Go Pro

Senior-level Go expertise for production projects. Focuses on idiomatic patterns, simplicity, and Go's design philosophy.

When Invoked

1. Review go.mod and .golangci.yml for project conventions
2. For build system setup, invoke the just-pro skill
3. Apply Go idioms and established project patterns

Core Standards

Required:

• All exported identifiers have doc comments
• All errors checked and handled (no _ = err)
• NO panic() for recoverable errors
• golangci-lint passes with project configuration
• Table-driven tests for multiple cases

Foundational Principles:

• Single Responsibility: One package = one purpose, one function = one job
• No God Objects: Split large structs; if it has 10+ fields or methods, decompose
• Dependency Injection: Pass dependencies, don't create them internally
• Small Interfaces: 1-3 methods max; compose larger behaviors from small interfaces

---

Project Setup (Go 1.25+)

Version Management

Pin Go version with mise: mise use go@1.25 (creates .mise.toml — commit it). Team members run mise install. See mise skill for setup.

New Project Quick Start

# Initialize
go mod init github.com/org/project
go mod edit -go=1.25

# Add toolchain dependencies (tracked in go.mod)
go get -tool github.com/golangci/golangci-lint/v2/cmd/golangci-lint@latest
go get -tool golang.org/x/tools/cmd/goimports@latest
go get -tool golang.org/x/vuln/cmd/govulncheck@latest

# Copy configs from this skill's references/ directory:
#   references/gitignore          → .gitignore
#   references/golangci-v2.yml    → .golangci.yml
# For build system, invoke just-pro skill

# Verify
just check   # Or: go tool golangci-lint run

Developer Onboarding

git clone <repo> && cd <repo>
just setup         # Runs mise trust/install + go mod download
just check         # Verify everything works

Or manually:

mise trust && mise install  # Get pinned Go version
go mod download             # Get dependencies

Why go get -tool? Tools versioned in go.mod = reproducible builds, same versions for all devs, no separate installation needed.

---

Build System

Invoke the just-pro skill for build system setup. It covers:

• Simple repos vs monorepos
• Hierarchical justfile modules
• Go-specific templates (references/package-go.just)

Why just? Consistent toolchain frontend between agents and humans. Instead of remembering go tool golangci-lint run --fix, use just fix.

---

Quality Assurance

Auto-Fix First - Always try auto-fix before manual fixes:

just fix             # Or: go tool golangci-lint run --fix && go tool goimports -w .

Verification:

just check           # Or: go tool golangci-lint run && go test -race ./... && go tool govulncheck ./...

---

Quick Reference

Error Handling

Pattern	Use
return err	Propagate unchanged (internal errors)
fmt.Errorf("context: %w", err)	Wrap with context (cross-boundary)
errors.Is(err, target)	Check specific error
errors.As(err, &target)	Extract typed error

Sentinel Errors - Define package-level errors for expected conditions:

var ErrNotFound = errors.New("not found")
var ErrInvalidInput = errors.New("invalid input")

Generics

// Constrained generics - prefer specific constraints
func Map[T, U any](items []T, fn func(T) U) []U {
    result := make([]U, len(items))
    for i, item := range items {
        result[i] = fn(item)
    }
    return result
}

// Type constraints - use interfaces
type Ordered interface {
    ~int | ~int64 | ~float64 | ~string
}

func Max[T Ordered](a, b T) T {
    if a > b {
        return a
    }
    return b
}

// Avoid: overly generic signatures that lose type safety
// Prefer: concrete types until generics are clearly needed

Structured Logging (slog)

import "log/slog"

// Package-level logger with context
func NewService(logger *slog.Logger) *Service {
    return &Service{
        log: logger.With("component", "service"),
    }
}

// Structured logging with levels
s.log.Info("request processed",
    "method", r.Method,
    "path", r.URL.Path,
    "duration", time.Since(start),
)

s.log.Error("operation failed",
    "err", err,
    "user_id", userID,
)

Iterators (Go 1.23+)

import "iter"

// Return iterators for large collections
func (db *DB) Users() iter.Seq[User] {
    return func(yield func(User) bool) {
        rows, _ := db.Query("SELECT * FROM users")
        defer rows.Close()
        for rows.Next() {
            var u User
            rows.Scan(&u.ID, &u.Name)
            if !yield(u) {
                return
            }
        }
    }
}

// Consume with range
for user := range db.Users() {
    process(user)
}

// Seq2 for key-value pairs
func (m *Map[K, V]) All() iter.Seq2[K, V]

Concurrency

Pattern	Use
sync.WaitGroup	Wait for goroutines
sync.Mutex / RWMutex	Protect shared state
context.Context	Cancellation/timeouts
errgroup.Group	Concurrent with error collection

