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langgraph/docs/docs/agents/agents.md
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2025-08-02 06:09:09 -04:00

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# LangGraph quickstart
This guide shows you how to set up and use LangGraph's **prebuilt**, **reusable** components, which are designed to help you construct agentic systems quickly and reliably.
## Prerequisites
Before you start this tutorial, ensure you have the following:
- An [Anthropic](https://console.anthropic.com/settings/keys) API key
## 1. Install dependencies
If you haven't already, install LangGraph and LangChain:
:::python
```
pip install -U langgraph "langchain[anthropic]"
```
!!! info
`langchain[anthropic]` is installed so the agent can call the [model](https://python.langchain.com/docs/integrations/chat/).
:::
:::js
```bash
npm install @langchain/langgraph @langchain/core @langchain/anthropic
```
!!! info
`@langchain/core` `@langchain/anthropic` are installed so the agent can call the [model](https://js.langchain.com/docs/integrations/chat/).
:::
## 2. Create an agent
:::python
To create an agent, use @[`create_react_agent`][create_react_agent]:
```python
from langgraph.prebuilt import create_react_agent
def get_weather(city: str) -> str: # (1)!
"""Get weather for a given city."""
return f"It's always sunny in {city}!"
agent = create_react_agent(
model="anthropic:claude-3-7-sonnet-latest", # (2)!
tools=[get_weather], # (3)!
prompt="You are a helpful assistant" # (4)!
)
# Run the agent
agent.invoke(
{"messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "what is the weather in sf"}]}
)
```
1. Define a tool for the agent to use. Tools can be defined as vanilla Python functions. For more advanced tool usage and customization, check the [tools](../how-tos/tool-calling.md) page.
2. Provide a language model for the agent to use. To learn more about configuring language models for the agents, check the [models](./models.md) page.
3. Provide a list of tools for the model to use.
4. Provide a system prompt (instructions) to the language model used by the agent.
:::
:::js
To create an agent, use [`createReactAgent`](https://langchain-ai.github.io/langgraphjs/reference/functions/langgraph_prebuilt.createReactAgent.html):
```typescript
import { ChatAnthropic } from "@langchain/anthropic";
import { createReactAgent } from "@langchain/langgraph/prebuilt";
import { tool } from "@langchain/core/tools";
import { z } from "zod";
const getWeather = tool(
// (1)!
async ({ city }) => {
return `It's always sunny in ${city}!`;
},
{
name: "get_weather",
description: "Get weather for a given city.",
schema: z.object({
city: z.string().describe("The city to get weather for"),
}),
}
);
const agent = createReactAgent({
llm: new ChatAnthropic({ model: "anthropic:claude-3-5-sonnet-latest" }), // (2)!
tools: [getWeather], // (3)!
stateModifier: "You are a helpful assistant", // (4)!
});
// Run the agent
await agent.invoke({
messages: [{ role: "user", content: "what is the weather in sf" }],
});
```
1. Define a tool for the agent to use. Tools can be defined using the `tool` function. For more advanced tool usage and customization, check the [tools](./tools.md) page.
2. Provide a language model for the agent to use. To learn more about configuring language models for the agents, check the [models](./models.md) page.
3. Provide a list of tools for the model to use.
4. Provide a system prompt (instructions) to the language model used by the agent.
:::
## 3. Configure an LLM
:::python
To configure an LLM with specific parameters, such as temperature, use [init_chat_model](https://python.langchain.com/api_reference/langchain/chat_models/langchain.chat_models.base.init_chat_model.html):
```python
from langchain.chat_models import init_chat_model
from langgraph.prebuilt import create_react_agent
# highlight-next-line
model = init_chat_model(
"anthropic:claude-3-7-sonnet-latest",
# highlight-next-line
temperature=0
)
agent = create_react_agent(
# highlight-next-line
model=model,
tools=[get_weather],
)
```
:::
:::js
To configure an LLM with specific parameters, such as temperature, use a model instance:
```typescript
import { ChatAnthropic } from "@langchain/anthropic";
import { createReactAgent } from "@langchain/langgraph/prebuilt";
// highlight-next-line
const model = new ChatAnthropic({
model: "claude-3-5-sonnet-latest",
// highlight-next-line
temperature: 0,
});
const agent = createReactAgent({
// highlight-next-line
llm: model,
tools: [getWeather],
});
```
:::
For more information on how to configure LLMs, see [Models](./models.md).
