Files
langgraph/libs/prebuilt
45246f6c74 feat(prebuilt): allow ToolNode tools to return list[Command | ToolMessage] (#7596)
## Summary

Extends `ToolNode` so that a single tool invocation can return
`list[Command | ToolMessage]` instead of only a single `Command` or
`ToolMessage`. This brings `ToolNode`'s per-tool-call contract in line
with the rest of LangGraph, where nodes can already return multiple
Commands.

Depends on langchain-ai/langchain#36963 which allows
`list[ToolOutputMixin]` to pass through `BaseTool._format_output`
unchanged.

## Changes

### `libs/prebuilt/langgraph/prebuilt/tool_node.py`

**New list-return gate in `_execute_tool_sync` / `_execute_tool_async`**
— After the existing `Command` and `ToolMessage` checks, a new branch
accepts `list[Command | ToolMessage]` and routes it through
`_validate_tool_command_list`. Lists with non-`Command`/`ToolMessage`
elements raise `TypeError`. Both sync and async paths are updated
symmetrically.

**`_validate_tool_command_list`** — Enforces the terminating-ToolMessage
rule: exactly one `ToolMessage` in the list must carry `tool_call_id ==
<outer_id>` (top-level or nested inside a `Command.update["messages"]`).
Zero or multiple terminators raise `_MissingToolMessageError`.
Individual Commands in the list are validated via the existing
`_validate_tool_command`; when a Command lacks the terminator (which is
allowed since the list-level check handles it), the
`_MissingToolMessageError` is caught and the already-normalized command
from the exception is used.

**`_MissingToolMessageError`** — A `ValueError` subclass raised by
`_validate_tool_command` (and `_validate_tool_command_list`) when no
matching `ToolMessage` is found. Carries the already-normalized command
so callers can recover without re-doing deepcopy/message-conversion
work. Using a typed exception avoids brittle string-matching on error
messages.

**`_combine_tool_outputs`** — Flattens list entries at the top of the
method so downstream combiner logic (parent-`goto` accumulation,
ToolMessage wrapping) is unchanged.

**Response processing moved inside try/except** — In both sync and async
execute methods, the response validation (Command/ToolMessage/list
checks) now runs inside the existing error-handling try block, so
validation errors from the list path go through `_handle_tool_errors`
like other tool errors.

**Return type signatures** widened on `_execute_tool_sync`,
`_execute_tool_async`, `_run_one`, `_arun_one` to include `list[Command
| ToolMessage]`.

### `libs/prebuilt/tests/test_tool_node.py`

New tests covering: valid list returns (top-level terminator, nested
terminator, parent-goto + terminator), regression tests for single
Command/ToolMessage returns, invalid cases (no terminator, multiple
terminators), async parity, integration with mixed list/non-list tool
calls, and `_handle_tool_errors` interaction.

---------

Co-authored-by: Sydney Runkle <sydneymarierunkle@gmail.com>
2026-04-23 13:37:45 -07:00
..

LangGraph Prebuilt

This library defines high-level APIs for creating and executing LangGraph agents and tools.

Important

This library is meant to be bundled with langgraph, don't install it directly

Agents

langgraph-prebuilt provides an implementation of a tool-calling ReAct-style agent - create_react_agent:

pip install langchain-anthropic
from langchain_anthropic import ChatAnthropic
from langgraph.prebuilt import create_react_agent

# Define the tools for the agent to use
def search(query: str):
    """Call to surf the web."""
    # This is a placeholder, but don't tell the LLM that...
    if "sf" in query.lower() or "san francisco" in query.lower():
        return "It's 60 degrees and foggy."
    return "It's 90 degrees and sunny."

tools = [search]
model = ChatAnthropic(model="claude-3-7-sonnet-latest")

app = create_react_agent(model, tools)
# run the agent
app.invoke(
    {"messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "what is the weather in sf"}]},
)

Tools

ToolNode

langgraph-prebuilt provides an implementation of a node that executes tool calls - ToolNode:

from langgraph.prebuilt import ToolNode
from langchain_core.messages import AIMessage

def search(query: str):
    """Call to surf the web."""
    # This is a placeholder, but don't tell the LLM that...
    if "sf" in query.lower() or "san francisco" in query.lower():
        return "It's 60 degrees and foggy."
    return "It's 90 degrees and sunny."

tool_node = ToolNode([search])
tool_calls = [{"name": "search", "args": {"query": "what is the weather in sf"}, "id": "1"}]
ai_message = AIMessage(content="", tool_calls=tool_calls)
# execute tool call
tool_node.invoke({"messages": [ai_message]})

ValidationNode

langgraph-prebuilt provides an implementation of a node that validates tool calls against a pydantic schema - ValidationNode:

from pydantic import BaseModel, field_validator
from langgraph.prebuilt import ValidationNode
from langchain_core.messages import AIMessage


class SelectNumber(BaseModel):
    a: int

    @field_validator("a")
    def a_must_be_meaningful(cls, v):
        if v != 37:
            raise ValueError("Only 37 is allowed")
        return v

validation_node = ValidationNode([SelectNumber])
validation_node.invoke({
    "messages": [AIMessage("", tool_calls=[{"name": "SelectNumber", "args": {"a": 42}, "id": "1"}])]
})

Agent Inbox

The library contains schemas for using the Agent Inbox with LangGraph agents. Learn more about how to use Agent Inbox here.

from langgraph.types import interrupt
from langgraph.prebuilt.interrupt import HumanInterrupt, HumanResponse

def my_graph_function():
    # Extract the last tool call from the `messages` field in the state
    tool_call = state["messages"][-1].tool_calls[0]
    # Create an interrupt
    request: HumanInterrupt = {
        "action_request": {
            "action": tool_call['name'],
            "args": tool_call['args']
        },
        "config": {
            "allow_ignore": True,
            "allow_respond": True,
            "allow_edit": False,
            "allow_accept": False
        },
        "description": _generate_email_markdown(state) # Generate a detailed markdown description.
    }
    # Send the interrupt request inside a list, and extract the first response
    response = interrupt([request])[0]
    if response['type'] == "response":
        # Do something with the response
    ...