LangGraph is a graph-based framework for building stateful, multi-step AI agent workflows — the recommended successor to LangChain for anything involving agents or complex pipelines.
Buy vs Build
LangGraph is a build tool — you write Python code that defines your agent workflow as a graph. If you want a managed hosted version, LangSmith (by the same team) provides observability and LangGraph Platform offers hosting. But the framework itself is open-source.
Why It's in Trial
LangGraph is in production at LinkedIn, Uber, and 400+ other companies. The LangChain team officially recommends it over LangChain for agent orchestration: "Use LangGraph for agents, not LangChain." Most notably, LangChain's own Open SWE — their open-source autonomous coding agent framework — is built entirely on LangGraph, validating it as the foundation for production multi-agent systems.
What It Actually Is
Think of your agent workflow as a flowchart — LangGraph lets you define it as code:
- Nodes: A function or tool call (e.g., "call the LLM", "search the web", "write to database")
- Edges: The connections between nodes, which can be conditional ("if the LLM says it needs more information, go to the search node")
- State: A shared data structure that persists across the entire workflow — so each node can see what previous nodes decided
This graph-based approach makes it much easier to:
- Debug long-running agent tasks (you can see exactly where it went wrong)
- Add human-in-the-loop checkpoints (pause and wait for approval before continuing)
- Build branching workflows that react differently to different situations
When to Choose LangGraph
- Building custom multi-agent systems where you need precise control over flow
- Complex workflows with conditional branching, loops, or error recovery
- When you need fine-grained observability into what the agent is doing
Getting Started
pip install langgraph
Then model your workflow as a graph where nodes are Python functions. The state flows through the graph as the agent executes.
Key Characteristics
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Language | Python (primarily) |
| License | MIT |
| Hosted option | LangGraph Platform (managed) |
| Provider | LangChain Inc. |
| Website | langchain-ai.github.io/langgraph |
| GitHub | langchain-ai/langgraph |
Further Reading
- LangGraph documentation
- LangGraph: Why LangGraph? (LangChain blog)
- LangGraph Platform (managed hosting)
- Open SWE — LangChain's autonomous coding agent framework, built on LangGraph