You've built and optimized your LangChain application. Now, the next step is moving it from your development environment into a production setting where it can be reliably used. This chapter focuses on the practical aspects of packaging, deploying, and managing LangChain applications for real-world use.

We will cover essential practices for making your applications operational. You'll learn how to:

• Structure your project code and configuration for maintainability and deployment.
• Package your application using containerization tools like Docker.
• Evaluate different deployment environments, including traditional servers, Kubernetes, and serverless platforms.
• Implement specific patterns for serverless deployments.
• Manage sensitive information like API keys and configurations securely.
• Automate the build, testing, and deployment process using Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) pipelines.
• Apply safe deployment strategies such as blue/green or canary releases to minimize downtime and risk during updates.

By the end of this chapter, you will understand the common techniques and considerations for taking a LangChain application live.