Middleware

Middleware provides a way to more tightly control what happens inside the agent. The core agent loop involves calling a model, letting it choose tools to execute, and then finishing when it calls no more tools:

Middleware exposes hooks before and after each of those steps:

What can middleware do?

Monitor

Track agent behavior with logging, analytics, and debugging

Modify

Transform prompts, tool selection, and output formatting

Control

Add retries, fallbacks, and early termination logic

Enforce

Apply rate limits, guardrails, and PII detection

Add middleware by passing it to @[create_agent]:

import {
  createAgent,
  summarizationMiddleware,
  humanInTheLoopMiddleware,
} from "langchain";

const agent = createAgent({
  model: "openai:gpt-4o",
  tools: [...],
  middleware: [summarizationMiddleware, humanInTheLoopMiddleware],
});

Built-in middleware

LangChain provides prebuilt middleware for common use cases:

Summarization

Automatically summarize conversation history when approaching token limits.

Perfect for:

Long-running conversations that exceed context windows
Multi-turn dialogues with extensive history
Applications where preserving full conversation context matters

import { createAgent, summarizationMiddleware } from "langchain";

const agent = createAgent({
  model: "openai:gpt-4o",
  tools: [weatherTool, calculatorTool],
  middleware: [
    summarizationMiddleware({
      model: "openai:gpt-4o-mini",
      maxTokensBeforeSummary: 4000, // Trigger summarization at 4000 tokens
      messagesToKeep: 20, // Keep last 20 messages after summary
      summaryPrompt: "Custom prompt for summarization...", // Optional
    }),
  ],
});

Configuration options

model

string

required

Model for generating summaries

maxTokensBeforeSummary

number

Token threshold for triggering summarization

messagesToKeep

number

default:"20"

Recent messages to preserve

tokenCounter

function

Custom token counting function. Defaults to character-based counting.

summaryPrompt

string

Custom prompt template. Uses built-in template if not specified.

summaryPrefix

string

default:"## Previous conversation summary:"

Prefix for summary messages

Human-in-the-loop

Pause agent execution for human approval, editing, or rejection of tool calls before they execute.

Perfect for:

High-stakes operations requiring human approval (database writes, financial transactions)
Compliance workflows where human oversight is mandatory
Long running conversations where human feedback is used to guide the agent

import { createAgent, humanInTheLoopMiddleware } from "langchain";

const agent = createAgent({
  model: "openai:gpt-4o",
  tools: [readEmailTool, sendEmailTool],
  middleware: [
    humanInTheLoopMiddleware({
      interruptOn: {
        // Require approval, editing, or rejection for sending emails
        send_email: {
          allowAccept: true,
          allowEdit: true,
          allowRespond: true,
        },
        // Auto-approve reading emails
        read_email: false,
      }
    })
  ]
});

Configuration options

interruptOn

object

required

Mapping of tool names to approval configs

Tool approval config options:

allowAccept

boolean

default:"false"

Whether approval is allowed

allowEdit

boolean

default:"false"

Whether editing is allowed

allowRespond

boolean

default:"false"

Whether responding/rejection is allowed

Important: Human-in-the-loop middleware requires a checkpointer to maintain state across interruptions.See the human-in-the-loop documentation for complete examples and integration patterns.

Anthropic prompt caching

Reduce costs by caching repetitive prompt prefixes with Anthropic models.

Perfect for:

Applications with long, repeated system prompts
Agents that reuse the same context across invocations
Reducing API costs for high-volume deployments

Learn more about Anthropic Prompt Caching strategies and limitations.

import { createAgent, HumanMessage, anthropicPromptCachingMiddleware } from "langchain";

const LONG_PROMPT = `
Please be a helpful assistant.

