langchain

Files (4)

• SKILL.md
• agents.md · references/
• integration.md · references/
• rag.md · references/

SKILL.md (first lines)

# LangChain - Build LLM Applications with Agents & RAG

The most popular framework for building LLM-powered applications.

## When to use LangChain

**Use LangChain when:**
- Building agents with tool calling and reasoning (ReAct pattern)
- Implementing RAG (retrieval-augmented generation) pipelines
- Need to swap LLM providers easily (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google)
- Creating chatbots with conversation memory
- Rapid prototyping of LLM applications
- Production deployments with LangSmith observability

**Metrics**:
- **119,000+ GitHub stars**
- **272,000+ repositories** use LangChain
- **500+ integrations** (models, vector stores, tools)
- **3,800+ contributors**

**Use alternatives instead**:
- **LlamaIndex**: RAG-focused, better for document Q&A
- **LangGraph**: Complex stateful workflows, more control
- **Haystack**: Production search pipelines
- **Semantic Kernel**: Microsoft ecosystem

## Quick start

### Installation

```bash
# Core library (Python 3.10+)
pip install -U langchain

# With OpenAI
pip install langchain-openai

# With Anthropic
pip install langchain-anthropic

# Common extras
pip install langchain-community  # 500+ integrations
pip install langchain-chroma     # Vector store
```

### Basic LLM usage

```python
from langchain_anthropic import ChatAnthropic

# Initialize model
llm = ChatAnthropic(model="claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929")

# Simple completion
response = llm.invoke("Explain quantum computing in 2 sentences")
print(response.content)
```

### Create an agent (ReAct pattern)

```python
from langchain.agents import create_agent
from langchain_anthropic import ChatAnthropic

# Define tools
def get_weather(city: str) -> str:
    """Get current weather for a city."""
    return f"It's sunny in {city}, 72°F"

def search_web(query: str) -> str:
    """Search the web for information."""
    return f"Search results for: {query}"

# Create agent (<10 lines!)
agent = create_agent(
    model=ChatAnthropic(model="claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929"),
    tools=[get_weather, search_web],
    system_prompt="You are a helpful assistant. Use tools when needed."
)

# Run agent
result = agent.invoke({"messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "What's the weather in Paris?"}]})
print(result["messages"][-1].content)
```

## Core concepts

### 1. Models - LLM abstraction

```python
from langchain_openai import ChatOpenAI
from langchain_anthropic import ChatAnthropic
from langchain_google_genai import ChatGoogleGenerativeAI

# Swap providers easily
llm = ChatOpenAI(model="gpt-4o")
llm = ChatAnthropic(model="claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929")
llm = ChatGoogleGenerativeAI(model="gemini-2.0-flash-exp")

# Streaming
for chunk in llm.stream("Write a poem"):
    print(chunk.content, end="", flush=True)
```

### 2. Chains - Sequential operations

```python
from langchain.chains import LLMChain
from langchain.prompts import PromptTemplate

# Define prompt template
prompt = PromptTemplate(
    input_variables=["topic"],
    template="Write a 3-sentence summary about {topic}"
)

# Create chain
chain = LLMChain(llm=llm, prompt=prompt)

From Orchestra-Research/AI-Research-SKILLs, MIT.

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