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Last Updated: 3/7/2026

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After you’ve prototyped your LangGraph agent, a natural next step is to add tests. This guide covers some useful patterns you can use when writing unit tests. Note that this guide is LangGraph-specific and covers scenarios around graphs with custom structures - if you are just getting started, check out this section that uses LangChain’s built-in create_agent instead.

​ Prerequisites

First, make sure you have pytest installed:

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$ pip install -U pytest $  pip  install -U  pytest

​ Getting started

Because many LangGraph agents depend on state, a useful pattern is to create your graph before each test where you use it, then compile it within tests with a new checkpointer instance. The below example shows how this works with a simple, linear graph that progresses through node1 and node2. Each node updates the single state key my_key:

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import pytest import  pytest from typing_extensions import TypedDict from  typing_extensions import  TypedDictfrom langgraph.graph import StateGraph, START, END from langgraph.graph import StateGraph, START, ENDfrom langgraph.checkpoint.memory import MemorySaver from langgraph.checkpoint.memory import  MemorySaver def create_graph() -> StateGraph: def  create_graph() -> StateGraph: class MyState(TypedDict):  class  MyState(TypedDict): my_key: str my_key: str  graph = StateGraph(MyState)  graph = StateGraph(MyState) graph.add_node("node1", lambda state: {"my_key": "hello from node1"}) graph.add_node("node1", lambda  state: {"my_key": "hello from node1"}) graph.add_node("node2", lambda state: {"my_key": "hello from node2"}) graph.add_node("node2", lambda  state: {"my_key": "hello from node2"}) graph.add_edge(START, "node1") graph.add_edge(START, "node1") graph.add_edge("node1", "node2") graph.add_edge("node1", "node2") graph.add_edge("node2", END) graph.add_edge("node2", END)  return graph  return  graph def test_basic_agent_execution() -> None: def  test_basic_agent_execution() -> None: checkpointer = MemorySaver()  checkpointer = MemorySaver() graph = create_graph()  graph = create_graph() compiled_graph = graph.compile(checkpointer=checkpointer)  compiled_graph = graph.compile(checkpointer =checkpointer) result = compiled_graph.invoke( result = compiled_graph.invoke( {"my_key": "initial_value"}, {"my_key": "initial_value"}, config={"configurable": {"thread_id": "1"}}  config ={"configurable": {"thread_id": "1"}} ) ) assert result["my_key"] == "hello from node2"  assert result["my_key"] ==  "hello from node2"

​ Testing individual nodes and edges

Compiled LangGraph agents expose references to each individual node as graph.nodes. You can take advantage of this to test individual nodes within your agent. Note that this will bypass any checkpointers passed when compiling the graph:

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import pytest import  pytest from typing_extensions import TypedDict from  typing_extensions import  TypedDictfrom langgraph.graph import StateGraph, START, END from langgraph.graph import StateGraph, START, ENDfrom langgraph.checkpoint.memory import MemorySaver from langgraph.checkpoint.memory import  MemorySaver def create_graph() -> StateGraph: def  create_graph() -> StateGraph: class MyState(TypedDict):  class  MyState(TypedDict): my_key: str my_key: str  graph = StateGraph(MyState)  graph = StateGraph(MyState) graph.add_node("node1", lambda state: {"my_key": "hello from node1"}) graph.add_node("node1", lambda  state: {"my_key": "hello from node1"}) graph.add_node("node2", lambda state: {"my_key": "hello from node2"}) graph.add_node("node2", lambda  state: {"my_key": "hello from node2"}) graph.add_edge(START, "node1") graph.add_edge(START, "node1") graph.add_edge("node1", "node2") graph.add_edge("node1", "node2") graph.add_edge("node2", END) graph.add_edge("node2", END)  return graph  return  graph def test_individual_node_execution() -> None: def  test_individual_node_execution() -> None:  # Will be ignored in this example  # Will be ignored in this example checkpointer = MemorySaver()  checkpointer = MemorySaver() graph = create_graph()  graph = create_graph() compiled_graph = graph.compile(checkpointer=checkpointer)  compiled_graph = graph.compile(checkpointer =checkpointer)  # Only invoke node 1  # Only invoke node 1 result = compiled_graph.nodes["node1"].invoke( result = compiled_graph.nodes["node1"].invoke( {"my_key": "initial_value"}, {"my_key": "initial_value"}, ) ) assert result["my_key"] == "hello from node1"  assert result["my_key"] ==  "hello from node1"