<Lots more context ...>
`;

const agent = createAgent({
  model: "anthropic:claude-sonnet-4-latest",
  prompt: LONG_PROMPT,
  middleware: [anthropicPromptCachingMiddleware({ ttl: "5m" })],
});

// cache store
await agent.invoke({
  messages: [new HumanMessage("Hi, my name is Bob")]
});

// cache hit, system prompt is cached
const result = await agent.invoke({
  messages: [new HumanMessage("What's my name?")]
});

Configuration options

ttl

string

default:"5m"

Time to live for cached content. Valid values: "5m" or "1h"

Model call limit

Limit the number of model calls to prevent infinite loops or excessive costs.

Perfect for:

Preventing runaway agents from making too many API calls
Enforcing cost controls on production deployments
Testing agent behavior within specific call budgets

import { createAgent, modelCallLimitMiddleware } from "langchain";

const agent = createAgent({
  model: "openai:gpt-4o",
  tools: [...],
  middleware: [
    modelCallLimitMiddleware({
      threadLimit: 10, // Max 10 calls per thread (across runs)
      runLimit: 5, // Max 5 calls per run (single invocation)
      exitBehavior: "end", // Or "error" to throw exception
    }),
  ],
});

Configuration options

threadLimit

number

Maximum model calls across all runs in a thread. Defaults to no limit.

runLimit

number

Maximum model calls per single invocation. Defaults to no limit.

exitBehavior

string

default:"end"

Behavior when limit is reached. Options: "end" (graceful termination) or "error" (throw exception)

Tool call limit

Limit the number of tool calls to specific tools or all tools.

Perfect for:

Preventing excessive calls to expensive external APIs
Limiting web searches or database queries
Enforcing rate limits on specific tool usage

import { createAgent, toolCallLimitMiddleware } from "langchain";

// Limit all tool calls
const globalLimiter = toolCallLimitMiddleware({ threadLimit: 20, runLimit: 10 });

// Limit specific tool
const searchLimiter = toolCallLimitMiddleware({
  toolName: "search",
  threadLimit: 5,
  runLimit: 3,
});

const agent = createAgent({
  model: "openai:gpt-4o",
  tools: [...],
  middleware: [globalLimiter, searchLimiter],
});

Configuration options

toolName

string

Specific tool to limit. If not provided, limits apply to all tools.

threadLimit

number

Maximum tool calls across all runs in a thread. Defaults to no limit.

runLimit

number

Maximum tool calls per single invocation. Defaults to no limit.

exitBehavior

string

default:"end"

Behavior when limit is reached. Options: "end" (graceful termination) or "error" (throw exception)

Model fallback

Automatically fallback to alternative models when the primary model fails.

Perfect for:

Building resilient agents that handle model outages
Cost optimization by falling back to cheaper models
Provider redundancy across OpenAI, Anthropic, etc.

import { createAgent, modelFallbackMiddleware } from "langchain";

const agent = createAgent({
  model: "openai:gpt-4o", // Primary model
  tools: [...],
  middleware: [
    modelFallbackMiddleware(
      "openai:gpt-4o-mini", // Try first on error
      "anthropic:claude-3-5-sonnet-20241022" // Then this
    ),
  ],
});

Configuration options

The middleware accepts a variable number of string arguments representing fallback models in order:

...models

string[]

required

One or more fallback model strings to try in order when the primary model fails

modelFallbackMiddleware(
  "first-fallback-model",
  "second-fallback-model",
  // ... more models
)

PII detection

Detect and handle Personally Identifiable Information in conversations.

Perfect for:

Healthcare and financial applications with compliance requirements
Customer service agents that need to sanitize logs
Any application handling sensitive user data

import { createAgent, piiRedactionMiddleware } from "langchain";

const agent = createAgent({
  model: "openai:gpt-4o",
  tools: [...],
  middleware: [
    // Redact emails in user input
    piiRedactionMiddleware({
      piiType: "email",
      strategy: "redact",
      applyToInput: true,
    }),
    // Mask credit cards (show last 4 digits)
    piiRedactionMiddleware({
      piiType: "credit_card",
      strategy: "mask",
      applyToInput: true,
    }),
    // Custom PII type with regex
    piiRedactionMiddleware({
      piiType: "api_key",
      detector: /sk-[a-zA-Z0-9]{32}/,
      strategy: "block", // Throw error if detected
    }),
  ],
});

