Tools

Many AI applications interact with users via natural language. However, some use cases require models to interface directly with external systems—such as APIs, databases, or file systems—using structured input. Tools are components that agents call to perform actions. They extend model capabilities by letting them interact with the world through well-defined inputs and outputs. Tools encapsulate a callable function and its input schema. These can be passed to compatible chat models, allowing the model to decide whether to invoke a tool and with what arguments. In these scenarios, tool calling enables models to generate requests that conform to a specified input schema.

Server-side tool useSome chat models (e.g., OpenAI, Anthropic, and Gemini) feature built-in tools that are executed server-side, such as web search and code interpreters. Refer to the provider overview to learn how to access these tools with your specific chat model.

Create tools

Basic tool definition

The simplest way to create a tool is by importing the tool function from the langchain package. You can use zod to define the tool’s input schema:

import * as z from "zod"
import { tool } from "langchain"

const searchDatabase = tool(
  ({ query, limit }) => `Found ${limit} results for '${query}'`,
  {
    name: "search_database",
    description: "Search the customer database for records matching the query.",
    schema: z.object({
      query: z.string().describe("Search terms to look for"),
      limit: z.number().describe("Maximum number of results to return"),
    }),
  }
);

Accessing Context

Why this matters: Tools are most powerful when they can access agent state, runtime context, and long-term memory. This enables tools to make context-aware decisions, personalize responses, and maintain information across conversations.The runtime context provides a structured way to supply runtime data, such as DB connections, user IDs, or config, into your tools. This avoids global state and keeps tools testable and reusable.

Context

Tools can access an agent’s runtime context through the config parameter:

import * as z from "zod"
import { ChatOpenAI } from "@langchain/openai"
import { createAgent } from "langchain"

const getUserName = tool(
  (_, config) => {
    return config.context.user_name
  },
  {
    name: "get_user_name",
    description: "Get the user's name.",
    schema: z.object({}),
  }
);

const contextSchema = z.object({
  user_name: z.string(),
});

const agent = createAgent({
  model: new ChatOpenAI({ model: "gpt-4o" }),
  tools: [getUserName],
  contextSchema,
});

const result = await agent.invoke(
  {
    messages: [{ role: "user", content: "What is my name?" }]
  },
  {
    context: { user_name: "John Smith" }
  }
);

Memory (Store)

Access persistent data across conversations using the store. The store is accessed via config.store and allows you to save and retrieve user-specific or application-specific data.

import * as z from "zod";
import { createAgent, tool } from "langchain";
import { InMemoryStore } from "@langchain/langgraph";
import { ChatOpenAI } from "@langchain/openai";

const store = new InMemoryStore();

// Access memory
const getUserInfo = tool(
  async ({ user_id }) => {
    const value = await store.get(["users"], user_id);
    console.log("get_user_info", user_id, value);
    return value;
  },
  {
    name: "get_user_info",
    description: "Look up user info.",
    schema: z.object({
      user_id: z.string(),
    }),
  }
);

// Update memory
const saveUserInfo = tool(
  async ({ user_id, name, age, email }) => {
    console.log("save_user_info", user_id, name, age, email);
    await store.put(["users"], user_id, { name, age, email });
    return "Successfully saved user info.";
  },
  {
    name: "save_user_info",
    description: "Save user info.",
    schema: z.object({
      user_id: z.string(),
      name: z.string(),
      age: z.number(),
      email: z.string(),
    }),
  }
);

const agent = createAgent({
  model: new ChatOpenAI({ model: "gpt-4o" }),
  tools: [getUserInfo, saveUserInfo],
  store,
});

// First session: save user info
await agent.invoke({
  messages: [
    {
      role: "user",
      content: "Save the following user: userid: abc123, name: Foo, age: 25, email: foo@langchain.dev",
    },
  ],
});

// Second session: get user info
const result = await agent.invoke({
  messages: [
    { role: "user", content: "Get user info for user with id 'abc123'" },
  ],
});

console.log(result);
// Here is the user info for user with ID "abc123":
// - Name: Foo
// - Age: 25
// - Email: foo@langchain.dev

Stream Writer

Stream custom updates from tools as they execute using config.streamWriter. This is useful for providing real-time feedback to users about what a tool is doing.

import * as z from "zod";
import { tool } from "langchain";

const getWeather = tool(
  ({ city }, config) => {
    const writer = config.streamWriter;

    // Stream custom updates as the tool executes
    writer(`Looking up data for city: ${city}`);
    writer(`Acquired data for city: ${city}`);

    return `It's always sunny in ${city}!`;
  },
  {
    name: "get_weather",
    description: "Get weather for a given city.",
    schema: z.object({
      city: z.string(),
    }),
  }
);

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Core components

Middleware

Advanced usage

Agent development

Deploy with LangSmith

Create tools

Basic tool definition

Accessing Context

Context

Memory (Store)

Stream Writer

​Create tools

​Basic tool definition

​Accessing Context

​Context

​Memory (Store)

​Stream Writer

Create tools

Basic tool definition

Accessing Context

Context

Memory (Store)

Stream Writer