#16
LangGraph State Holds References, Not Business Truth
LangGraph state is not where business truth should live.
It is where the workflow keeps the references needed to find the truth.
That boundary matters in production.
Graph state is workflow memory.
LangGraph state can store things like:
- activeFlow
- waitingFor
- selectedProductId
- cartId
- orderId
- idempotencyKey
They help the agent continue, resume, route, retry, or recover.
But they should not replace the systems that own the actual business outcome.
Orders belong in the order system.
Payments belong in the payment provider.
Inventory belongs in the inventory service.
Cart items belong in the cart database.
A better pattern is:
The business system owns the durable outcome.
LangGraph state stores the reference.
State should tell the agent where it is.
References should tell the agent where to verify.
The source of truth should tell the system what is real.
LangGraph state tells the agent where it is in the workflow.
The source of truth tells the system what actually happened.