LangChain / LangGraph

LangChain is the most popular framework for building LLM applications, with over 100K GitHub stars. It provides abstractions for chains (sequential LLM calls), RAG (retrieval-augmented generation with any vector store), tool use, and output parsing. LangGraph extends it with stateful, graph-based workflows — agents that can loop, branch, and persist state across interactions. Their latest push is 'Deep Agents' for autonomous coding. LangSmith provides observability and tracing. The ecosystem is massive — integrations with every model provider, vector database, and tool imaginable. I cover LangChain in my AI Agent Frameworks course.