controlnet image cache location? (or controlnet images paths list)

[joshgura]

I noticed that the controlnet image loaders seem to retain either a fully cached copy of previously used controlnet source images or paths to them. the paths are not visible to these images, so it's not easy to determine if they're copies or paths to the original images.

Firstly, which is the case, are they cached copies or are they paths?

secondly, in either case, where is this data stored? Either the path list or the cached copies.

edit:

nevermind, they're copied into the folder /ComfyUI/input/ but It would be nice if there was an option to use paths to the original instead of making copies in a non-transparent way. Is there an option like that already?