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LangChain v1.0Welcome to the new LangChain documentation! If you encounter any issues or have feedback, please open an issue so we can improve. Archived v0 documentation can be found here.See the release notes and migration guide for a complete list of changes and instructions on how to upgrade your code.

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Overview

LangChain agents use LangGraph persistence to enable long-term memory. This is a more advanced topic and requires knowledge of LangGraph to use.

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Memory storage

LangGraph stores long-term memories as JSON documents in a store. Each memory is organized under a custom namespace (similar to a folder) and a distinct key (like a file name). Namespaces often include user or org IDs or other labels that makes it easier to organize information. This structure enables hierarchical organization of memories. Cross-namespace searching is then supported through content filters. 
from langgraph.store.memory import InMemoryStore


def embed(texts: list[str]) -> list[list[float]]:
    # Replace with an actual embedding function or LangChain embeddings object
    return [[1.0, 2.0] * len(texts)]


# InMemoryStore saves data to an in-memory dictionary. Use a DB-backed store in production use.
store = InMemoryStore(index={"embed": embed, "dims": 2}) 
user_id = "my-user"
application_context = "chitchat"
namespace = (user_id, application_context) 
store.put( 
    namespace,
    "a-memory",
    {
        "rules": [
            "User likes short, direct language",
            "User only speaks English & python",
        ],
        "my-key": "my-value",
    },
)
# get the "memory" by ID
item = store.get(namespace, "a-memory") 
# search for "memories" within this namespace, filtering on content equivalence, sorted by vector similarity
items = store.search( 
    namespace, filter={"my-key": "my-value"}, query="language preferences"
)
For more information about the memory store, see the Persistence guide.

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Read long-term memory in tools

A tool the agent can use to look up user information
from dataclasses import dataclass

from langchain_core.runnables import RunnableConfig
from langchain.agents import create_agent
from langchain.tools import tool, ToolRuntime
from langgraph.store.memory import InMemoryStore

@dataclass
class Context:
    user_id: str

# InMemoryStore saves data to an in-memory dictionary. Use a DB-backed store in production.
store = InMemoryStore() 

# Write sample data to the store using the put method
store.put( 
    ("users",),  # Namespace to group related data together (users namespace for user data)
    "user_123",  # Key within the namespace (user ID as key)
    {
        "name": "John Smith",
        "language": "English",
    }  # Data to store for the given user
)

@tool
def get_user_info(runtime: ToolRuntime[Context]) -> str:
    """Look up user info."""
    # Access the store - same as that provided to `create_agent`
    store = runtime.store 
    user_id = runtime.context.user_id
    # Retrieve data from store - returns StoreValue object with value and metadata
    user_info = store.get(("users",), user_id) 
    return str(user_info.value) if user_info else "Unknown user"

agent = create_agent(
    model="anthropic:claude-sonnet-4-5",
    tools=[get_user_info],
    # Pass store to agent - enables agent to access store when running tools
    store=store, 
    context_schema=Context
)

# Run the agent
agent.invoke(
    {"messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "look up user information"}]},
    context=Context(user_id="user_123") 
)

​
Write long-term memory from tools

Example of a tool that updates user information
from dataclasses import dataclass
from typing_extensions import TypedDict

from langchain.agents import create_agent
from langchain.tools import tool, ToolRuntime
from langgraph.store.memory import InMemoryStore

# InMemoryStore saves data to an in-memory dictionary. Use a DB-backed store in production.
store = InMemoryStore() 

@dataclass
class Context:
    user_id: str

# TypedDict defines the structure of user information for the LLM
class UserInfo(TypedDict):
    name: str

# Tool that allows agent to update user information (useful for chat applications)
@tool
def save_user_info(user_info: UserInfo, runtime: ToolRuntime[Context]) -> str:
    """Save user info."""
    # Access the store - same as that provided to `create_agent`
    store = runtime.store 
    user_id = runtime.context.user_id 
    # Store data in the store (namespace, key, data)
    store.put(("users",), user_id, user_info) 
    return "Successfully saved user info."

agent = create_agent(
    model="anthropic:claude-sonnet-4-5",
    tools=[save_user_info],
    store=store, 
    context_schema=Context
)

# Run the agent
agent.invoke(
    {"messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "My name is John Smith"}]},
    # user_id passed in context to identify whose information is being updated
    context=Context(user_id="user_123") 
)

# You can access the store directly to get the value
store.get(("users",), "user_123").value
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