Saving threads with a SqliteSaver checkpointer
SqliteSaver is a checkpointer that keeps every thread in a file. A conversation is still there after the program exits and starts again.
Last updated: 27 Sep, 2026 · LangChain 1.4
Restart the program and every conversation at the desk is gone, because InMemorySaver lives in memory. A real shop restarts on every deploy. Let's say Ravi asks about A17, the server restarts, and he writes again: the desk should still know what he said. SqliteSaver keeps each thread in a file. It comes from langgraph-checkpoint-sqlite, installed in the integrations lesson, and takes an open connection. desk.py is still on DeskModel here, as in the Chroma lesson, so the output below and the five desk tests stay exact and only the saver changes.
The SqliteSaver connection
import sqlite3
from langgraph.checkpoint.sqlite import SqliteSaver
saver = SqliteSaver(sqlite3.connect("desk.db", check_same_thread=False)) # a file, not memory- written in Several tool calls at once
- written in Three tools and a model that picks
- written in Documents and splitting
- written in Embeddings and a vector store
- written in A persistent vector store with Chroma
- written in Three tools and a model that picks
- written in The desk's guardrails
- written in The desk's guardrails
- written in Testing the desk agent
View the code here
import re
from langchain.chat_models import BaseChatModel
from langchain.messages import AIMessage, ToolMessage
from langchain_core.outputs import ChatGeneration, ChatResult
class ShopModel(BaseChatModel):
tools: list = []
@property
def _llm_type(self):
return "shop"
def bind_tools(self, tools, **kwargs):
return self.model_copy(update={"tools": tools}) # a copy holding the tools
def _generate(self, messages, stop=None, run_manager=None, **kwargs):
message = self.decide(messages) # the reply comes from decide
return ChatResult(generations=[ChatGeneration(message=message)])
def decide(self, messages):
results = [] # the tool results at the end
for m in reversed(messages):
if not isinstance(m, ToolMessage):
break
results.insert(0, m.text)
if results: # results are back: answer with them
return AIMessage(" ".join(results))
text = messages[-1].text
orders = re.findall(r"\b[A-Z]\d+\b", text)
tool = "refund_order" if "refund" in text.lower() else "lookup_order"
if orders and tool in [t.name for t in self.tools]: # one call per order id
calls = [{"name": tool, "args": {"order_id": o}, "id": f"call_{o}"}
for o in orders]
return AIMessage("", tool_calls=calls)
if orders: # that tool is not bound
return AIMessage(f"I have no way to look up {orders[0]} yet.")
return AIMessage("Hello. Which order is this about?")
from dataclasses import dataclass
from langchain.tools import ToolRuntime, tool
ORDERS = {"A17": ("ravi", "shipped on 3 March"), "C40": ("mei", "waiting for stock")}
@dataclass
class Customer:
name: str
@tool
def lookup_order(order_id: str, runtime: ToolRuntime[Customer]) -> str:
"""Look up one of the customer's orders by its id, such as A17."""
owner, status = ORDERS.get(order_id, (None, None))
if owner != runtime.context.name:
return f"{order_id} is not one of your orders."
return f"{order_id} {status}."
@tool
def refund_order(order_id: str, runtime: ToolRuntime[Customer]) -> str:
"""Refund one of the customer's orders in full. This cannot be undone."""
owner, _ = ORDERS.get(order_id, (None, None))
if owner != runtime.context.name:
return f"{order_id} is not one of your orders, so it cannot be refunded."
return f"Refunded {order_id}."
from langchain_core.documents import Document
from langchain_text_splitters import RecursiveCharacterTextSplitter
POLICIES = {
"refunds.md": "Refunds go back to the card you paid with. They take up to 5 working days to arrive."
"\n\nYou can ask for a refund within 30 days of delivery. Opened items can be refunded if they are faulty.",
"shipping.md": "Standard shipping takes 3 to 5 working days. Shipping is free on orders over 50 euros."