​ Partial execution

For agents made up of larger graphs, you may wish to test partial execution paths within your agent rather than the entire flow end-to-end. In some cases, it may make semantic sense to restructure these sections as subgraphs, which you can invoke in isolation as normal. However, if you do not wish to make changes to your agent graph’s overall structure, you can use LangGraph’s persistence mechanisms to simulate a state where your agent is paused right before the beginning of the desired section, and will pause again at the end of the desired section. The steps are as follows:

  1. Compile your agent with a checkpointer (the in-memory checkpointer InMemorySaver will suffice for testing).
  2. Call your agent’s update_state method with an as_node parameter set to the name of the node before the one you want to start your test.
  3. Invoke your agent with the same thread_id you used to update the state and an interrupt_after parameter set to the name of the node you want to stop at.

Here’s an example that executes only the second and third nodes in a linear graph:

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import pytest import  pytest from typing_extensions import TypedDict from  typing_extensions import  TypedDictfrom langgraph.graph import StateGraph, START, END from langgraph.graph import StateGraph, START, ENDfrom langgraph.checkpoint.memory import MemorySaver from langgraph.checkpoint.memory import  MemorySaver def create_graph() -> StateGraph: def  create_graph() -> StateGraph: class MyState(TypedDict):  class  MyState(TypedDict): my_key: str my_key: str  graph = StateGraph(MyState)  graph = StateGraph(MyState) graph.add_node("node1", lambda state: {"my_key": "hello from node1"}) graph.add_node("node1", lambda  state: {"my_key": "hello from node1"}) graph.add_node("node2", lambda state: {"my_key": "hello from node2"}) graph.add_node("node2", lambda  state: {"my_key": "hello from node2"}) graph.add_node("node3", lambda state: {"my_key": "hello from node3"}) graph.add_node("node3", lambda  state: {"my_key": "hello from node3"}) graph.add_node("node4", lambda state: {"my_key": "hello from node4"}) graph.add_node("node4", lambda  state: {"my_key": "hello from node4"}) graph.add_edge(START, "node1") graph.add_edge(START, "node1") graph.add_edge("node1", "node2") graph.add_edge("node1", "node2") graph.add_edge("node2", "node3") graph.add_edge("node2", "node3") graph.add_edge("node3", "node4") graph.add_edge("node3", "node4") graph.add_edge("node4", END) graph.add_edge("node4", END)  return graph  return  graph def test_partial_execution_from_node2_to_node3() -> None: def  test_partial_execution_from_node2_to_node3() -> None: checkpointer = MemorySaver()  checkpointer = MemorySaver() graph = create_graph()  graph = create_graph() compiled_graph = graph.compile(checkpointer=checkpointer)  compiled_graph = graph.compile(checkpointer =checkpointer) compiled_graph.update_state( compiled_graph.update_state( config={ config ={ "configurable": { "configurable": { "thread_id": "1"  "thread_id": "1" } } }, }, # The state passed into node 2 - simulating the state at # The state passed into node 2 - simulating the state at  # the end of node 1  # the end of node 1 values={"my_key": "initial_value"},  values ={"my_key": "initial_value"},  # Update saved state as if it came from node 1  # Update saved state as if it came from node 1  # Execution will resume at node 2  # Execution will resume at node 2 as_node="node1",  as_node = "node1", ) ) result = compiled_graph.invoke( result = compiled_graph.invoke( # Resume execution by passing None  # Resume execution by passing None None,  None, config={"configurable": {"thread_id": "1"}},  config ={"configurable": {"thread_id": "1"}},  # Stop after node 3 so that node 4 doesn't run  # Stop after node 3 so that node 4 doesn't run interrupt_after="node3",  interrupt_after = "node3", ) ) assert result["my_key"] == "hello from node3"  assert result["my_key"] ==  "hello from node3"

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