Go Lint

Go Lint

This skill detects the best way to run golangci-lint in the current Go repository and executes it, reporting results in a structured summary.

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

• The user asks to run the linter, check for lint issues, or verify code quality in a Go project
• Another command needs to run golangci-lint as a prerequisite step (e.g., golang:lint-fix)
• The agent decides linting is needed before committing Go code changes

Prerequisites

• A Go repository (contains go.mod)
• golangci-lint installed, or the ability to install it (see Step 6 below)

Implementation Steps

Step 1: Detect the Lint Command

Try the following approaches in order. Proceed to Step 2 once any approach succeeds:

1. Check project documentation first - Read AGENTS.md or CLAUDE.md in the repository root (if they exist) and look for linting instructions (e.g., make lint, make verify, specific golangci-lint commands, or other linter commands). If found, use those instructions.

2. Check for lint scripts - Many repositories (especially OpenShift projects) have scripts that run golangci-lint in a containerized way with repo-specific configuration. Check for these patterns and run if found:

   • hack/go-lint.sh
   • hack/lint.sh
   • hack/verify-golangci-lint.sh
   • hack/verify-lint.sh
   • scripts/go-lint.sh
   • scripts/lint.sh
   • Or any other *lint*.sh script in hack/ or scripts/ directories

3. Check the Makefile - Look for a make target like make lint or make verify-lint, and run it.

4. Run golangci-lint directly - Try: golangci-lint run

5. Try GOPATH binary - If golangci-lint was not found on PATH, try:

   • $(go env GOPATH)/bin/golangci-lint run

6. Install golangci-lint - If not installed, inform the user how to install it:

   • macOS/Linux: curl -sSfL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/golangci/golangci-lint/master/install.sh | sh -s -- -b $(go env GOPATH)/bin
   • Or using go install: go install github.com/golangci/golangci-lint/cmd/golangci-lint@latest
   • Then retry from step 4.

Step 2: Handle Configuration

During the linter run:

• If the codebase contains an existing .golangci.yml or .golangci.yaml, use it with golangci-lint run --config=<path>
• If there are issues with a missing config, try with golangci-lint run --noconfig

Step 3: Report Results

After running the linter:

1. Report the total number of issues found
2. Summarize the issues by category (e.g., goconst, gocyclo, staticcheck, etc.)
3. Show the first 2-3 issues as examples
4. If there are no issues, confirm that the code passes all linter checks

Do not attempt to fix any issues - this skill is read-only.

Output Format

• Success with issues:

  Found 15 issues:
  - goconst: 5 issues
  - staticcheck: 4 issues
  - gocyclo: 3 issues
  - revive: 3 issues
  
  Example issues:
  - pkg/api/handler.go:42: string "application/json" has 3 occurrences (goconst)
  - pkg/utils/helper.go:87: cyclomatic complexity 15 of function ProcessData (gocyclo)
  

• No issues:

  Code passes all linter checks (0 issues found)
  

• Error: Installation instructions if golangci-lint could not be installed or run

Important Notes

• Remember the exact golangci-lint command that was used, as callers (like golang:lint-fix) may need it
• If the user passes additional flags, chain them to the golangci-lint invocation (e.g., --tests, --concurrency 4)
• Do not run with --fix; if the user wants fixes, direct them to the /golang:lint-fix command