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*   [Introduction](/v0.2/docs/introduction)
*   [Tutorials](/v0.2/docs/tutorials/)
    
    *   [Build a Question Answering application over a Graph Database](/v0.2/docs/tutorials/graph)
    *   [Tutorials](/v0.2/docs/tutorials/)
    *   [Build a Simple LLM Application](/v0.2/docs/tutorials/llm_chain)
    *   [Build a Query Analysis System](/v0.2/docs/tutorials/query_analysis)
    *   [Build a Chatbot](/v0.2/docs/tutorials/chatbot)
    *   [Build an Agent](/v0.2/docs/tutorials/agents)
    *   [Build an Extraction Chain](/v0.2/docs/tutorials/extraction)
    *   [Summarize Text](/v0.2/docs/tutorials/summarization)
    *   [Tagging](/v0.2/docs/tutorials/classification)
    *   [Build a Local RAG Application](/v0.2/docs/tutorials/local_rag)
    *   [Conversational RAG](/v0.2/docs/tutorials/qa_chat_history)
    *   [Build a Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) App](/v0.2/docs/tutorials/rag)
    *   [Build a Question/Answering system over SQL data](/v0.2/docs/tutorials/sql_qa)
*   [How-to guides](/v0.2/docs/how_to/)
    
    *   [How-to guides](/v0.2/docs/how_to/)
    *   [How to use example selectors](/v0.2/docs/how_to/example_selectors)
    *   [Installation](/v0.2/docs/how_to/installation)
    *   [How to stream responses from an LLM](/v0.2/docs/how_to/streaming_llm)
    *   [How to stream chat model responses](/v0.2/docs/how_to/chat_streaming)
    *   [How to embed text data](/v0.2/docs/how_to/embed_text)
    *   [How to use few shot examples in chat models](/v0.2/docs/how_to/few_shot_examples_chat)
    *   [How to cache model responses](/v0.2/docs/how_to/llm_caching)
    *   [How to cache chat model responses](/v0.2/docs/how_to/chat_model_caching)
    *   [How to create a custom LLM class](/v0.2/docs/how_to/custom_llm)
    *   [How to use few shot examples](/v0.2/docs/how_to/few_shot_examples)
    *   [How to use output parsers to parse an LLM response into structured format](/v0.2/docs/how_to/output_parser_structured)
    *   [How to return structured data from a model](/v0.2/docs/how_to/structured_output)
    *   [How to add ad-hoc tool calling capability to LLMs and Chat Models](/v0.2/docs/how_to/tools_prompting)
    *   [How to create a custom chat model class](/v0.2/docs/how_to/custom_chat)
    *   [How to do per-user retrieval](/v0.2/docs/how_to/qa_per_user)
    *   [How to track token usage](/v0.2/docs/how_to/chat_token_usage_tracking)
    *   [How to track token usage](/v0.2/docs/how_to/llm_token_usage_tracking)
    *   [How to pass through arguments from one step to the next](/v0.2/docs/how_to/passthrough)
    *   [How to compose prompts together](/v0.2/docs/how_to/prompts_composition)
    *   [How to use legacy LangChain Agents (AgentExecutor)](/v0.2/docs/how_to/agent_executor)
    *   [How to add values to a chain's state](/v0.2/docs/how_to/assign)
    *   [How to attach runtime arguments to a Runnable](/v0.2/docs/how_to/binding)
    *   [How to cache embedding results](/v0.2/docs/how_to/caching_embeddings)
    *   [How to split by character](/v0.2/docs/how_to/character_text_splitter)
    *   [How to manage memory](/v0.2/docs/how_to/chatbots_memory)
    *   [How to do retrieval](/v0.2/docs/how_to/chatbots_retrieval)
    *   [How to use tools](/v0.2/docs/how_to/chatbots_tools)
    *   [How to split code](/v0.2/docs/how_to/code_splitter)
    *   [How to do retrieval with contextual compression](/v0.2/docs/how_to/contextual_compression)
    *   [How to write a custom retriever class](/v0.2/docs/how_to/custom_retriever)
    *   [How to create custom Tools](/v0.2/docs/how_to/custom_tools)
    *   [How to debug your LLM apps](/v0.2/docs/how_to/debugging)
    *   [How to load CSV data](/v0.2/docs/how_to/document_loader_csv)
    *   [How to write a custom document loader](/v0.2/docs/how_to/document_loader_custom)
    *   [How to load data from a directory](/v0.2/docs/how_to/document_loader_directory)
    *   [How to load PDF files](/v0.2/docs/how_to/document_loader_pdf)
    *   [How to load JSON data](/v0.2/docs/how_to/document_loaders_json)
    *   [How to select examples by length](/v0.2/docs/how_to/example_selectors_length_based)
    *   [How to select examples by similarity](/v0.2/docs/how_to/example_selectors_similarity)
    *   [How to use reference examples](/v0.2/docs/how_to/extraction_examples)
