* update Tool,ToolInvoker,ComponentTool,create_tool_from_function
* add State and its utils
* add tests for State and its utils
* update tests for Tool etc.
* reno
* fix circular imports
* update experimental imports in tests
* fix unit tests
* fix ChatGenerator unit tests
* mypy
* add State to init and pydoc
* explain State in more detail in release note
* add test from #8913
* re-add _check_duplicate_tool_names and refactor imports
* rename inputs and outputs
* Starting to refactor type util tests to be more systematic
* refactoring
* Expand tests
* Update to type utils
* Add missing subclass check
* Expand and refactor tests, introduce type_validation Literal
* More test refactoring
* Test refactoring, adding type validation variable to pipeline base
* Update relaxed version of type checking to pass all newly added tests
* trim whitespace
* Add tests
* cleanup
* Updates docstrings
* Add reno
* docs
* Fix mypy and add docstrings
* Changes based on advice from Tobi
* Remove unused imports
* Doc strings
* Add connection type validation to to_dict and from_dict
* Update tests
* Fix test
* Also save connection_type_validation at global pipeline level
* Fix tests
* Remove connection type validation from the connect level, only keep at pipeline level
* Formatting
* Fix tests
* formatting