Configuration options

piiType

string

required

Type of PII to detect. Can be a built-in type (email, credit_card, ip, mac_address, url) or a custom type name.

strategy

string

default:"redact"

How to handle detected PII. Options:

"block" - Throw error when detected
"redact" - Replace with [REDACTED_TYPE]
"mask" - Partially mask (e.g., ****-****-****-1234)
"hash" - Replace with deterministic hash

detector

RegExp

Custom detector regex pattern. If not provided, uses built-in detector for the PII type.

applyToInput

boolean

default:"true"

Check user messages before model call

applyToOutput

boolean

default:"false"

Check AI messages after model call

applyToToolResults

boolean

default:"false"

Check tool result messages after execution

Planning

Add todo list management capabilities for complex multi-step tasks.

This middleware automatically provides agents with a write_todos tool and system prompts to guide effective task planning.

import { createAgent, HumanMessage, todoListMiddleware } from "langchain";

const agent = createAgent({
  model: "openai:gpt-4o",
  tools: [
    /* ... */
  ],
  middleware: [todoListMiddleware()] as const,
});

const result = await agent.invoke({
  messages: [new HumanMessage("Help me refactor my codebase")],
});
console.log(result.todos); // Array of todo items with status tracking

Configuration options

No configuration options available (uses defaults).

LLM tool selector

Use an LLM to intelligently select relevant tools before calling the main model.

Perfect for:

Agents with many tools (10+) where most aren’t relevant per query
Reducing token usage by filtering irrelevant tools
Improving model focus and accuracy

import { createAgent, llmToolSelectorMiddleware } from "langchain";

const agent = createAgent({
  model: "openai:gpt-4o",
  tools: [tool1, tool2, tool3, tool4, tool5, ...], // Many tools
  middleware: [
    llmToolSelectorMiddleware({
      model: "openai:gpt-4o-mini", // Use cheaper model for selection
      maxTools: 3, // Limit to 3 most relevant tools
      alwaysInclude: ["search"], // Always include certain tools
    }),
  ],
});

Configuration options

model

string

Model for tool selection. Defaults to the agent’s main model.

maxTools

number

Maximum number of tools to select. Defaults to no limit.

alwaysInclude

string[]

Array of tool names to always include in the selection

Context editing

Manage conversation context by trimming, summarizing, or clearing tool uses.

Perfect for:

Long conversations that need periodic context cleanup
Removing failed tool attempts from context
Custom context management strategies

import { createAgent, contextEditingMiddleware, ClearToolUsesEdit } from "langchain";

const agent = createAgent({
  model: "openai:gpt-4o",
  tools: [...],
  middleware: [
    contextEditingMiddleware({
      edits: [
        new ClearToolUsesEdit({ maxTokens: 1000 }), // Clear old tool uses
      ],
    }),
  ],
});

Configuration options

edits

ContextEdit[]

default:"[new ClearToolUsesEdit()]"

Array of ContextEdit strategies to apply

@[ClearToolUsesEdit] options:

maxTokens

number

default:"1000"

Token count that triggers the edit

Custom middleware

Build custom middleware by implementing hooks that run at specific points in the agent execution flow.

Class-based middleware

Two hook styles

Node-style hooks

Run sequentially at specific execution points. Use for logging, validation, and state updates.

Wrap-style hooks

Intercept execution with full control over handler calls. Use for retries, caching, and transformation.

