Allow object removal with or without a mask outline.

Empty mask inputs were treated as required images, so chained workflow runs dropped the instruction and failed. Treat missing masks as optional and keep prompt-only removal working.

Co-authored-by: Cursor <cursoragent@cursor.com>

app.py

@@ -229,6 +229,33 @@ def _local_path(value) -> str:
     return path
 
 
+def _empty_media(value) -> bool:
+    """True when the canvas/API sent no file: None, '', or a dict with no path/url."""
+    if value is None or value == "":
+        return True
+    if isinstance(value, Image.Image):
+        return False
+    if isinstance(value, str):
+        return not value.strip()
+    if isinstance(value, dict):
+        return not (value.get("path") or value.get("url"))
+    return True
+
+
+def _as_instruction(value) -> str:
+    if value is None or isinstance(value, bool):
+        return ""
+    if isinstance(value, str):
+        return value
+    if isinstance(value, dict):
+        for key in ("text", "value", "prompt", "out", "in"):
+            item = value.get(key)
+            if isinstance(item, str) and item.strip():
+                return item
+        return ""
+    return str(value)
+
+
 def _open_rgb(value) -> Image.Image:
     if isinstance(value, Image.Image):
         return value.convert("RGB")
@@ -237,9 +264,12 @@ def _open_rgb(value) -> Image.Image:
 
 def _open_mask(value):
     """A mask as grayscale, white = the object. Transparent pixels count as black. None when absent."""
-    if value is None or value == "":
+    if _empty_media(value):
+        return None
+    try:
+        image = value if isinstance(value, Image.Image) else ImageOps.exif_transpose(Image.open(_local_path(value)))
+    except (gr.Error, OSError, ValueError, FileNotFoundError):
         return None
-    image = value if isinstance(value, Image.Image) else ImageOps.exif_transpose(Image.open(_local_path(value)))
     if "A" in image.getbands() or image.mode == "P":
         image = Image.alpha_composite(Image.new("RGBA", image.size, (0, 0, 0, 255)), image.convert("RGBA"))
     return image.convert("L")
@@ -273,11 +303,13 @@ def _as_media(path: str) -> dict:
 # ------------------------------------------------------------------ workflow fn
 
 
-def pq_remove(image, mask=None, prompt="", variant: str = DEFAULT_VARIANT, seed: str = "42") -> dict:
-    """Remove the masked object (white = remove) with P-Q-Image-2.1-Remove-Object (no CFG)."""
-    if image is None or image == "":
+def pq_remove(image, prompt="", variant: str = DEFAULT_VARIANT, seed: str = "42", mask=None) -> dict:
+    """Remove an object with a mask outline, a text instruction, or both (no CFG)."""
+    if _empty_media(image):
         raise gr.Error("Connect a source image first.")
-    result, _, _, _ = _remove(_open_rgb(image), _open_mask(mask), str(prompt or ""), variant, _seed(seed))
+    result, _, _, _ = _remove(
+        _open_rgb(image), _open_mask(mask), _as_instruction(prompt), variant, _seed(seed)
+    )
     return _as_media(_publish(result))
 
 

workflow.json

@@ -17,11 +17,11 @@
     },
     {
       "id": "ref_mask",
-      "label": "Mask (white = remove)",
+      "label": "Mask (white = remove, optional)",
       "role": "reference",
       "asset_type": "image",
-      "inputs": [{"id": "in", "label": "Image", "type": "image"}],
-      "outputs": [{"id": "out", "label": "Image", "type": "image"}],
+      "inputs": [{"id": "in", "label": "Image", "type": "image", "required": false}],
+      "outputs": [{"id": "out", "label": "Image", "type": "image", "required": false}],
       "x": 40,
       "y": 200,
       "width": 220,
@@ -72,8 +72,8 @@
       "label": "Second Mask (optional)",
       "role": "reference",
       "asset_type": "image",
-      "inputs": [{"id": "in", "label": "Image", "type": "image"}],
-      "outputs": [{"id": "out", "label": "Image", "type": "image"}],
+      "inputs": [{"id": "in", "label": "Image", "type": "image", "required": false}],
+      "outputs": [{"id": "out", "label": "Image", "type": "image", "required": false}],
       "x": 620,
       "y": 300,
       "width": 220,
@@ -103,10 +103,10 @@
       "fn": "pq_remove",
       "inputs": [
         {"id": "image", "label": "Image", "type": "image", "required": true},
-        {"id": "mask", "label": "Mask", "type": "image"},
         {"id": "prompt", "label": "Removal Instruction", "type": "text"},
         {"id": "variant", "label": "Variant", "type": "text", "choices": ["6-step", "8-step", "base"], "default_value": "6-step"},
-        {"id": "seed", "label": "Seed", "type": "text"}
+        {"id": "seed", "label": "Seed", "type": "text"},
+        {"id": "mask", "label": "Mask", "type": "image", "required": false}
       ],
       "outputs": [{"id": "out_0", "label": "Image", "type": "image", "output_index": 0}],
       "x": 660,
@@ -123,10 +123,10 @@
       "fn": "pq_remove",
       "inputs": [
         {"id": "image", "label": "Image", "type": "image", "required": true},
-        {"id": "mask", "label": "Mask", "type": "image"},
         {"id": "prompt", "label": "Removal Instruction", "type": "text"},
         {"id": "variant", "label": "Variant", "type": "text", "choices": ["6-step", "8-step", "base"], "default_value": "6-step"},
-        {"id": "seed", "label": "Seed", "type": "text"}
+        {"id": "seed", "label": "Seed", "type": "text"},
+        {"id": "mask", "label": "Mask", "type": "image", "required": false}
       ],
       "outputs": [{"id": "out_0", "label": "Image", "type": "image", "output_index": 0}],
       "x": 960,