Go Surgeon Edit

go-surgeon: Edit Skill

You are editing Go code in a project that has go-surgeon available. You MUST use go-surgeon for all Go code reading, navigation, and modification. Do NOT use generic tools like cat, sed, grep, or full-file replacement diffs — they cause indentation errors and waste context.

go-surgeon is a deterministic AST-based byte-range editor. It automatically runs goimports on every mutation, so you NEVER need to manage imports or formatting.

1. Orientation & Navigation

Always start by exploring the codebase structure rather than reading full files.

List all packages

go-surgeon graph

List exported symbols in a directory

go-surgeon graph --symbols --dir <relative_dir>
# Short: go-surgeon graph -s -d <relative_dir>

Additional flags:

• --summary: Include package doc comment summary
• --deps: Show internal import dependencies
• --tests: Include _test.go files
• --recursive=false: Only the target directory (no sub-packages), used with --symbols

Context window management flags

Use these to avoid overwhelming the token budget on large codebases:

# Limit directory recursion depth (1 = target dir only, 2 = immediate children)
go-surgeon graph --summary --depth 2

# Full detail for one package, path-only for the rest (implies --symbols --summary -r)
go-surgeon graph --focus internal/catalog/domain

# Skip directories matching glob patterns (repeatable)
go-surgeon graph --exclude vendor --exclude "*legacy*"

# Progressive truncation to fit approximate token count
# Strips in order: summaries → deps → symbols → files → package list
go-surgeon graph --summary --deps --token-budget 2000

Progressive discovery strategy

For large codebases, zoom in step by step:

1. go-surgeon graph --summary --depth 2 — high-level map
2. go-surgeon graph --focus <package> — full detail on the interesting area
3. go-surgeon graph -s -d <subdir> — symbols in one subtree

Find a symbol (function, method, struct)

# Free function or struct
go-surgeon symbol NewBook

# Method on a receiver (Receiver.Method form)
go-surgeon symbol BookHandler.Handle

# With full body (empty lines stripped to save tokens)
go-surgeon symbol NewBook --body

# Scoped to a directory
go-surgeon symbol Validate --dir internal/catalog/domain
# Short: go-surgeon symbol Validate -b -d internal/catalog/domain

Important: Use Receiver.Method form for precise method lookups. If multiple matches are found, a disambiguation index is returned — refine with Receiver.Method or --dir.

2. Editing Code

NEVER use cat <<'EOF' | go-surgeon ... heredoc pipes — they trigger permission prompts. Instead, write YAML plan files to .tmp/ and execute them with go-surgeon execute -f.

YAML plan files (preferred pattern)

Write one or more actions to a .tmp/plan_name.yaml file using the Write tool, then execute:

go-surgeon execute -f .tmp/plan_name.yaml

Plans are auto-deleted on success. You can batch multiple actions and run multiple plans in one call:

go-surgeon execute -f .tmp/plan_a.yaml -f .tmp/plan_b.yaml

Plan file schema:

actions:
  - action: create_file | replace_file
             add_func | update_func | delete_func
             add_struct | update_struct | delete_struct
             add_interface | update_interface | delete_interface
    file: <target file path>
    identifier: <FuncName or Receiver.Method, for update/delete>
    content: |
      <raw Go source — no package declaration, no imports>
    mock_file: <mock output path, for add/update_interface>
    mock_name: <mock struct name, for add/update_interface>

Examples

Add a function:

# .tmp/plan_add_newbook.yaml
actions:
  - action: add_func
    file: internal/domain/book.go
    content: |
      func NewBook(title string) (*Book, error) {
          if title == "" {
              return nil, errors.New("title required")
          }
          return &Book{Title: title}, nil
      }

Update a function and add a struct in one plan:

# .tmp/plan_book_changes.yaml
actions:
  - action: update_func
    file: internal/domain/book.go
    identifier: NewBook
    content: |
      func NewBook(title, author string) (*Book, error) {
          return &Book{Title: title, Author: author}, nil
      }
  - action: add_struct
    file: internal/domain/book.go
    content: |
      type BookStatus string

Delete (no content needed):

actions:
  - action: delete_func
    file: internal/domain/book.go
    identifier: NewBook

Update a method (Receiver.Method form):

actions:
  - action: update_func
    file: internal/domain/book.go
    identifier: Book.Validate
    content: |
      func (b *Book) Validate() error {
          return nil
      }

Critical rules

1. Always provide the FULL declaration in content (complete signature + body for functions).
2. Never add package or import statements — goimports handles it.
3. Never worry about indentation — goimports reformats everything.
4. Each action is atomic with clear error messages including hints.
5. update-func/update-struct fall back to add if the identifier is not found, with a warning.
6. add-func/add-struct detect duplicates and return the existing code in the error message.
7. Never use the Read tool on .go files — use go-surgeon symbol <Name> --body instead.