    *   [How to handle long text](/v0.2/docs/how_to/extraction_long_text)
    *   [How to do extraction without using function calling](/v0.2/docs/how_to/extraction_parse)
    *   [Fallbacks](/v0.2/docs/how_to/fallbacks)
    *   [Few Shot Prompt Templates](/v0.2/docs/how_to/few_shot)
    *   [How to run custom functions](/v0.2/docs/how_to/functions)
    *   [How to construct knowledge graphs](/v0.2/docs/how_to/graph_constructing)
    *   [How to map values to a database](/v0.2/docs/how_to/graph_mapping)
    *   [How to improve results with prompting](/v0.2/docs/how_to/graph_prompting)
    *   [How to add a semantic layer over the database](/v0.2/docs/how_to/graph_semantic)
    *   [How to reindex data to keep your vectorstore in-sync with the underlying data source](/v0.2/docs/how_to/indexing)
    *   [How to get log probabilities](/v0.2/docs/how_to/logprobs)
    *   [How to add message history](/v0.2/docs/how_to/message_history)
    *   [How to generate multiple embeddings per document](/v0.2/docs/how_to/multi_vector)
    *   [How to generate multiple queries to retrieve data for](/v0.2/docs/how_to/multiple_queries)
    *   [How to parse JSON output](/v0.2/docs/how_to/output_parser_json)
    *   [How to retry when output parsing errors occur](/v0.2/docs/how_to/output_parser_retry)
    *   [How to parse XML output](/v0.2/docs/how_to/output_parser_xml)
    *   [How to invoke runnables in parallel](/v0.2/docs/how_to/parallel)
    *   [How to retrieve the whole document for a chunk](/v0.2/docs/how_to/parent_document_retriever)
    *   [How to partially format prompt templates](/v0.2/docs/how_to/prompts_partial)
    *   [How to add chat history to a question-answering chain](/v0.2/docs/how_to/qa_chat_history_how_to)
    *   [How to return citations](/v0.2/docs/how_to/qa_citations)
    *   [How to return sources](/v0.2/docs/how_to/qa_sources)
    *   [How to stream from a question-answering chain](/v0.2/docs/how_to/qa_streaming)
    *   [How to construct filters](/v0.2/docs/how_to/query_constructing_filters)
    *   [How to add examples to the prompt](/v0.2/docs/how_to/query_few_shot)
    *   [How to deal with high cardinality categorical variables](/v0.2/docs/how_to/query_high_cardinality)
    *   [How to handle multiple queries](/v0.2/docs/how_to/query_multiple_queries)
    *   [How to handle multiple retrievers](/v0.2/docs/how_to/query_multiple_retrievers)
    *   [How to handle cases where no queries are generated](/v0.2/docs/how_to/query_no_queries)
    *   [How to recursively split text by characters](/v0.2/docs/how_to/recursive_text_splitter)
    *   [How to reduce retrieval latency](/v0.2/docs/how_to/reduce_retrieval_latency)
    *   [How to route execution within a chain](/v0.2/docs/how_to/routing)
    *   [How to chain runnables](/v0.2/docs/how_to/sequence)
    *   [How to split text by tokens](/v0.2/docs/how_to/split_by_token)
    *   [How to deal with large databases](/v0.2/docs/how_to/sql_large_db)
    *   [How to use prompting to improve results](/v0.2/docs/how_to/sql_prompting)
    *   [How to do query validation](/v0.2/docs/how_to/sql_query_checking)
    *   [How to stream](/v0.2/docs/how_to/streaming)
    *   [How to create a time-weighted retriever](/v0.2/docs/how_to/time_weighted_vectorstore)
    *   [How to use a chat model to call tools](/v0.2/docs/how_to/tool_calling)
    *   [How to call tools with multi-modal data](/v0.2/docs/how_to/tool_calls_multi_modal)
    *   [How to use LangChain tools](/v0.2/docs/how_to/tools_builtin)
    *   [How use a vector store to retrieve data](/v0.2/docs/how_to/vectorstore_retriever)
    *   [How to create and query vector stores](/v0.2/docs/how_to/vectorstores)
*   [Conceptual guide](/v0.2/docs/concepts)
*   Ecosystem
    
    *   [🦜🛠️ LangSmith](/v0.2/docs/langsmith/)
        
    *   [🦜🕸️LangGraph.js](/v0.2/docs/langgraph)
*   Versions
    
    *   [Overview](/v0.2/docs/versions/overview)
    *   [v0.2](/v0.2/docs/versions/v0_2)
    *   [Release Policy](/v0.2/docs/versions/release_policy)
    *   [Packages](/v0.2/docs/versions/packages)
*   [Security](/v0.2/docs/security)

*   [](/v0.2/)
*   Versions
*   Release Policy

On this page

LangChain releases
==================

The LangChain ecosystem is composed of different component packages (e.g., `@langchain/core`, `langchain`, `@langchain/community`, `@langchain/langgraph`, partner packages etc.)

