LangChain Release Policy Overview

LangChain Release Policy Overview

The LangChain ecosystem consists of various component packages such as langchain-core, langchain, langchain-community, langgraph, langserve, and partner packages. This document outlines the versioning strategy, release cadence, API stability, and deprecation policy for these packages.

Versioning

langchain, langchain-core, and Integration Packages

• Semantic Versioning: These packages use semantic versioning in the format of 0.Y.Z, indicating they are under rapid development with a major version of 0.
• Minor Version Increases: Occur for breaking changes in public interfaces not marked as beta.
• Patch Version Increases: Include bug fixes, new features, changes to private interfaces, and changes to beta features.
• Release Candidates: Occasionally, release candidates are issued (e.g., 0.2.0rc1). If stable, they become the next stable release; otherwise, a new candidate is released.

langchain-community

• Current Version: 0.2.x.
• Minor Version Increases: For updates to major/minor versions of required dependencies.
• Patch Version Increases: For bug fixes, new features, changes to private interfaces, beta features, and breaking changes due to third-party services.

langchain-experimental

• Current Version: 0.0.x.
• Patch Version Increases: Accompany all changes.

Release Cadence

• Minor Releases: Expected every 2-3 months for langchain and langchain-core.
• Patch Releases: Occur frequently, up to several times a week, for bug fixes and new features.

API Stability

• Commitment: Despite being pre-1.0, langchain and langchain-core aim to maintain API stability.
• Breaking Changes: Result in a minor version bump.
• Bug Fixes/New Features: Result in a patch version bump.
• Deprecation Policy: Features are deprecated only when a better alternative is available and remain for at least two minor releases.

Stability of Other Packages

• langchain-community: More prone to breaking changes due to community contributions.
• Partner Packages: May have different stability policies; users should refer to their documentation.

API Stability Definition

• Public APIs: Will not be moved or renamed without backward-compatible aliases.
• New Features: Will not break existing methods.
• Deprecation: Deprecated features remain for at least two minor releases with warnings issued.

APIs Marked as Internal

• Internal APIs: Indicated by documentation or a leading underscore (_).
• Exception: Methods prefixed with _ but meant to be overridden are part of the public API.

Deprecation Policy

• Feature Deprecation: Avoided until a better alternative exists. Deprecated features remain for the current and next minor version, potentially longer if non-disruptive.

This policy ensures that users can rely on a stable and predictable development environment while allowing for the rapid evolution of the LangChain ecosystem.