"\n\nExpress shipping arrives the next working day and costs 9 euros.",
"accounts.md": "To reset your password, use the reset link on the sign-in page. Support staff never ask for your password.",
}
docs = [Document(page_content=text, metadata={"source": name}) for name, text in POLICIES.items()]
splitter = RecursiveCharacterTextSplitter(chunk_size=120, chunk_overlap=0, add_start_index=True)
chunks = splitter.split_documents(docs)
import re
import zlib
from langchain_core.embeddings import Embeddings
COMMON = {"a", "an", "and", "are", "can", "do", "does", "for", "how", "i",
"if", "is", "it", "my", "of", "on", "the", "to", "what", "with", "you", "your"}
class WordEmbeddings(Embeddings):
def embed_query(self, text):
vector = [0.0] * 256
for word in re.findall(r"[a-z]+", text.lower()):
if word not in COMMON:
vector[zlib.crc32(word.rstrip("s").encode()) % 256] += 1.0
return vector
def embed_documents(self, texts):
return [self.embed_query(text) for text in texts]
from langchain.tools import tool
from langchain_chroma import Chroma
from policies import chunks
from word_embeddings import WordEmbeddings
store = Chroma(collection_name="policies", embedding_function=WordEmbeddings(),
persist_directory="./policy_store",
collection_metadata={"hnsw:space": "cosine"})
if not store.get()["ids"]:
store.add_documents(chunks)
@tool
def search_policies(query: str) -> str:
"""Search the shop's policies on refunds, shipping and accounts.
Pass the customer's question, word for word, as the query."""
found = [doc for doc, score in store.similarity_search_with_relevance_scores(query, k=2)
if score >= 0.3]
if not found:
return "No policy covers this."
return "\n".join(f"[{doc.metadata['source']}] {doc.page_content}" for doc in found)import re
from langchain.messages import AIMessage
from shop_model import ShopModel
class DeskModel(ShopModel):
def decide(self, messages):
last = messages[-1]
if last.type == "tool" and last.text == "No policy covers this.":
return AIMessage("Our policies do not cover that. A person will reply.")
if last.type == "tool" or re.findall(r"\b[A-Z]\d+\b", last.text):
return super().decide(messages)
query = {"name": "search_policies", "args": {"query": last.text}, "id": "call_p"}
return AIMessage("", tool_calls=[query])
from langchain.agents.middleware import before_agent
from langchain.messages import AIMessage
@before_agent(can_jump_to=["end"])
def no_passwords(state, runtime):
if "password" in state["messages"][-1].text.lower():
answer = AIMessage("I cannot help with passwords. Please use the reset link.")
return {"messages": [answer], "jump_to": "end"}
from langgraph.types import Command
from desk import Customer, agent
def say(who, text, thread):
config = {"configurable": {"thread_id": thread}}
result = agent.invoke({"messages": [{"role": "user", "content": text}]}, config,
context=Customer(who), version="v2")
if result.interrupts:
print(f"{who}: {text}\n paused for approval: {result.interrupts[0].value['action_requests'][0]['args']}")
result = agent.invoke(Command(resume={"decisions": [{"type": "approve"}]}), config,
context=Customer(who), version="v2")
text = "(approved)"
print(f"{who}: {text}\n desk: {result.value['messages'][-1].text}")
from uuid import uuid4
from desk import agent
from desk_tools import Customer
def ask(who, text):
config = {"configurable": {"thread_id": str(uuid4())}} # a new thread for every call
result = agent.invoke({"messages": [{"role": "user", "content": text}]}, config,
context=Customer(who), version="v2")
return result.value["messages"][-1].text
def test_an_order_is_answered_to_its_owner():
assert "shipped" in ask("ravi", "Where is A17?")
def test_another_customers_order_is_refused():
assert "not one of your orders" in ask("mei", "Where is A17?")
def test_a_policy_question_is_answered_from_the_documents():
assert "5 working days" in ask("ravi", "How long does a refund take?")
def test_an_uncovered_question_is_refused():
assert "A person will reply" in ask("ravi", "Do you sell gift cards?")
def test_passwords_never_reach_the_model():
assert "reset link" in ask("ravi", "What is my password?")
The saver in desk.py
This replaces desk.py. Two lines change, marked with was: the saver's import, and the checkpointer argument, which now opens desk.db. check_same_thread=False lets the agent use the connection from whichever thread it runs on.
import sqlite3
from langchain.agents import create_agent
from langchain.agents.middleware import HumanInTheLoopMiddleware, ModelCallLimitMiddleware, PIIMiddleware
from langgraph.checkpoint.sqlite import SqliteSaver # was InMemorySaver
from desk_model import DeskModel
from password_check import no_passwords
from search import search_policies
from desk_tools import Customer, lookup_order, refund_order
agent = create_agent(
DeskModel(),
system_prompt="You are the support assistant for a small online shop. Answer in one or two short sentences, using only what the tools returned. If a tool says an order is not the customer's, say exactly that. Add nothing the tools did not say.",
tools=[lookup_order, refund_order, search_policies],
context_schema=Customer,
middleware=[
no_passwords,
PIIMiddleware("credit_card", strategy="mask"),
ModelCallLimitMiddleware(run_limit=6),
HumanInTheLoopMiddleware(interrupt_on={"refund_order": True}),
],
checkpointer=SqliteSaver(sqlite3.connect("desk.db", check_same_thread=False)), # was InMemorySaver()
)An import, a connection, and the argument that was already there. Everything the desk does with threads was written against the checkpointer, so the rest of the file is untouched.