Node-style hooks

Run at specific points in the execution flow:

beforeAgent - Before agent starts (once per invocation)
beforeModel - Before each model call
afterModel - After each model response
afterAgent - After agent completes (up to once per invocation)

Example: Logging middleware

import { createMiddleware } from "langchain";

const loggingMiddleware = createMiddleware({
  name: "LoggingMiddleware",
  beforeModel: (state) => {
    console.log(`About to call model with ${state.messages.length} messages`);
    return;
  },
  afterModel: (state) => {
    const lastMessage = state.messages[state.messages.length - 1];
    console.log(`Model returned: ${lastMessage.content}`);
    return;
  },
});

Example: Conversation length limit

import { createMiddleware, AIMessage } from "langchain";

const createMessageLimitMiddleware = (maxMessages: number = 50) => {
  return createMiddleware({
    name: "MessageLimitMiddleware",
    beforeModel: (state) => {
      if (state.messages.length === maxMessages) {
        return {
          messages: [new AIMessage("Conversation limit reached.")],
          jumpTo: "end",
        };
      }
      return;
    },
  });
};

Wrap-style hooks

Intercept execution and control when the handler is called:

wrapModelCall - Around each model call
wrapToolCall - Around each tool call

You decide if the handler is called zero times (short-circuit), once (normal flow), or multiple times (retry logic). Example: Model retry middleware

import { createMiddleware } from "langchain";

const createRetryMiddleware = (maxRetries: number = 3) => {
  return createMiddleware({
    name: "RetryMiddleware",
    wrapModelCall: (request, handler) => {
      for (let attempt = 0; attempt < maxRetries; attempt++) {
        try {
          return handler(request);
        } catch (e) {
          if (attempt === maxRetries - 1) {
            throw e;
          }
          console.log(`Retry ${attempt + 1}/${maxRetries} after error: ${e}`);
        }
      }
      throw new Error("Unreachable");
    },
  });
};

Example: Dynamic model selection

import { createMiddleware, initChatModel } from "langchain";

const dynamicModelMiddleware = createMiddleware({
  name: "DynamicModelMiddleware",
  wrapModelCall: (request, handler) => {
    // Use different model based on conversation length
    const modifiedRequest = { ...request };
    if (request.messages.length > 10) {
      modifiedRequest.model = initChatModel("openai:gpt-4o");
    } else {
      modifiedRequest.model = initChatModel("openai:gpt-4o-mini");
    }
    return handler(modifiedRequest);
  },
});

Example: Tool call monitoring

import { createMiddleware } from "langchain";

const toolMonitoringMiddleware = createMiddleware({
  name: "ToolMonitoringMiddleware",
  wrapToolCall: (request, handler) => {
    console.log(`Executing tool: ${request.toolCall.name}`);
    console.log(`Arguments: ${JSON.stringify(request.toolCall.args)}`);

    try {
      const result = handler(request);
      console.log("Tool completed successfully");
      return result;
    } catch (e) {
      console.log(`Tool failed: ${e}`);
      throw e;
    }
  },
});

Custom state schema

Middleware can extend the agent’s state with custom properties. Define a custom state type and set it as the state_schema:

import { createMiddleware, createAgent, HumanMessage } from "langchain";
import * as z from "zod";

// Middleware with custom state requirements
const callCounterMiddleware = createMiddleware({
  name: "CallCounterMiddleware",
  stateSchema: z.object({
    modelCallCount: z.number().default(0),
    userId: z.string().optional(),
  }),
  beforeModel: (state) => {
    // Access custom state properties
    if (state.modelCallCount > 10) {
      return { jumpTo: "end" };
    }
    return;
  },
  afterModel: (state) => {
    // Update custom state
    return { modelCallCount: state.modelCallCount + 1 };
  },
});

const agent = createAgent({
  model: "openai:gpt-4o",
  tools: [...],
  middleware: [callCounterMiddleware] as const,
});

// TypeScript enforces required state properties
const result = await agent.invoke({
  messages: [new HumanMessage("Hello")],
  modelCallCount: 0, // Optional due to default value
  userId: "user-123", // Optional
});

