AWS Bedrock and Google VertexAINote that certain Anthropic models can also be accessed via AWS Bedrock and Google VertexAI. See the
ChatBedrock and ChatVertexAI integrations to use Anthropic models via these services.For Anthropic models on AWS Bedrock with the same API as ChatAnthropic, use ChatAnthropicBedrock from langchain-aws.Overview
Integration details
Model features
Setup
To access Anthropic (Claude) models you’ll need to install thelangchain-anthropic integration package and acquire a Claude API key.
Installation
Credentials
Head to the Claude console to sign up and generate a Claude API key. Once you’ve done this set theANTHROPIC_API_KEY environment variable:
Instantiation
Now we can instantiate our model object and generate chat completions:ChatAnthropic API reference for details on all available instantiation parameters.
Inference geographyTo control where model inference runs for data residency, pass
inference_geo when you create ChatAnthropic. See Anthropic documentation for supported values.Invocation
Invoke
Invoke
Stream
Stream
Async
Async
Content blocks
When using tools, extended thinking, and other features, content from a single AnthropicAIMessage can either be a single string or a list of Anthropic content blocks.
For example, when an Anthropic model invokes a tool, the tool invocation is part of the message content (as well as being exposed in the standardized AIMessage.tool_calls):
content_blocks will render the content in LangChain’s standard format that is consistent across other model providers. Read more about content blocks.
tool_calls attribute:
Tools
Anthropic’s tool use features allow you to define external functions that Claude can call during a conversation. This enables dynamic information retrieval, computations, and interactions with external systems. SeeChatAnthropic.bind_tools for details on how to bind tools to your model instance.
For information about Claude’s built-in tools (code execution, web browsing, files API, etc), see the Built-in tools.
Strict tool use
Strict tool use requires
langchain-anthropic>=1.1.0. See the Claude docs for supported models.- Type mismatches:
passengers: "2"instead ofpassengers: 2 - Missing required fields: Omitting fields your function expects
- Invalid enum values: Values outside the allowed set
- Schema violations: Nested objects not matching expected structure
- Tool inputs strictly follow your
input_schema - Guaranteed field types and required fields
- Eliminate error handling for malformed inputs
- Tool
nameused is always from provided tools
To enable strict tool use, specify
strict=True when calling bind_tools.
Example: Type-safe booking system
Example: Type-safe booking system
Consider a booking system where
passengers must be an integer:Input examples
For complex tools, you can provide usage examples to help Claude understand how to use them correctly. This is done by settinginput_examples in the tool’s extras parameter.
extras parameter also supports:
defer_loading(bool): Load tool on-demand for tool searchcache_control(dict): Enable prompt caching for the tooleager_input_streaming(bool): Enable fine-grained tool streaming for that tool
Fine-grained tool streaming
Anthropic supports fine-grained tool streaming, which reduces latency when streaming tool calls with large parameters. Rather than buffering entire parameter values before transmission, fine-grained streaming sends parameter data as it becomes available. This can reduce the initial delay from 15 seconds to around 3 seconds for large tool parameters. To enable fine-grained tool streaming for a tool that should stream tool parameters incrementally, setextras={"eager_input_streaming": True} on the tool. That value is passed through to the Anthropic API on the tool definition.
input_json_delta blocks in chunk.content. You can accumulate these to build the complete tool arguments:
Programmatic tool calling
Programmatic tool calling requires
langchain-anthropic>=1.3.0. See the Claude docs for supported models.- Include the code execution built-in tool in your set of tools
- Specify
extras={"allowed_callers": ["code_execution_20250825"]}on tools you wish to call programmatically
create_agent.
Multimodal
Claude supports image and PDF inputs as content blocks, both in Anthropic’s native format (see docs for vision and PDF support) as well as LangChain’s standard format.Supported input methods
Image input
Provide image inputs along with text using aHumanMessage with list content format.
PDF input
Provide PDF file inputs along with text.Extended thinking
Some Claude models support an extended thinking feature, which will output the step-by-step reasoning process that led to its final answer. See compatible models in the Claude documentation. To use extended thinking, specify thethinking parameter when initializing ChatAnthropic. If needed, it can also be passed in as a parameter during invocation.
For Claude Sonnet and earlier models, you will need to specify a token budget. For Claude Opus 4.6+, you can use adaptive thinking which automatically determines the budget.
Effort
Certain Claude models support an effort feature, which controls how many tokens Claude uses when responding. This is useful for balancing response quality against latency and cost.Model supportEffort is generally available on Claude Opus 4.6 and Claude Opus 4.5. The
max effort level is only supported on Claude Opus 4.6. The xhigh effort level is supported on Claude Opus 4.7. Anthropic may add or adjust model support over time—use the Claude effort documentation as the source of truth.Setting
effort to "high" produces exactly the same behavior as omitting the parameter altogether.Task budgets
Claude Opus 4.7 and later support task budgets, an advisory token target for an agentic loop (thinking, tool calls, tool results, and final output). The model sees a running countdown and uses it to prioritize work and finish gracefully. Unlikemax_tokens, task budgets are not a hard cap.