Ask once, then run it again
The program below asks one question and counts what the thread holds. Running it twice is two separate processes, which is what a restart is.
from chat import say
from desk import agent
thread = {"configurable": {"thread_id": "ravi-1"}}
say("ravi", "Where is A17?", "ravi-1")
print(len(agent.get_state(thread).values["messages"]), "messages saved")python threads.py
python threads.pyravi: Where is A17? desk: A17 shipped on 3 March. 4 messages saved ravi: Where is A17? desk: A17 shipped on 3 March. 8 messages saved
Four messages after the first run, eight after the second: the second process found Ravi's thread already there and carried on. With InMemorySaver both runs would have printed four.
Why the second run found the thread
- The first run saved four messages. The second run was a new process, but it found Ravi's thread already in
desk.dband carried on, so it reached eight. - Running the file twice is what a restart is, and the file is what carries the thread across.
- With
InMemorySaverboth runs would print four, because it holds threads in memory only and each run starts empty.
The tests, against the real pieces
The five tests from the project were written against the desk, not against the stand-ins. The store is Chroma now and the saver writes to a file, and nothing in the test file changes. They still pass because desk.py keeps DeskModel. On the Groq desk, test_an_uncovered_question_is_refused would be the first to need loosening: it looks for the exact words "A person will reply", which only DeskModel says, while a real model words its refusal its own way.
pytest -q -p no:warnings test_desk.py..... [100%] 5 passed in 0.55s
That is what those tests were for. Two pieces of the desk were replaced by packages it had never run against, and the owner check, the policy answer, the refusal and the guardrail all still hold.
Pick one to watch it run, step by step.
The desk as it now stands, and what each piece it was built on becomes. The middle column is the only reason the swaps are one line each: everything around them was written against the interface, never against your class.
When threads must survive a restart
- Any desk that must remember a customer between visits, or across a deploy.
- A service on more than one machine, where
PostgresSavertakes a connection string instead of a file.
check_same_thread=False on the connection, or the agent raises when it reads the thread from a different thread than the one that opened the file.Where to read next
LangChain is larger than one desk. These are the areas left out above, and what each is for.
| Topic | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Event streaming | stream_events with version="v3": typed events for tokens, tool calls and middleware, recommended for new apps. |
| Handoffs | Agents that pass the whole conversation to another agent, which then talks to the user directly. |
| Skills | Loading instructions and tools into an agent only when a task needs them. |
| Custom workflows | Mixing fixed steps and agents in one LangGraph graph. |
| Multi-agent tutorials | A personal assistant with subagents, customer support with handoffs, a knowledge base with a parallel router, and a SQL assistant with skills. |
| SQL agent | An agent that writes and runs SQL queries against a database. |
| LangSmith observability | Tracing every run to LangSmith by setting two environment variables. |
| Integration tests and evals | Testing against real providers, and scoring an agent's answers on a larger dataset than the three goldens in The desk on a hosted model. |
| Context engineering and memory concepts | Guides to what goes into each model call, and to kinds of memory. The trimming and summarization lessons use two of their techniques. |
| Component architecture | Diagrams of how models, tools, retrievers, vector stores and agents fit together. |
| Runtimes, frameworks and harnesses | How LangChain, LangGraph and Deep Agents relate. |
| Deep Agents | You saw its subagents in Subagents as tools; it also adds planning and a virtual filesystem. |
| Frontend and Agent Chat UI | React components and a chat interface for LangChain agents. |
| Deployment and Studio | Running agents on LangSmith's servers and inspecting them in a browser. |
| Voice agents | Speech in and out around an agent. |
| Provider integrations | Hundreds of chat models, embedding models, vector stores and loaders, each its own package. |
Related
- Previous: A persistent vector store with Chroma
- Reference: Persistence and checkpointers
- Delete
desk.dband runthreads.pytwice again. - Ask as a second customer on another thread id and look at the file's size.
- Read
agent.get_state_history(thread)after three questions.
Every expert started right here.