Add new chapter for Langflow with major changes and improvements

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Gabriel Luiz Freitas Almeida 2024-03-28 19:51:20 -03:00
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# A new chapter for Langflow
# First things first
Thank you all for being part of the Langflow community. The journey so far has been amazing and we are happy to have you with us.
We have some exciting news to share with you. Langflow is changing, and we want to tell you all about it.
## Where have we been?
We're moving from version 0.6 straight to 1.0 (preview). This is a big change, and we want to explain why we're doing it and what it means for you.
## Why?
In the past year, we learned a lot from the community and our users. We saw the potential of Langflow and the need for a more powerful and flexible tool for building conversational AI applications (and beyond).
We realized that Langflow was hiding things from you that would really help you build better and more complex conversational AI applications. So we decided to make a big change.
## The only way to go is forward
From all the people we talked to, we learned that the most important thing for (most of) them is to have a tool that is easy to use, but also powerful and controllable. They also told us that Langflow's transparency could be improved.
In those points, we saw an opportunity to make Langflow much more powerful and flexible, while also making it easier to use and understand.
One key change you'll notice is that projects now require you to define Inputs and Outputs.
This is a big change, but it's also a big improvement.
It allows you to define the structure of your conversation and the data that flows through it.
This makes it easier to understand and control your conversation.
This change comes with a new way of visualizing your projects. Before 1.0 you would connect Components to ultimately build one final Component that was processed behind the scenes.
Now, each step of the process is defined by you, is visible on the canvas, and can be monitored and controlled by you. This makes it so that Composition is now just another way of building in Langflow. **Now data flows through your project more transparently**.
The caveat is existing projects may need some new Components to get them back to their full functionality.
[We've made this as easy as possible](../migration/compatibility), and there will be improvements to it as we get feedback in our Discord server and on GitHub.
## Custom Interactions
The moment we decided to make this change, we saw the potential to make Langflow even more yours.
By having a clear definition of Inputs and Outputs, we could build the experience around that which led us to create the **Interaction Panel**.
When building a project testing and debugging is crucial. The Interaction Panel is a tool that changes dynamically based on the Inputs and Outputs you defined in your project.
For example, let's say you are building a simple RAG application. Generally, you have an Input, some references that come from a Vector Store Search, a Prompt and the answer.
Now, you could plug the output of your Prompt into a [Text Output](../components/outputs#Text-Output), rename that to "Prompt Result" and see the output of your Prompt in the Interaction Panel.
{/* Add image here of the described above */}
This is just one example of how the Interaction Panel can help you build and debug your projects.
We have many planned features for the Interaction Panel, and we're excited to see how you use it and what you think of it.
## An easier start
The experience for the first-time user is also something we wanted to improve.
Meet the new and improved **New Project** screen. It's now easier to start a new project, and you can choose from a list of starter projects to get you started.
{/* Add new project image */}
We wanted to create start projects that would help you learn about new features and also give you a head start on your projects.
For now, we have:
- **Basic Prompting**: A simple project that shows you how to use the Prompt Component.
- **Data Ingestion**: A project that shows you how to ingest files into a Vector Store.
- **RAG**: A project that shows you how to use a Vector Store Search and a Prompt to build a simple RAG application.
As always, your feedback is invaluable, so please let us know what you think of the new starter projects and what you would like to see in the future.
## Less is more
We added many new Components to Langflow and updated some of the existing ones, and we will deprecate some of them.
The idea is that Langflow has evolved, and we want to make sure that the Components you use are the best they can be.
Some of them don't work well with the others, and some of them are just not needed anymore.
We are working on a list of Components that will be deprecated.
In the preview stages of 1.0, we will have a smaller list of Components so that we make sure that the ones we have are the best they can be.
Regardless, community feedback is very important in this matter, so please let us know what you think of the new Components and which ones you miss.
We are aiming at having a more stable and reliable set of Components that helps you get quickly to useful results.
This also means that your contributions in the [Langflow Store](https://langflow.store) and throughout the community are more important than ever.
## What's next?
Langflow went through a big change, and we are excited to see how you use it and what you think of it.
We plan to add more types of Input and Output like Image and Audio, and we also plan to add more Components to help you build more complex projects.
We also have some experimental features like a State Management System (so cool!) and a new way of building Grouped Components that we are excited to show you.
## Reach out
One last time, we want to thank you for being part of the Langflow community. Your feedback is invaluable, and we want to hear from you.