## 4. Add a custom prompt
Prompts instruct the LLM how to behave. Add one of the following types of prompts:
- **Static**: A string is interpreted as a **system message**.
- **Dynamic**: A list of messages generated at **runtime**, based on input or configuration.
=== "Static prompt"
Define a fixed prompt string or list of messages:
:::python
```python
from langgraph.prebuilt import create_react_agent
agent = create_react_agent(
model="anthropic:claude-3-7-sonnet-latest",
tools=[get_weather],
# A static prompt that never changes
# highlight-next-line
prompt="Never answer questions about the weather."
)
agent.invoke(
{"messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "what is the weather in sf"}]}
)
```
:::
:::js
```typescript
import { createReactAgent } from "@langchain/langgraph/prebuilt";
import { ChatAnthropic } from "@langchain/anthropic";
const agent = createReactAgent({
llm: new ChatAnthropic({ model: "anthropic:claude-3-5-sonnet-latest" }),
tools: [getWeather],
// A static prompt that never changes
// highlight-next-line
stateModifier: "Never answer questions about the weather."
});
await agent.invoke({
messages: [{ role: "user", content: "what is the weather in sf" }]
});
```
:::
=== "Dynamic prompt"
:::python
Define a function that returns a message list based on the agent's state and configuration:
```python
from langchain_core.messages import AnyMessage
from langchain_core.runnables import RunnableConfig
from langgraph.prebuilt.chat_agent_executor import AgentState
from langgraph.prebuilt import create_react_agent
# highlight-next-line
def prompt(state: AgentState, config: RunnableConfig) -> list[AnyMessage]: # (1)!
user_name = config["configurable"].get("user_name")
system_msg = f"You are a helpful assistant. Address the user as {user_name}."
return [{"role": "system", "content": system_msg}] + state["messages"]
agent = create_react_agent(
model="anthropic:claude-3-7-sonnet-latest",
tools=[get_weather],
# highlight-next-line
prompt=prompt
)
agent.invoke(
{"messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "what is the weather in sf"}]},
# highlight-next-line
config={"configurable": {"user_name": "John Smith"}}
)
```
1. Dynamic prompts allow including non-message [context](./context.md) when constructing an input to the LLM, such as:
- Information passed at runtime, like a `user_id` or API credentials (using `config`).
- Internal agent state updated during a multi-step reasoning process (using `state`).
Dynamic prompts can be defined as functions that take `state` and `config` and return a list of messages to send to the LLM.
:::
:::js
Define a function that returns messages based on the agent's state and configuration:
```typescript
import { type BaseMessageLike } from "@langchain/core/messages";
import { type RunnableConfig } from "@langchain/core/runnables";
import { createReactAgent } from "@langchain/langgraph/prebuilt";
// highlight-next-line
const dynamicPrompt = (state: { messages: BaseMessageLike[] }, config: RunnableConfig): BaseMessageLike[] => { // (1)!
const userName = config.configurable?.user_name;
const systemMsg = `You are a helpful assistant. Address the user as ${userName}.`;
return [{ role: "system", content: systemMsg }, ...state.messages];
};
const agent = createReactAgent({
llm: "anthropic:claude-3-5-sonnet-latest",
tools: [getWeather],
// highlight-next-line
stateModifier: dynamicPrompt
});
await agent.invoke(
{ messages: [{ role: "user", content: "what is the weather in sf" }] },
// highlight-next-line
{ configurable: { user_name: "John Smith" } }
);
```
1. Dynamic prompts allow including non-message [context](./context.md) when constructing an input to the LLM, such as:
- Information passed at runtime, like a `user_id` or API credentials (using `config`).
- Internal agent state updated during a multi-step reasoning process (using `state`).
Dynamic prompts can be defined as functions that take `state` and `config` and return a list of messages to send to the LLM.
:::
For more information, see [Context](./context.md).
## 5. Add memory
To allow multi-turn conversations with an agent, you need to enable [persistence](../concepts/persistence.md) by providing a checkpointer when creating an agent. At runtime, you need to provide a config containing `thread_id` — a unique identifier for the conversation (session):
:::python
```python
from langgraph.prebuilt import create_react_agent
from langgraph.checkpoint.memory import InMemorySaver
# highlight-next-line
checkpointer = InMemorySaver()
agent = create_react_agent(
model="anthropic:claude-3-7-sonnet-latest",
tools=[get_weather],
# highlight-next-line
checkpointer=checkpointer # (1)!
