LangChain builds agents. OrchKernel governs them.
LangChain is a framework for building LLM applications and agents in code. OrchKernel decides what any agent may do, holds risky actions for a person, and records everything. They run side by side.
Different tools, different jobs
LangChain and OrchKernel answer different questions. You can use both.
What LangChain is for
Building an agent's logic in code.
- A framework for LLM applications and agents, in Python and JavaScript
- Building blocks for prompts, models, tools and retrieval
- Your engineers own the code and how it runs
What OrchKernel is for
Deciding what agents may do, and proving what they did.
- Puts one gate between every agent and everything it touches
- Checks kill switches, arguments, delegation, budgets, rules, then risk against trust
- Holds risky actions for a person, who sees the exact payload
- Keeps vendor keys away from agents and runs approved actions with its own credentials
- Records every action in a tamper-evident log, with rules kept in Git
- Runs on your infrastructure: one binary and one database file
Running them side by side
Keep the agent you built. Add the gate in front of the systems it touches.
- 01
Keep building in LangChain
Your agent keeps its code, its prompts and its framework.
- 02
Give each agent an identity
In OrchKernel, each outside agent gets a trust tier, a budget and the person it acts for.
- 03
Send actions through the gate
The LangChain agent asks OrchKernel before it acts, through the governed actions API or the MCP gateway.
- 04
Rules decide, the kernel applies
The answer is allowed, needs approval or denied, with the reason. Approved actions run with OrchKernel's credentials and land in the log.
When to use which
You may need one, the other, or both.
LangChain on its own is enough when…
- You are prototyping an agent and nobody depends on its actions yet
- The agent answers questions and does not act on your systems
- One team owns the agent, its keys and its risks
Add OrchKernel when…
- The agent will email customers, issue refunds, change records or ship code
- Someone must approve risky actions before they happen
- You need to prove what an agent did and who allowed it
- Agents built in different ways need one set of rules
LangChain and OrchKernel questions
Put one real workflow through the gate
We help you run it on OrchKernel, on your own systems.