrained`] and set `trust_remote_code=True`.

```py
import torch
from diffusers import ModularPipeline
from diffusers.utils import load_image

# Load the Florence-2 annotator pipeline
image_annotator = ModularPipeline.from_pretrained(
    "diffusers/Florence2-image-Annotator",
    trust_remote_code=True
)

# Check the docstring to see inputs/outputs
print(image_annotator.blocks.doc)
```

Use the block to generate a mask:

```python
image_annotator.load_components(torch_dtype=torch.bfloat16)
image_annotator.to("cuda")

image = load_image("https://huggingface.co/datasets/huggingface/documentation-images/resolve/main/transformers/tasks/car.jpg")
image = image.resize((1024, 1024))
prompt = ["A red car"]
annotation_task = "<REFERRING_EXPRESSION_SEGMENTATION>"
annotation_prompt = ["the car"]

mask_image = image_annotator_node(
    prompt=prompt,
    image=image,
    annotation_task=annotation_task,
    annotation_prompt=annotation_prompt,
    annotation_output_type="mask_image",
).images
mask_image[0].save("car-mask.png")
```

Compose it with other blocks to create a new pipeline:

```python
# Get the annotator block
annotator_block = image_annotator.blocks

# Get an inpainting workflow and insert the annotator at the beginning
inpaint_blocks = ModularPipeline.from_pretrained("Qwen/Qwen-Image").blocks.get_workflow("inpainting")
inpaint_blocks.sub_blocks.insert("image_annotator", annotator_block, 0)

# Initialize the combined pipeline
pipe = inpaint_blocks.init_pipeline()
pipe.load_components(torch_dtype=torch.float16, device="cuda")

# Now the pipeline automatically generates masks from prompts
output = pipe(
    prompt=prompt,
    image=image,
    annotation_task=annotation_task,
    annotation_prompt=annotation_prompt,
    annotation_output_type="mask_image",
    num_inference_steps=35,
    guidance_scale=7.5,
    strength=0.95,
    output="images"
)
output[0].save("florence-inpainting.png")
```

## Editing custom blocks

Edit custom blocks by downloading it locally. This is the same workflow as the [Quick Start with Template](#quick-start-with-template), but starting from an existing block instead of the template.

Use the `local_dir` argument to download a custom block to a specific folder:

```python
from diffusers import ModularPipelineBlocks

# Download to a local folder for editing
annotator_block = ModularPipelineBlocks.from_pretrained(
    "diffusers/Florence2-image-Annotator",
    trust_remote_code=True,
    local_dir="./my-florence-block"
)
```

Any changes made to the block files in this folder will be reflected when you load the block again. When you're ready to share your changes, upload to a new repository:

```python
pipeline = annotator_block.init_pipeline()
pipeline.save_pretrained("./my-florence-block", repo_id="your-username/my-custom-florence", push_to_hub=True)
```

## Next Steps

<hfoptions id="next">
<hfoption id="Learn block types">

This guide covered creating a single custom block. Learn how to compose multiple blocks together:

- [SequentialPipelineBlocks](./sequential_pipeline_blocks): Chain blocks to execute in sequence
- [ConditionalPipelineBlocks](./auto_pipeline_blocks): Create conditional blocks that select different execution paths
- [LoopSequentialPipelineBlocks](./loop_sequential_pipeline_blocks): Define an iterative workflows like the denoising loop

</hfoption>
<hfoption id="Use in Mellon">

Make your custom block work with Mellon's visual interface. See the [Mellon Custom Blocks](./mellon) guide.

</hfoption>
<hfoption id="Explore existing blocks">

Browse the [Modular Diffusers Custom Blocks](https://huggingface.co/collections/diffusers/modular-diffusers-custom-blocks) collection for inspiration and ready-to-use blocks.

</hfoption>
</hfoptions>

## Dependencies

Declaring package dependencies in custom blocks prevents runtime import errors later on. Diffusers validates the dependencies and returns a warning if a package is missing or incompatible.

Set a `_requirements` attribute in your block class, mapping package names to version specifiers.

```py
from diffusers.modular_pipelines import PipelineBlock

class MyCustomBlock(PipelineBlock):
    _requirements = {
        "transformers": ">=4.44.0",
        "sentencepiece": ">=0.2.0"
    }
```

When there are blocks with different requirements, Diffusers merges their requirements.

```py
from diffusers.modular_pipelines import SequentialPipelineBlocks

class BlockA(PipelineBlock):
    _requirements = {"transformers": ">=4.44.0"}
    # ...

class BlockB(PipelineBlock):
    _requirements = {"sentencepiece": ">=0.2.0"}
    # ...

pipe = SequentialPipelineBlocks.from_blocks_dict({
    "block_a": BlockA,
    "block_b": BlockB,
})
```

When this block is saved with [`~ModularPipeline.save_pretrained`], the requirements are saved to the `modular_config.json` file. When this block is loaded, Diffusers checks each requirement against the current environment. If there is a mismatch or a package isn't found, Diffusers returns the following warning.

```md
# missing package
xyz-package was specified in the requirements but wasn't found in the current environment.

# version mismatch
xyz requirement 'specific-version' is not satisfied by the installed version 'actual-version'. Things might work unexpected.
```