)
# Run the agent
# highlight-next-line
config = {"configurable": {"thread_id": "1"}}
sf_response = agent.invoke(
{"messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "what is the weather in sf"}]},
# highlight-next-line
config # (2)!
)
ny_response = agent.invoke(
{"messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "what about new york?"}]},
# highlight-next-line
config
)
```
1. `checkpointer` allows the agent to store its state at every step in the tool calling loop. This enables [short-term memory](../how-tos/memory/add-memory.md#add-short-term-memory) and [human-in-the-loop](../concepts/human_in_the_loop.md) capabilities.
2. Pass configuration with `thread_id` to be able to resume the same conversation on future agent invocations.
:::
:::js
```typescript
import { createReactAgent } from "@langchain/langgraph/prebuilt";
import { MemorySaver } from "@langchain/langgraph";
// highlight-next-line
const checkpointer = new MemorySaver();
const agent = createReactAgent({
llm: "anthropic:claude-3-5-sonnet-latest",
tools: [getWeather],
// highlight-next-line
checkpointSaver: checkpointer, // (1)!
});
// Run the agent
// highlight-next-line
const config = { configurable: { thread_id: "1" } };
const sfResponse = await agent.invoke(
{ messages: [{ role: "user", content: "what is the weather in sf" }] },
// highlight-next-line
config // (2)!
);
const nyResponse = await agent.invoke(
{ messages: [{ role: "user", content: "what about new york?" }] },
// highlight-next-line
config
);
```
1. `checkpointSaver` allows the agent to store its state at every step in the tool calling loop. This enables [short-term memory](../how-tos/memory/add-memory.md#add-short-term-memory) and [human-in-the-loop](../concepts/human_in_the_loop.md) capabilities.
2. Pass configuration with `thread_id` to be able to resume the same conversation on future agent invocations.
:::
:::python
When you enable the checkpointer, it stores agent state at every step in the provided checkpointer database (or in memory, if using `InMemorySaver`).
:::
:::js
When you enable the checkpointer, it stores agent state at every step in the provided checkpointer database (or in memory, if using `MemorySaver`).
:::
Note that in the above example, when the agent is invoked the second time with the same `thread_id`, the original message history from the first conversation is automatically included, together with the new user input.
For more information, see [Memory](../how-tos/memory/add-memory.md).
## 6. Configure structured output
:::python
To produce structured responses conforming to a schema, use the `response_format` parameter. The schema can be defined with a `Pydantic` model or `TypedDict`. The result will be accessible via the `structured_response` field.
```python
from pydantic import BaseModel
from langgraph.prebuilt import create_react_agent
class WeatherResponse(BaseModel):
conditions: str
agent = create_react_agent(
model="anthropic:claude-3-7-sonnet-latest",
tools=[get_weather],
# highlight-next-line
response_format=WeatherResponse # (1)!
)
response = agent.invoke(
{"messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "what is the weather in sf"}]}
)
# highlight-next-line
response["structured_response"]
```
1. When `response_format` is provided, a separate step is added at the end of the agent loop: agent message history is passed to an LLM with structured output to generate a structured response.
To provide a system prompt to this LLM, use a tuple `(prompt, schema)`, e.g., `response_format=(prompt, WeatherResponse)`.
:::
:::js
To produce structured responses conforming to a schema, use the `responseFormat` parameter. The schema can be defined with a `Zod` schema. The result will be accessible via the `structuredResponse` field.
```typescript
import { z } from "zod";
import { createReactAgent } from "@langchain/langgraph/prebuilt";
const WeatherResponse = z.object({
conditions: z.string(),
});
const agent = createReactAgent({
llm: "anthropic:claude-3-5-sonnet-latest",
tools: [getWeather],
// highlight-next-line
responseFormat: WeatherResponse, // (1)!
});
const response = await agent.invoke({
messages: [{ role: "user", content: "what is the weather in sf" }],
});
// highlight-next-line
response.structuredResponse;
```
1. When `responseFormat` is provided, a separate step is added at the end of the agent loop: agent message history is passed to an LLM with structured output to generate a structured response.
To provide a system prompt to this LLM, use an object `{ prompt, schema }`, e.g., `responseFormat: { prompt, schema: WeatherResponse }`.
:::
!!! Note "LLM post-processing"
Structured output requires an additional call to the LLM to format the response according to the schema.
## Next steps
- [Deploy your agent locally](../tutorials/langgraph-platform/local-server.md)
- [Learn more about prebuilt agents](../agents/overview.md)
- [LangGraph Platform quickstart](../cloud/quick_start.md)