3. Interfaces & Mocks

Create/update interface with auto-mock

Use a YAML plan file:

# .tmp/plan_repo_interface.yaml
actions:
  - action: add_interface
    file: internal/domain/repositories/book/book.go
    mock_file: internal/domain/repositories/book/booktest/mock.go
    mock_name: MockBookRepository
    content: |
      type BookRepository interface {
          Create(ctx context.Context, projectID types.ProjectID, book domain.Book) error
          FindByID(ctx context.Context, projectID types.ProjectID, id types.BookID) (*domain.Book, error)
      }

# Update (regenerates mock automatically)
actions:
  - action: update_interface
    file: internal/domain/repositories/book/book.go
    identifier: BookRepository
    mock_file: internal/domain/repositories/book/booktest/mock.go
    mock_name: MockBookRepository
    content: |
      type BookRepository interface {
          Create(ctx context.Context, projectID types.ProjectID, book domain.Book) error
          FindByID(ctx context.Context, projectID types.ProjectID, id types.BookID) (*domain.Book, error)
          Delete(ctx context.Context, projectID types.ProjectID, id types.BookID) error
      }

# Delete (mock is NOT auto-deleted — build will break, forcing explicit cleanup)
go-surgeon delete-interface --file internal/domain/repositories/book/book.go --id BookRepository

Implement an interface (generate stubs)

For interfaces you don't own (stdlib, third-party, or project-local):

go-surgeon implement io.ReadCloser --receiver "*MyReader" --file internal/pkg/reader.go
go-surgeon implement context.Context --receiver "*MyCtx" --file internal/ctx.go

• Resolves the interface via go/packages (stdlib + third-party + local)
• Scans the entire package directory to avoid cross-file duplicates
• Validates signature compatibility of existing methods
• Generated stubs contain // TODO: implement + panic("not implemented")

Standalone mock generation

For interfaces you don't own and just need a mock:

go-surgeon mock io.ReadCloser --mock-name MockReadCloser --file internal/mocks/readcloser.go
go-surgeon mock github.com/myorg/myapp/domain.Repository \
  --mock-name MockRepository \
  --file internal/domain/repositorytest/mock.go

Extract interface from a struct

Scans all exported methods of a struct and generates the interface + optional mock:

go-surgeon extract-interface \
  --file internal/app/service.go \
  --id Service \
  --name ServiceInterface \
  --out internal/domain/service.go \
  --mock-file internal/domain/servicetest/mock.go \
  --mock-name MockService

4. Test Generation

Generate a table-driven test skeleton for any function or method:

go-surgeon test --file internal/domain/book.go --id NewBook
go-surgeon test --file internal/domain/book.go --id Book.Validate

• Creates/appends to *_test.go with _test package
• Generates struct with args, want*, and wantErr fields
• Uses testify assert/require

5. Struct Tag Manipulation

# Auto-generate json tags for all exported fields (camelCase)
go-surgeon tag --file internal/domain/book.go --id Book --auto json

# Auto-generate bson tags (snake_case)
go-surgeon tag --file internal/domain/book.go --id Book --auto bson

# Set exact tag on a specific field
go-surgeon tag --file internal/domain/book.go --id Book --field Title --set 'json:"book_title"'

6. Dry Run / Diff Mode

Preview any change as a unified diff without writing to disk. Write the content to a temp file and pipe it:

# Write content to a temp file, then pipe to --dry-run
printf 'func NewBook(title, author string) (*Book, error) {\n    return &Book{Title: title, Author: author}, nil\n}\n' \
  > .tmp/newbook.go
go-surgeon update-func --dry-run --file internal/domain/book.go --id NewBook < .tmp/newbook.go
rm .tmp/newbook.go

Note: --dry-run is not supported in YAML plan files — use the stdin form only for previewing.

Workflow: Before You Edit

1. Orient: go-surgeon graph (or graph --summary --depth 2 for large codebases) → find the package
2. Focus: go-surgeon graph --focus <pkg> → full detail on the target, path-only for the rest
3. Zoom in: go-surgeon graph -s -d <dir> → find the file and symbol
4. Read: go-surgeon symbol <Name> --body → understand what you're changing
5. Find a pattern: Look at a similar existing implementation before writing new code
6. Edit: Use the appropriate subcommand
7. Verify: go build ./... to confirm the codebase compiles

Error Handling

go-surgeon returns structured errors with hints:

• NODE_NOT_FOUND → "use go-surgeon symbol X to locate it"
• NODE_ALREADY_EXISTS → "use update-func to replace it" (shows existing code)
• FILE_NOT_FOUND → "use go-surgeon graph to list packages, or create-file"
• Unresolved imports → stderr warning when goimports can't resolve a package