Task budgets require
langchain-anthropic>=1.4.1 and are currently in beta.Citations
Anthropic supports a citations feature that lets Claude attach context to its answers based on source documents supplied by the user. When document orsearch_result content blocks with "citations": {"enabled": True} are included in a query, Claude may generate citations in its response.
Simple example
In this example we pass a plain text document. In the background, Claude automatically chunks the input text into sentences, which are used when generating citations.In tool results (agentic RAG)
Claude supports a search_result content block representing citable results from queries against a knowledge base or other custom source. These content blocks can be passed to claude both top-line (as in the above example) and within a tool result. This allows Claude to cite elements of its response using the result of a tool call. To pass search results in response to tool calls, define a tool that returns a list ofsearch_result content blocks in Anthropic’s native format. For example:
End to end example with LangGraph
End to end example with LangGraph
Here we demonstrate an end-to-end example in which we populate a LangChain vector store with sample documents and equip Claude with a tool that queries those documents.The tool here takes a search query and a
category string literal, but any valid tool signature can be used.This example requires langchain-openai and numpy to be installed:Using with text splitters
Anthropic also lets you specify your own splits using custom document types. LangChain text splitters can be used to generate meaningful splits for this purpose. See the below example, where we split the LangChainREADME.md (a markdown document) and pass it to Claude as context:
This example requires langchain-text-splitters to be installed:
Prompt caching
Anthropic supports caching of elements of your prompts, including messages, tool definitions, tool results, images and documents. This allows you to reuse large documents, instructions, few-shot documents, and other data to reduce latency and costs. There are two ways to enable prompt caching on direct model calls:- Automatic caching: Pass
cache_controlat invocation time (model.invoke(..., cache_control=...)). This is provider/API-level caching: the Anthropic API applies the cache breakpoint to the last cacheable block and moves it forward as conversations grow. - Explicit cache breakpoints: Place
cache_controldirectly on individual content blocks for fine-grained, direct breakpoint control over exactly what gets cached.
For LangChain agents, prefer
AnthropicPromptCachingMiddleware when you want LangChain to optimize stable system prompt and tool content. The middleware is a LangChain agent/harness optimization and is not the same as the invocation-level cache_control shown below, which mirrors the Anthropic API behavior.Automatic caching
Automatic caching requires
langchain-anthropic>=1.4.0.cache_control as an invocation parameter to automatically cache all content up to and including the last cacheable block. On subsequent requests with the same prefix, cached content is reused automatically. The cache breakpoint moves forward as conversations grow, so you don’t need to manage individual cache_control markers.
ttl field:
Explicit cache breakpoints
For fine-grained control, mark individual content blocks withcache_control. This is useful when you need to cache different sections that change at different frequencies.
Messages
Caching tools
Incremental caching in conversational applications
Prompt caching can be used in multi-turn conversations to maintain context from earlier messages without redundant processing. We can enable incremental caching by marking the final message withcache_control. Claude will automatically use the longest previously-cached prefix for follow-up messages.
Below, we implement a simple chatbot that incorporates this feature. We follow the LangChain chatbot tutorial, but add a custom reducer that automatically marks the last content block in each user message with cache_control:
Chatbot with incremental prompt caching
Chatbot with incremental prompt caching
cache_control keys.Token counting
You can count tokens in messages before sending them to the model usingget_num_tokens_from_messages(). This uses Anthropic’s official token counting API.
Message token counting
Message token counting
Tool token counting
Tool token counting
You can also count tokens when using tools:
Context management
Anthropic supports context management features that automatically manage the model’s context window to optimize performance and cost. See the Claude documentation for more details and configuration options.Clearing tool uses
Clear tool results from the context to reduce token usage while preserving the conversation flow.Context management is supported since
langchain-anthropic>=0.3.21You must specify the context-management-2025-06-27 beta header to apply context management to your model calls.Automatic compaction
Claude Opus 4.6 and later support automatic server-side compaction, which intelligently condenses conversation history when the context window approaches its limit. This allows for longer conversations without manual context management.Automatic compaction requirements:
- Claude Opus 4.6 or later
langchain-anthropic>=1.3.0compact-2026-01-12beta header
ChatAnthropic will return compaction blocks representing the state of the prompt. These should be retained in the message history that is passed back to the model in multi-turn applications.
Structured output
Structured output requires
langchain-anthropic>=1.1.0. See the Claude docs for supported models.Individual model calls
Individual model calls
Use the
with_structured_output method to generate a structured model response. Specify method="json_schema" to enable Anthropic’s native structured output feature; otherwise the method defaults to using function calling.Agent response format
Agent response format
Specify
response_format with ProviderStrategy to engage Anthropic’s structured output feature when generating its final response.Built-in tools
Anthropic supports a variety of built-in client and server-side tools. Server-side tools (e.g., web search) are passed to the model and executed by Anthropic. Client-side tools (e.g., bash tool) require you to implement the callback execution logic in your application and return results to the model. In either case, you make tools accessible to your chat model by usingbind_tools on the model instance.
