**TL;DR much of the provided `Makefile` targets were broken, and any
time I wanted to preview changes locally I either had to refer to a
command Chester gave me or try waiting on a Vercel preview deployment.
With this PR, everything should behave like normal.**
Significant updates to the `Makefile` and documentation files, focusing
on improving usability, adding clear messaging, and fixing/enhancing
documentation workflows.
### Updates to `Makefile`:
#### Enhanced build and cleaning processes:
- Added informative messages (e.g., "📚 Building LangChain
documentation...") to makefile targets like `docs_build`, `docs_clean`,
and `api_docs_build` for better user feedback during execution.
- Introduced a `clean-cache` target to the `docs` `Makefile` to clear
cached dependencies and ensure clean builds.
#### Improved dependency handling:
- Modified `install-py-deps` to create a `.venv/deps_installed` marker,
preventing redundant/duplicate dependency installations and improving
efficiency.
#### Streamlined file generation and infrastructure setup:
- Added caching for the LangServe README download and parallelized
feature table generation
- Added user-friendly completion messages for targets like `copy-infra`
and `render`.
#### Documentation server updates:
- Enhanced the `start` target with messages indicating server start and
URL for local documentation viewing.
---
### Documentation Improvements:
#### Content clarity and consistency:
- Standardized section titles for consistency across documentation
files.
[[1]](diffhunk://#diff-9b1a85ea8a9dcf79f58246c88692cd7a36316665d7e05a69141cfdc50794c82aL1-R1)
[[2]](diffhunk://#diff-944008ad3a79d8a312183618401fcfa71da0e69c75803eff09b779fc8e03183dL1-R1)
- Refined phrasing and formatting in sections like "Dependency
management" and "Formatting and linting" for better readability.
[[1]](diffhunk://#diff-2069d4f956ab606ae6d51b191439283798adaf3a6648542c409d258131617059L6-R6)
[[2]](diffhunk://#diff-2069d4f956ab606ae6d51b191439283798adaf3a6648542c409d258131617059L84-R82)
#### Enhanced workflows:
- Updated instructions for building and viewing documentation locally,
including tips for specifying server ports and handling API reference
previews.
[[1]](diffhunk://#diff-048deddcfd44b242e5b23aed9f2e9ec73afc672244ce14df2a0a316d95840c87L60-R94)
[[2]](diffhunk://#diff-048deddcfd44b242e5b23aed9f2e9ec73afc672244ce14df2a0a316d95840c87L82-R126)
- Expanded guidance on cleaning documentation artifacts and using
linting tools effectively.
[[1]](diffhunk://#diff-048deddcfd44b242e5b23aed9f2e9ec73afc672244ce14df2a0a316d95840c87L82-R126)
[[2]](diffhunk://#diff-048deddcfd44b242e5b23aed9f2e9ec73afc672244ce14df2a0a316d95840c87L107-R142)
#### API reference documentation:
- Improved instructions for generating and formatting in-code
documentation, highlighting best practices for docstring writing.
[[1]](diffhunk://#diff-048deddcfd44b242e5b23aed9f2e9ec73afc672244ce14df2a0a316d95840c87L107-R142)
[[2]](diffhunk://#diff-048deddcfd44b242e5b23aed9f2e9ec73afc672244ce14df2a0a316d95840c87L144-R186)
---
### Minor Changes:
- Added support for a new package name (`langchain_v1`) in the API
documentation generation script.
- Fixed minor capitalization and formatting issues in documentation
files.
[[1]](diffhunk://#diff-2069d4f956ab606ae6d51b191439283798adaf3a6648542c409d258131617059L40-R40)
[[2]](diffhunk://#diff-2069d4f956ab606ae6d51b191439283798adaf3a6648542c409d258131617059L166-R160)
---------
Co-authored-by: Copilot <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
## **Description:**
The Jupyter notebooks in the docs section are extremely useful and
critical for widespread adoption of LangChain amongst new developers.
However, because they are also converted to MDX and used to build the
HTML for the Docusaurus site, they contain JSX code that degrades
readability when opened in a "notebook" setting (local notebook server,
google colab, etc.). For instance, here we see the website, with a nice
React tab component for installation instructions (`pip` vs `conda`):
Now, here is the same notebook viewed in colab:
Note that the text following "To install LangChain run:" contains
snippets of JSX code that is (i) confusing, (ii) bad for readability,
(iii) potentially misleading for a novice developer, who might take it
literally to mean that "to install LangChain I should run `import Tabs
from...`" and then an ill-formed command which mixes the `pip` and
`conda` installation instructions.
Ideally, we would like to have a system that presents a
similar/equivalent UI when viewing the notebooks on the documentation
site, or when interacting with them in a notebook setting - or, at a
minimum, we should not present ill-formed JSX snippets to someone trying
to execute the notebooks. As the documentation itself states, running
the notebooks yourself is a great way to learn the tools. Therefore,
these distracting and ill-formed snippets are contrary to that goal.
## **Fixes:**
* Comment out the JSX code inside the notebook
`docs/tutorials/llm_chain` with a special directive `<!-- HIDE_IN_NB`
(closed with `HIDE_IN_NB -->`). This makes the JSX code "invisible" when
viewed in a notebook setting.
* Add a custom preprocessor that runs process_cell and just erases these
comment strings. This makes sure they are rendered when converted to
MDX.
* Minor tweak: Refactor some of the Markdown instructions into an
executable codeblock for better experience when running as a notebook.
* Minor tweak: Optionally try to get the environment variables from a
`.env` file in the repo so the user doesn't have to enter it every time.
Depends on the user installing `python-dotenv` and adding their own
`.env` file.
* Add an environment variable for "LANGSMITH_PROJECT"
(default="default"), per the LangSmith docs, so a local user can target
a specific project in their LangSmith account.
**NOTE:** If this PR is approved, and the maintainers agree with the
general goal of aligning the notebook execution experience and the doc
site UI, I would plan to implement this on the rest of the JSX snippets
that are littered in the notebooks.
**NOTE:** I wasn't able to/don't know how to run the linkcheck Makefile
commands.
- [X] **Lint and test**: Run `make format`, `make lint` and `make test`
from the root of the package(s) you've modified. See contribution
guidelines for more: https://python.langchain.com/docs/contributing/
---------
Co-authored-by: Really Him <hesereallyhim@proton.me>