// Context-aware work
func DoWork(ctx context.Context, arg string) error {
    select {
    case <-ctx.Done():
        return ctx.Err()
    default:
    }
    // ... work
}

Testing

// Table-driven tests with subtests
func TestParse(t *testing.T) {
    tests := []struct {
        name    string
        input   string
        want    Result
        wantErr bool
    }{
        {name: "valid", input: "foo", want: Result{Value: "foo"}},
        {name: "empty", input: "", wantErr: true},
        {name: "special", input: "a@b", want: Result{Value: "a@b"}},
    }

    for _, tt := range tests {
        t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
            got, err := Parse(tt.input)
            if (err != nil) != tt.wantErr {
                t.Errorf("Parse() error = %v, wantErr %v", err, tt.wantErr)
                return
            }
            if got != tt.want {
                t.Errorf("Parse() = %v, want %v", got, tt.want)
            }
        })
    }
}

// Testify for complex assertions
import "github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
import "github.com/stretchr/testify/require"

func TestService(t *testing.T) {
    require.NoError(t, err)           // Fail fast
    assert.Equal(t, expected, actual) // Continue on failure
    assert.Len(t, items, 3)
    assert.Contains(t, items, target)
}

Pointer vs Value Receivers

// Use pointer receivers when:
// - Method modifies the receiver
// - Receiver is large (avoid copy)
// - Consistency: if any method needs pointer, use pointer for all
func (s *Service) UpdateConfig(cfg Config) { s.cfg = cfg }

// Use value receivers when:
// - Receiver is small (int, string, small struct)
// - Method is read-only and receiver is immutable
func (p Point) Distance(other Point) float64 { ... }

Package Organization

project/
├── cmd/appname/main.go   # Entry point
├── internal/             # Private packages
│   ├── api/              # Handlers
│   └── domain/           # Business logic
├── go.mod
├── .golangci.yml
└── justfile

Rules: One package = one purpose. Use internal/ for implementation. Avoid util, common, helpers packages.

---

DX Patterns

Doctor Recipe with Version Validation

Doctor scripts should validate that toolchain versions meet requirements, not just check existence:

# Validate toolchain versions meet requirements
doctor:
    #!/usr/bin/env bash
    set -euo pipefail
    echo "Checking toolchain..."

    # Validate Go version (requires 1.25+)
    GO_VERSION=$(go version | grep -oE 'go[0-9]+\.[0-9]+' | sed 's/go//')
    if [[ "$(printf '%s\n' "1.25" "$GO_VERSION" | sort -V | head -1)" != "1.25" ]]; then
        echo "FAIL: Go $GO_VERSION < 1.25 required"
        exit 1
    fi
    echo "✓ Go $GO_VERSION"

    # Add more version checks as needed
    echo "All checks passed"

Port Conflict Detection

For services that bind ports, check availability before starting:

# Check if required ports are available before starting
check-ports:
    #!/usr/bin/env bash
    for port in 8080 5432; do
        if lsof -i :$port >/dev/null 2>&1; then
            echo "FAIL: Port $port already in use"
            exit 1
        fi
    done
    echo "All ports available"

First-Run Detection

Avoid redundant setup work with first-run detection:

# Setup with first-run detection
setup:
    #!/usr/bin/env bash
    if [[ -f .setup-complete ]]; then
        echo "Already set up. Run 'just setup-force' to reinstall."
        exit 0
    fi
    mise trust && mise install
    go mod download
    touch .setup-complete
    echo "Setup complete"

setup-force:
    rm -f .setup-complete
    @just setup

---

Anti-Patterns

• panic() for recoverable errors (use return err)
• Ignoring errors with _
• Exported package-level mutable variables
• Channels when mutex suffices
• Getter/setter methods (Go isn't Java)
• init() with side effects
• God structs with 10+ fields/methods
• interface{} or any when specific types work
• Premature generics (concrete types first)

---

AI Agent Guidelines

Before writing code:

1. Read go.mod for module path and Go version
2. Check .golangci.yml for project-specific lint rules
3. Identify existing patterns in the codebase to follow

When writing code:

1. Handle all errors explicitly - never use _ = err
2. Add doc comments to exported identifiers immediately
3. Use existing project abstractions over creating new ones
4. Prefer concrete types; add generics only when pattern repeats 3+ times

Before committing:

1. Run just check (standard for projects using just)
2. Fallback: go tool golangci-lint run --fix && go tool golangci-lint run
3. Fallback: go test -race ./... to catch race conditions
4. Fallback: go tool govulncheck ./... to catch known vulnerabilities