Importantly, client-side tools require you to implement the execution logic. See the relevant sections below for examples.
Middleware vs toolsFor client-side tools (e.g. bash, text editor, memory), you may opt to use middleware, which provide production-ready implementations that contain built-in execution, state management, and security policies.Use middleware when you want a turnkey solution; use tools (documented below) when you need custom execution logic or want to use
bind_tools directly.Beta toolsIf binding a beta tool to your chat model, LangChain will automatically add the required beta header for you.
Bash tool
Claude supports a client-side bash tool that allows it to execute shell commands in a persistent bash session. This enables system operations, script execution, and command-line automation.Important: You must provide the execution environmentLangChain handles the API integration (sending/receiving tool calls), but you are responsible for:
- Setting up a sandboxed computing environment (Docker, VM, etc.)
- Implementing command execution and output capture
- Passing results back to Claude in an agent loop
Requirements:
- Claude 4 models or Claude Sonnet 3.7
- Anthropic type
- create_agent
- Dict
command(required): The bash command to executerestart(optional): Set totrueto restart the bash session
Code execution
Claude can use a server-side code execution tool to execute code in a sandboxed environment.Anthropic’s
2025-08-25 code execution tools are supported since langchain-anthropic>=1.0.3.The legacy 2025-05-22 tool is supported since langchain-anthropic>=0.3.14.The code sandbox does not have internet access, thus you may only use packages that are pre-installed in the environment. See the Claude docs for more info.
- Anthropic type
- create_agent
- Dict
Use with Files API
Use with Files API
Using the Files API, Claude can write code to access files for data analysis and other purposes. See example below:Note that Claude may generate files as part of its code execution. You can access these files using the Files API:
Available tool versions:
code_execution_20250522(legacy)code_execution_20250825(recommended)
Computer use
Claude supports client-side computer use capabilities, allowing it to interact with desktop environments through screenshots, mouse control, and keyboard input.Important: You must provide the execution environmentLangChain handles the API integration (sending/receiving tool calls), but you are responsible for:
- Setting up a sandboxed computing environment (Linux VM, Docker container, etc.)
- Implementing a virtual display (e.g., Xvfb)
- Executing Claude’s tool calls (screenshot, mouse clicks, keyboard input)
- Passing results back to Claude in an agent loop
Requirements:
- Claude Opus 4.5, Claude 4, or Claude Sonnet 3.7
- Anthropic type
- create_agent
- Dict
Available tool versions:
computer_20250124(for Claude 4 and Claude Sonnet 3.7)computer_20251124(for Claude Opus 4.5)
Remote MCP
Claude can use a server-side MCP connector tool for model-generated calls to remote MCP servers.Remote MCP is supported since
langchain-anthropic>=0.3.14- Anthropic type
- create_agent
- Dict
Text editor
Claude supports a client-side text editor tool can be used to view and modify text local files. See the text editor tool documentation for details.- Anthropic type
- create_agent
- Dict
Available tool versions:
text_editor_20250124(legacy)text_editor_20250728(recommended)
Web fetching
Claude can use a server-side web fetching tool to retrieve full content from specified web pages and PDF documents and ground its responses with citations.- Anthropic type
- create_agent
- Dict
Web search
Claude can use a server-side web search tool to run searches and ground its responses with citations.Web search tool is supported since
langchain-anthropic>=0.3.13- Anthropic type
- create_agent
- Dict
Memory tool
Claude supports a memory tool for client-side storage and retrieval of context across conversational threads. See the memory tool documentation for details.Anthropic’s built-in memory tool is supported since
langchain-anthropic>=0.3.21- Anthropic type
- create_agent
- Dict
Tool search
Claude supports a server-side tool search feature that enables dynamic tool discovery and loading. Instead of loading all tool definitions into the context window upfront, Claude can search your tool catalog and load only the tools it needs. This is useful when:- You have 10+ tools available in your system
- Tool definitions are consuming significant tokens
- You’re experiencing tool selection accuracy issues with large tool sets
- Regex (
tool_search_tool_regex_20251119): Claude constructs regex patterns to search for tools - BM25 (
tool_search_tool_bm25_20251119): Claude uses natural language queries to search for tools
extras parameter to specify defer_loading on LangChain tools:
- Anthropic type
- create_agent
- Dict
- Tools with
defer_loading: Trueare only loaded when Claude discovers them via search - Keep your 3-5 most frequently used tools as non-deferred for optimal performance
- Both variants search tool names, descriptions, argument names, and argument descriptions
Response metadata
Token usage metadata
stream_usage=False in the stream method or when initializing ChatAnthropic.
API reference
For detailed documentation of all features and configuration options, head to theChatAnthropic API reference.
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