Stability Matrix is a free, portable desktop app that installs and manages local AI image tools for you. Instead of cloning repositories and wiring up Python by hand, you download one official build, then add packages such as ComfyUI, Stable Diffusion WebUI reForge, SwarmUI or InvokeAI from its package manager. Official releases are self-contained, so a separate system-wide install of Python, Git or a .NET desktop runtime is not normally required.
Forge PC has not tested Stability Matrix as a product. This guide follows the official Lykos documentation for installation and for the Add Package screen. If you would rather install ComfyUI yourself, see our ComfyUI on Windows guide, and our PC for Stable Diffusion and Flux article for hardware context.
Download the official build
The documentation lists two official sources: the Lykos downloads page and the project's GitHub Releases page. Use one of those, not a random mirror.
Current published Windows, Linux and macOS artefacts are named in the docs as:
This guide focuses on Windows, which is how most UK desktop PCs will run it.
Install on Windows
Windows releases come as a zip archive, not a traditional setup wizard. The official steps are:
Download the Windows x64 zip from GitHub Releases or the Lykos downloads page.
Extract it to a folder you are happy to keep, preferably on a drive with plenty of free space. Models and image outputs can grow quickly.
Open the extracted folder and run StabilityMatrix.exe.
On first launch, Windows may show a SmartScreen warning because the app was downloaded from the internet. The official docs say that if the file came from the Lykos downloads page or the project's GitHub Releases page, you can choose More info and then Run anyway.
The Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable for x64 is required. Stability Matrix checks for it during package installation and, according to the docs, silently installs the required version in most cases. If a package later fails to start with a missing runtime or a missing c10.dll error when loading PyTorch, the documented fallback is to install the latest Visual C++ Redistributable x64 package from Microsoft yourself.
Portable Mode keeps the Stability Matrix Data directory next to the application rather than in a separate library location. The docs recommend this as the default for most users, because the whole setup is then easier to move between folders or drives.
Add a package such as ComfyUI
Once the app is open, you still need a WebUI package before you can generate images.
Official documentation for the package manager says you go to Packages in the sidebar, then click Add Package at the bottom of that view. Packages are grouped into three tabs:
Inference, for image and video tools such as ComfyUI, Stable Diffusion WebUI and Fooocus.
Training, for fine-tuning tools such as Kohya's GUI and OneTrainer.
Legacy, for older packages that are kept for existing users and are not recommended for new installs.
Each card shows hardware compatibility badges for backends such as CUDA (NVIDIA), ROCm (AMD), DirectML, macOS (MPS), ZLUDA, IPEX (Intel) or CPU. Incompatible packages are hidden by default; Show All Packages reveals ones that are not officially supported on your hardware.
Click a package card to open the detail screen. For most people the safe choices are:
Leave the version selector on Releases, which is the recommended mode, and accept the latest release rather than a development branch.
Leave the display name at the default unless you are installing a second copy.
Under Advanced Options, keep the recommended model-sharing method (the docs note that ComfyUI recommends Configuration) and leave output sharing enabled so generated images go to the shared Images/ folder.
Set the PyTorch Index to the backend that matches your GPU, for example CUDA on NVIDIA.
Click Install at the bottom of the screen when the configuration is valid. The first download can be large, because the package and its Python environment are set up for you.
Supported inference packages listed in the official package documentation include ComfyUI, reForge, SwarmUI and InvokeAI, among others. ComfyUI is the usual starting point if you want the same workflow we described in the standalone ComfyUI guide, without doing that install by hand.
After it is installed
Launch the package from Stability Matrix rather than hunting for a Python script. Put model files in the shared models location the app provides, so more than one package can use them. If a package fails immediately after install, check the Visual C++ note above and confirm you picked a backend your GPU actually supports.
Stability Matrix does not change the fact that large image models need a capable graphics card and enough system memory. Our Flux and Stable Diffusion hardware guide and our how much VRAM article are the place to check that side of the setup.
Our verdict
Download Stability Matrix only from the official Lykos downloads page or GitHub Releases, extract the Windows zip, and run StabilityMatrix.exe. If SmartScreen appears on a file from those sources, the documented path is More info, then Run anyway. Add a package such as ComfyUI from the Package Manager, leave the release channel on the latest official release, and pick the PyTorch backend that matches your GPU. We have not tested the app ourselves; these steps follow the official Stability Matrix documentation.