Context extension

Context properties are configuration values passed through the runnable config. Unlike state, context is read-only and typically used for configuration that doesn’t change during execution. Middleware can define context requirements that must be satisfied through the agent’s configuration:

import * as z from "zod";
import { createMiddleware, HumanMessage } from "langchain";

const rateLimitMiddleware = createMiddleware({
  name: "RateLimitMiddleware",
  contextSchema: z.object({
    maxRequestsPerMinute: z.number(),
    apiKey: z.string(),
  }),
  beforeModel: async (state, runtime) => {
    // Access context through runtime
    const { maxRequestsPerMinute, apiKey } = runtime.context;

    // Implement rate limiting logic
    const allowed = await checkRateLimit(apiKey, maxRequestsPerMinute);
    if (!allowed) {
      return { jumpTo: "END" };
    }

    return state;
  },
});

// Context is provided through config
await agent.invoke(
  { messages: [new HumanMessage("Process data")] },
  {
    context: {
      maxRequestsPerMinute: 60,
      apiKey: "api-key-123",
    },
  }
);

Execution order

When using multiple middleware, understanding execution order is important:

const agent = createAgent({
  model: "openai:gpt-4o",
  middleware: [middleware1, middleware2, middleware3],
  tools: [...],
});

Execution flow (click to expand)

Before hooks run in order:

middleware1.before_agent()
middleware2.before_agent()
middleware3.before_agent()

Agent loop starts

middleware1.before_model()
middleware2.before_model()
middleware3.before_model()

Wrap hooks nest like function calls:

middleware1.wrap_model_call() → middleware2.wrap_model_call() → middleware3.wrap_model_call() → model

After hooks run in reverse order:

middleware3.after_model()
middleware2.after_model()
middleware1.after_model()

Agent loop ends

middleware3.after_agent()
middleware2.after_agent()
middleware1.after_agent()

Key rules:

before_* hooks: First to last
after_* hooks: Last to first (reverse)
wrap_* hooks: Nested (first middleware wraps all others)

Agent jumps

To exit early from middleware, return a dictionary with jump_to:

import { createMiddleware, AIMessage } from "langchain";

const earlyExitMiddleware = createMiddleware({
  name: "EarlyExitMiddleware",
  beforeModel: (state) => {
    // Check some condition
    if (shouldExit(state)) {
      return {
        messages: [new AIMessage("Exiting early due to condition.")],
        jumpTo: "end",
      };
    }
    return;
  },
});

Available jump targets:

"end": Jump to the end of the agent execution
"tools": Jump to the tools node
"model": Jump to the model node (or the first before_model hook)

Important: When jumping from before_model or after_model, jumping to "model" will cause all before_model middleware to run again. To enable jumping, decorate your hook with @hook_config(can_jump_to=[...]):

import { createMiddleware } from "langchain";

const conditionalMiddleware = createMiddleware({
  name: "ConditionalMiddleware",
  afterModel: (state) => {
    if (someCondition(state)) {
      return { jumpTo: "end" };
    }
    return;
  },
});

Best practices

Keep middleware focused - each should do one thing well
Handle errors gracefully - don’t let middleware errors crash the agent
Use appropriate hook types:
- Node-style for sequential logic (logging, validation)
- Wrap-style for control flow (retry, fallback, caching)
Clearly document any custom state properties
Unit test middleware independently before integrating
Consider execution order - place critical middleware first in the list
Use built-in middleware when possible, don’t reinvent the wheel :)

Examples

Dynamically selecting tools

Select relevant tools at runtime to improve performance and accuracy.

Benefits:

Shorter prompts - Reduce complexity by exposing only relevant tools
Better accuracy - Models choose correctly from fewer options
Permission control - Dynamically filter tools based on user access

import { createAgent, createMiddleware } from "langchain";

const toolSelectorMiddleware = createMiddleware({
  name: "ToolSelector",
  wrapModelCall: (request, handler) => {
    // Select a small, relevant subset of tools based on state/context
    const relevantTools = selectRelevantTools(request.state, request.runtime);
    const modifiedRequest = { ...request, tools: relevantTools };
    return handler(modifiedRequest);
  },
});

const agent = createAgent({
  model: "openai:gpt-4o",
  tools: allTools, // All available tools need to be registered upfront
  // Middleware can be used to select a smaller subset that's relevant for the given run.
  middleware: [toolSelectorMiddleware],
});

