langchain/chains/base.py/Chain/prep_inputs
class Chain:    def prep_inputs(self, inputs: Union[Dict[str, Any], Any]) -> Dict[str, str]:
        """Validate and prep inputs."""
        if not isinstance(inputs, dict):
            _input_keys = set(self.input_keys)
            if self.memory is not None:
                # If there are multiple input keys, but some get set by memory so that
                # only one is not set, we can still figure out which key it is.
                _input_keys = _input_keys.difference(self.memory.memory_variables)
            if len(_input_keys) != 1:
                raise ValueError(
                    f"A single string input was passed in, but this chain expects "
                    f"multiple inputs ({_input_keys}). When a chain expects "
                    f"multiple inputs, please call it by passing in a dictionary, "
                    "eg `chain({'foo': 1, 'bar': 2})`"
                )
            inputs = {list(_input_keys)[0]: inputs}
        if self.memory is not None:
            external_context = self.memory.load_memory_variables(inputs)
            inputs = dict(inputs, **external_context)
        self._validate_inputs(inputs)
        return inputs