langchain-fundamentals

import { createAgent } from "langchain";
import { tool } from "@langchain/core/tools";
import { z } from "zod";
 
const getWeather = tool(
  async ({ location }) => `Weather in ${location}: Sunny, 72F`,
  {
    name: "get_weather",
    description: "Get current weather for a location.",
    schema: z.object({ location: z.string().describe("City name") }),
  }
);
 
const agent = createAgent({
  model: "anthropic:claude-sonnet-4-5",
  tools: [getWeather],
  systemPrompt: "You are a helpful assistant.",
});
 
const result = await agent.invoke({
  messages: [{ role: "user", content: "What's the weather in Paris?" }],
});
console.log(result.messages[result.messages.length - 1].content);

from langchain.agents import create_agent
from langgraph.checkpoint.memory import MemorySaver
 
checkpointer = MemorySaver()
 
agent = create_agent(
    model="anthropic:claude-sonnet-4-5",
    tools=[search],
    checkpointer=checkpointer,
)
 
config = {"configurable": {"thread_id": "user-123"}}
agent.invoke({"messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "My name is Alice"}]}, config=config)
result = agent.invoke({"messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "What's my name?"}]}, config=config)
# Agent remembers: "Your name is Alice"

import { createAgent } from "langchain";
import { MemorySaver } from "@langchain/langgraph";
 
const checkpointer = new MemorySaver();
 
const agent = createAgent({
  model: "anthropic:claude-sonnet-4-5",
  tools: [search],
  checkpointer,
});
 
const config = { configurable: { thread_id: "user-123" } };
await agent.invoke({ messages: [{ role: "user", content: "My name is Alice" }] }, config);
const result = await agent.invoke({ messages: [{ role: "user", content: "What's my name?" }] }, config);
// Agent remembers: "Your name is Alice"

from langchain_core.tools import tool
 
@tool
def add(a: float, b: float) -> float:
    """Add two numbers.
 
    Args:
        a: First number
        b: Second number
    """
    return a + b

import { tool } from "@langchain/core/tools";
import { z } from "zod";
 
const add = tool(
  async ({ a, b }) => a + b,
  {
    name: "add",
    description: "Add two numbers.",
    schema: z.object({
      a: z.number().describe("First number"),
      b: z.number().describe("Second number"),
    }),
  }
);

from langchain.agents.middleware import HumanInTheLoopMiddleware, wrap_tool_call

import { humanInTheLoopMiddleware, createMiddleware } from "langchain";

from langchain.agents import create_agent
from pydantic import BaseModel, Field
 
class ContactInfo(BaseModel):
    name: str
    email: str
    phone: str = Field(description="Phone number with area code")
 
# Option 1: Agent with structured output
agent = create_agent(model="gpt-4.1", tools=[search], response_format=ContactInfo)
result = agent.invoke({"messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Find contact for John"}]})
print(result["structured_response"])  # ContactInfo(name='John', ...)
 
# Option 2: Model-level structured output (no agent needed)
from langchain_openai import ChatOpenAI
model = ChatOpenAI(model="gpt-4.1")
structured_model = model.with_structured_output(ContactInfo)
response = structured_model.invoke("Extract: John, john@example.com, 555-1234")
# ContactInfo(name='John', email='john@example.com', phone='555-1234')

import { ChatOpenAI } from "@langchain/openai";
import { z } from "zod";
 
const ContactInfo = z.object({
  name: z.string(),
  email: z.string().email(),
  phone: z.string().describe("Phone number with area code"),
});
 
// Model-level structured output
const model = new ChatOpenAI({ model: "gpt-4.1" });
const structuredModel = model.withStructuredOutput(ContactInfo);
const response = await structuredModel.invoke("Extract: John, john@example.com, 555-1234");
// { name: 'John', email: 'john@example.com', phone: '555-1234' }

from langchain_anthropic import ChatAnthropic
agent = create_agent(model=ChatAnthropic(model="claude-sonnet-4-5", temperature=0), tools=[...])