Show Extended example: GitHub vs GitLab tool selection

import * as z from "zod";
import { createAgent, createMiddleware, tool, HumanMessage } from "langchain";

const githubCreateIssue = tool(
  async ({ repo, title }) => ({
    url: `https://github.com/${repo}/issues/1`,
    title,
  }),
  {
    name: "github_create_issue",
    description: "Create an issue in a GitHub repository",
    schema: z.object({ repo: z.string(), title: z.string() }),
  }
);

const gitlabCreateIssue = tool(
  async ({ project, title }) => ({
    url: `https://gitlab.com/${project}/-/issues/1`,
    title,
  }),
  {
    name: "gitlab_create_issue",
    description: "Create an issue in a GitLab project",
    schema: z.object({ project: z.string(), title: z.string() }),
  }
);

const allTools = [githubCreateIssue, gitlabCreateIssue];

const toolSelector = createMiddleware({
  name: "toolSelector",
  contextSchema: z.object({ provider: z.enum(["github", "gitlab"]) }),
  wrapModelCall: (request, handler) => {
    const provider = request.runtime.context.provider;
    const toolName = provider === "gitlab" ? "gitlab_create_issue" : "github_create_issue";
    const selectedTools = request.tools.filter((t) => t.name === toolName);
    const modifiedRequest = { ...request, tools: selectedTools };
    return handler(modifiedRequest);
  },
});

const agent = createAgent({
  model: "openai:gpt-4o",
  tools: allTools,
  middleware: [toolSelector],
});

// Invoke with GitHub context
await agent.invoke(
  {
    messages: [
      new HumanMessage("Open an issue titled 'Bug: where are the cats' in the repository `its-a-cats-game`"),
    ],
  },
  {
    context: { provider: "github" },
  }
);

Key points:

Register all tools upfront
Middleware selects the relevant subset per request
Use contextSchema for configuration requirements

Additional resources

Middleware API reference - Complete guide to custom middleware
Human-in-the-loop - Add human review for sensitive operations
Testing agents - Strategies for testing safety mechanisms

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LangChain v1.0

Get started

Core components

Advanced usage

Use in production

What can middleware do?

Monitor

Modify

Control

Enforce

Built-in middleware

Summarization

Human-in-the-loop

Anthropic prompt caching

Model call limit

Tool call limit

Model fallback

PII detection

Planning

LLM tool selector

Context editing

Custom middleware

Class-based middleware

Two hook styles

Node-style hooks

Wrap-style hooks

Node-style hooks

Wrap-style hooks

Custom state schema

Context extension

Execution order

Agent jumps

Best practices

Examples

Dynamically selecting tools

Additional resources

LangChain v1.0

Get started

Core components

Advanced usage

Use in production

​What can middleware do?

Monitor

Modify

Control

Enforce

​Built-in middleware

​Summarization

​Human-in-the-loop

​Anthropic prompt caching

​Model call limit

​Tool call limit

​Model fallback

​PII detection

​Planning

​LLM tool selector

​Context editing

​Custom middleware

​Class-based middleware

​Two hook styles

Node-style hooks

Wrap-style hooks

​Node-style hooks

​Wrap-style hooks

​Custom state schema

​Context extension

​Execution order

​Agent jumps

​Best practices

​Examples

​Dynamically selecting tools

​Additional resources

What can middleware do?

Built-in middleware

Summarization

Human-in-the-loop

Anthropic prompt caching

Model call limit

Tool call limit

Model fallback

PII detection

Planning

LLM tool selector

Context editing

Custom middleware

Class-based middleware

Two hook styles

Node-style hooks

Wrap-style hooks

Custom state schema

Context extension

Execution order

Agent jumps

Best practices

Examples

Dynamically selecting tools

Additional resources