LangChain Integrations

[hwchase17]

LangChain OSS Announcement

Update: 12/11/23

We've released an official langchain version with integrations split out into langchain-community. All the latest versions released today:

• langchain-core==0.0.13
• langchain-community==0.0.1
• langchain==0.0.349
• langchain-experimental==0.0.46

To reiterate, all changes made should be fully backwards compatible. If you're seeing any issues please let us know!

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Original post: 12/04/23

TLDR:

• We’re moving all integrations to langchain-community over the next week.
  • This will be fully backwards compatible.
  • Target date 12/08/23.
• Then, we’ll work on splitting out large integrations into their own packages over the next weeks before releasing a 0.1 langchain version.
  • This will have breaking changes in that some dependencies will change but all existing code paths will continue to work.
  • Target date 01/09/24.

Hi all,

We wanted to provide an update on the current status as well as our plans for splitting up LangChain.

As a reminder, the main goal of this is stability and production-readiness of the whole LangChain ecosystem.

So far, we have split out langchain-core. This was done in a completely backwards compatible way last week. langchain-core contains core abstractions as well as core runtime functionality. It has minimal dependencies and the code in there does not change that frequently.

The next action item is to split out integrations. Integrations are some of the largest sources of instability due to their volume (approaching 700), the fact that they themselves are rapidly changing, and the fact that they introduce other dependencies.

Right now all integrations are part of the main langchain package. None are required dependencies, meaning all integration packages need to be imported conditionally inside specific functions and classes.

Our plan is to first move all integrations to langchain-community in a completely backwards compatible way. We will then work to separate out some of the larger and more used integrations into their own packages. This has the following benefits:

• langchain itself will be more stable since integrations provide one of the largest sources of instability
• individual integrations that are separated out into their own package can be more explicit about their dependencies
• individual integrations that are separated out into their own package can be semantically versioned to better convey breaking changes
• individual integrations can live outside the main langchain repo ****if explicitly desired by the integration partner. We have heard some partners express a desire for this, with the main benefits being ease of triaging issues and the ability to maintain the code themselves. Otherwise, all integrations will be inside the main repo (yes, we'll need good CI. We are already a monorepo with 4 packages so we have some of this set up, but need to obviously scale up.)

Our tentative timeline:

• 12/8: split out langchain-community in a completely backwards compatible way
• 12/12: publicly announce that we have split up langchain, talk about why, and the steps to get to 0.1 (below)
• Between 12/12/23 and 01/09/24 (tentative date, could be moved): work on moving some of the larger and more important integrations into their own packages. We are planning to do this in a completely backwards compatible way (this will likely mean that these integration-specific packages do not yet have required dependencies)
• 1/9: Bump langchain to 0.1.0. Make individual integration packages explicitly require dependencies, bump them to 0.1 or 1.0 (depending on conversations with integration partners). This will be a breaking change in LangChain only in that new dependencies will need to be explicitly installed, all code paths should still work. Bump langchain-core to 0.1.0 (no breaking changes).

How community members can help:

• If you think this plan is bad, has any flaws, we’re overlooking anything, let us know!
• If you see issues that arise as we do this, flag them ASAP!
• After we do this, if people are confused/have questions, point them to the blog we'll be releasing.

How integration partners can help:

• Work with us on the individual packages! Do you want to be in your own repo? In the main langchain repo? Who is the best point of contact as we do this? These are all things we would love to know

[ogabrielluiz]

This looks like a good plan! Looks like a step in a good direction.

We were prototyping a change like that on Langflow too to give more freedom to people experimenting with CustomComponents.

[baskaryan]

Update: 12/11/23

We've released an official langchain version with integrations split out into langchain-community. All the latest versions released today:

• langchain-core==0.0.13
• langchain-community==0.0.1
• langchain==0.0.349
• langchain-experimental==0.0.46

To reiterate, all changes made should be fully backwards compatible. If you're seeing any issues please let us know!