# WRONG: Vague or missing description
@tool
def bad_tool(input: str) -> str:
    """Does stuff."""
    return "result"
 
# CORRECT: Clear, specific description with Args
@tool
def search(query: str) -> str:
    """Search the web for current information about a topic.
 
    Use this when you need recent data or facts.
 
    Args:
        query: The search query (2-10 words recommended)
    """
    return web_search(query)

// WRONG: Vague description
const badTool = tool(async ({ input }) => "result", {
  name: "bad_tool",
  description: "Does stuff.", // Too vague!
  schema: z.object({ input: z.string() }),
});
 
// CORRECT: Clear, specific description
const search = tool(async ({ query }) => webSearch(query), {
  name: "search",
  description: "Search the web for current information about a topic. Use this when you need recent data or facts.",
  schema: z.object({
    query: z.string().describe("The search query (2-10 words recommended)"),
  }),
});

# WRONG: No persistence - agent forgets between calls
agent = create_agent(model="anthropic:claude-sonnet-4-5", tools=[search])
agent.invoke({"messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "I'm Bob"}]})
agent.invoke({"messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "What's my name?"}]})
# Agent doesn't remember!
 
# CORRECT: Add checkpointer and thread_id
from langgraph.checkpoint.memory import MemorySaver
 
agent = create_agent(
    model="anthropic:claude-sonnet-4-5",
    tools=[search],
    checkpointer=MemorySaver(),
)
config = {"configurable": {"thread_id": "session-1"}}
agent.invoke({"messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "I'm Bob"}]}, config=config)
agent.invoke({"messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "What's my name?"}]}, config=config)
# Agent remembers: "Your name is Bob"

// WRONG: No persistence
const agent = createAgent({ model: "anthropic:claude-sonnet-4-5", tools: [search] });
await agent.invoke({ messages: [{ role: "user", content: "I'm Bob" }] });
await agent.invoke({ messages: [{ role: "user", content: "What's my name?" }] });
// Agent doesn't remember!
 
// CORRECT: Add checkpointer and thread_id
import { MemorySaver } from "@langchain/langgraph";
 
const agent = createAgent({
  model: "anthropic:claude-sonnet-4-5",
  tools: [search],
  checkpointer: new MemorySaver(),
});
const config = { configurable: { thread_id: "session-1" } };
await agent.invoke({ messages: [{ role: "user", content: "I'm Bob" }] }, config);
await agent.invoke({ messages: [{ role: "user", content: "What's my name?" }] }, config);
// Agent remembers: "Your name is Bob"

# WRONG: No iteration limit - could loop forever
result = agent.invoke({"messages": [("user", "Do research")]})
 
# CORRECT: Set recursion_limit in config
result = agent.invoke(
    {"messages": [("user", "Do research")]},
    config={"recursion_limit": 10},  # Stop after 10 steps
)

// WRONG: No iteration limit
const result = await agent.invoke({ messages: [["user", "Do research"]] });
 
// CORRECT: Set recursionLimit in config
const result = await agent.invoke(
  { messages: [["user", "Do research"]] },
  { recursionLimit: 10 }, // Stop after 10 steps
);

# WRONG: Trying to access result.content directly
result = agent.invoke({"messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello"}]})
print(result.content)  # AttributeError!
 
# CORRECT: Access messages from result dict
result = agent.invoke({"messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello"}]})
print(result["messages"][-1].content)  # Last message content

// WRONG: Trying to access result.content directly
const result = await agent.invoke({ messages: [{ role: "user", content: "Hello" }] });
console.log(result.content); // undefined!
 
// CORRECT: Access messages from result object
const result = await agent.invoke({ messages: [{ role: "user", content: "Hello" }] });
console.log(result.messages[result.messages.length - 1].content); // Last message content