What is LangChain?
LangChain is an open source framework for building applications based on large language models (LLMs). LLMs are large deep-learning models pre-trained on large amounts of data that can generate responses to user queries—for example, answering questions or creating images from text-based prompts.
Chains
Chains are the fundamental principle that holds various AI components in LangChain to provide context-aware responses. A chain is a series of automated actions from the user’s query to the model’s output. For example, developers can use a chain for:
- Connecting to different data sources.
- Generating unique content.
- Translating multiple languages.
- Answering user queries.
Links
Chains are made of links. Each action that developers string together to form a chained sequence is called a link. With links, developers can divide complex tasks into multiple, smaller tasks. Examples of links include:
- Formatting user input.
- Sending a query to an LLM.
- Retrieving data from cloud storage.
- Translating from one language to another.
In the LangChain framework, a link accepts input from the user and passes it to the LangChain libraries for processing. LangChain also allows link reordering to create different AI workflows.