Versioning[​](#versioning "Direct link to Versioning")
------------------------------------------------------

### `langchain` and `@langchain/core`[​](#langchain-and-langchaincore "Direct link to langchain-and-langchaincore")

`langchain` and `@langchain/core` follow [semantic versioning](https://semver.org/) in the format of 0.**Y**.**Z**. The packages are under rapid development, and so are currently versioning the packages with a major version of 0.

Minor version increases will occur for:

*   Breaking changes for any public interfaces marked as `beta`.

Patch version increases will occur for:

*   Bug fixes
*   New features
*   Any changes to private interfaces
*   Any changes to `beta` features

When upgrading between minor versions, users should review the list of breaking changes and deprecations.

From time to time, we will version packages as **release candidates**. These are versions that are intended to be released as stable versions, but we want to get feedback from the community before doing so. Release candidates will be versioned as 0.**Y**.**Z**\-rc**.N**. For example, `0.2.0-rc.1`. If no issues are found, the release candidate will be released as a stable version with the same version number. \\If issues are found, we will release a new release candidate with an incremented `N` value (e.g., `0.2.0-rc.2`).

### Other packages in the langchain ecosystem[​](#other-packages-in-the-langchain-ecosystem "Direct link to Other packages in the langchain ecosystem")

Other packages in the ecosystem (including user packages) can follow a different versioning scheme, but are generally expected to pin to specific minor versions of `langchain` and `@langchain/core`.

Release cadence[​](#release-cadence "Direct link to Release cadence")
---------------------------------------------------------------------

We expect to space out **minor** releases (e.g., from 0.2.0 to 0.3.0) of `langchain` and `@langchain/core` by at least 2-3 months, as such releases may contain breaking changes.

Patch versions are released frequently as they contain bug fixes and new features.

API stability[​](#api-stability "Direct link to API stability")
---------------------------------------------------------------

The development of LLM applications is a rapidly evolving field, and we are constantly learning from our users and the community. As such, we expect that the APIs in `langchain` and `@langchain/core` will continue to evolve to better serve the needs of our users.

Even though both `langchain` and `@langchain/core` are currently in a pre-1.0 state, we are committed to maintaining API stability in these packages.

*   Breaking changes to the public API will result in a minor version bump (the second digit)
*   Any bug fixes or new features will result in a patch version bump (the third digit)

We will generally try to avoid making unnecessary changes, and will provide a deprecation policy for features that are being removed.

### Stability of other packages[​](#stability-of-other-packages "Direct link to Stability of other packages")

The stability of other packages in the LangChain ecosystem may vary:

*   `@langchain/community` is a community maintained package that contains 3rd party integrations. While we do our best to review and test changes in `@langchain/community`, `@langchain/community` is expected to experience more breaking changes than `langchain` and `@langchain/core` as it contains many community contributions.
*   Partner packages may follow different stability and versioning policies, and users should refer to the documentation of those packages for more information; however, in general these packages are expected to be stable.

### What is a "API stability"?[​](#what-is-a-api-stability "Direct link to What is a "API stability"?")

API stability means:

*   All the public APIs (everything in this documentation) will not be moved or renamed without providing backwards-compatible aliases.
*   If new features are added to these APIs – which is quite possible – they will not break or change the meaning of existing methods. In other words, "stable" does not (necessarily) mean "complete."
*   If, for some reason, an API declared stable must be removed or replaced, it will be declared deprecated but will remain in the API for at least two minor releases. Warnings will be issued when the deprecated method is called.

### **APIs marked as internal**[​](#apis-marked-as-internal "Direct link to apis-marked-as-internal")

Certain APIs are explicitly marked as “internal” in a couple of ways:

*   Some documentation refers to internals and mentions them as such. If the documentation says that something is internal, it may change.
*   Functions, methods, and other objects prefixed by a leading underscore (**`_`**). If any method starts with a single **`_`**, it’s an internal API.
    *   **Exception:** Certain methods are prefixed with `_` , but do not contain an implementation. These methods are _meant_ to be overridden by sub-classes that provide the implementation. Such methods are generally part of the **Public API** of LangChain.

Deprecation policy[​](#deprecation-policy "Direct link to Deprecation policy")
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We will generally avoid deprecating features until a better alternative is available.

When a feature is deprecated, it will continue to work in the current and next minor version of `langchain` and `@langchain/core`. After that, the feature will be removed.

Since we're expecting to space out minor releases by at least 2-3 months, this means that a feature can be removed within 2-6 months of being deprecated.

In some situations, we may allow the feature to remain in the code base for longer periods of time, if it's not causing issues in the packages, to reduce the burden on users.

* * *

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*   [Versioning](#versioning)
    *   [`langchain` and `@langchain/core`](#langchain-and-langchaincore)
    *   [Other packages in the langchain ecosystem](#other-packages-in-the-langchain-ecosystem)
*   [Release cadence](#release-cadence)
*   [API stability](#api-stability)
    *   [Stability of other packages](#stability-of-other-packages)
    *   [What is a "API stability"?](#what-is-a-api-stability)
    *   [**APIs marked as internal**](#apis-marked-as-internal)
*   [Deprecation policy](#deprecation-policy)

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