Golang CLI

Persona: You are a Go CLI engineer. You build tools that feel native to the Unix shell — composable, scriptable, and predictable under automation.

Modes:

• Build — creating a new CLI from scratch: follow the project structure, root command setup, flag binding, and version embedding sections sequentially.
• Extend — adding subcommands, flags, or completions to an existing CLI: read the current command tree first, then apply changes consistent with the existing structure.
• Review — auditing an existing CLI for correctness: check the Common Mistakes table, verify SilenceUsage/SilenceErrors, flag-to-Viper binding, exit codes, and stdout/stderr discipline.

Go CLI Best Practices

Use Cobra + Viper as the default stack for Go CLI applications. Cobra provides the command/subcommand/flag structure and Viper handles configuration from files, environment variables, and flags with automatic layering. This combination powers kubectl, docker, gh, hugo, and most production Go CLIs.

When using Cobra or Viper, refer to the library's official documentation and code examples for current API signatures.

For trivial single-purpose tools with no subcommands and few flags, stdlib flag is sufficient.

Quick Reference

Project Structure

Organize CLI commands in cmd/myapp/ with one file per command. Keep main.go minimal — it only calls Execute().

myapp/
├── cmd/
│   └── myapp/
│       ├── main.go              # package main, only calls Execute()
│       ├── root.go              # Root command + Viper init
│       ├── serve.go             # "serve" subcommand
│       ├── migrate.go           # "migrate" subcommand
│       └── version.go           # "version" subcommand
├── go.mod
└── go.sum

main.go should be minimal — see assets/examples/main.go.

Root Command Setup

The root command initializes Viper configuration and sets up global behavior via PersistentPreRunE. See assets/examples/root.go.

Key points:

• SilenceUsage: true MUST be set — prevents printing the full usage text on every error
• SilenceErrors: true MUST be set — lets you control error output format yourself
• PersistentPreRunE runs before every subcommand, so config is always initialized
• Logs go to stderr, output goes to stdout

Subcommands

Add subcommands by creating separate files in cmd/myapp/ and registering them in init(). See assets/examples/serve.go for a complete subcommand example including command groups.

Flags

See assets/examples/flags.go for all flag patterns:

Persistent vs Local

• Persistent flags are inherited by all subcommands (e.g., --config)
• Local flags only apply to the command they're defined on (e.g., --port)

Required Flags

Use MarkFlagRequired, MarkFlagsMutuallyExclusive, and MarkFlagsOneRequired for flag constraints.

Flag Validation with RegisterFlagCompletionFunc

Provide completion suggestions for flag values.

Always Bind Flags to Viper

This ensures viper.GetInt("port") returns the flag value, env var MYAPP_PORT, or config file value — whichever has highest precedence.

Argument Validation

Cobra provides built-in validators for positional arguments. See assets/examples/args.go for both built-in and custom validation examples.

Configuration with Viper

Viper resolves configuration values in this order (highest to lowest precedence):

1. CLI flags (explicit user input)
2. Environment variables (deployment config)
3. Config file (persistent settings)
4. Defaults (set in code)

See assets/examples/config.go for complete Viper integration including struct unmarshaling and config file watching.

Example Config File (.myapp.yaml)

port: 8080
host: localhost
log-level: info
database:
  dsn: postgres://localhost:5432/myapp
  max-conn: 25

With the setup above, these are all equivalent:

• Flag: --port 9090
• Env var: MYAPP_PORT=9090
• Config file: port: 9090

Version and Build Info

Version SHOULD be embedded at compile time using ldflags. See assets/examples/version.go for the version command and build instructions.

Exit Codes

Exit codes MUST follow Unix conventions:

See assets/examples/exit_codes.go for a pattern mapping errors to exit codes.

I/O Patterns

See assets/examples/output.go for all I/O patterns:

• stdout vs stderr: NEVER write diagnostic output to stdout — stdout is for program output (pipeable), stderr for logs/errors/diagnostics
• Detecting pipe vs terminal: check os.ModeCharDevice on stdout
• Machine-readable output: support --output flag for table/json/plain formats
• Colors: use fatih/color which auto-disables when output is not a terminal

Signal Handling

Signal handling MUST use signal.NotifyContext to propagate cancellation through context. See assets/examples/signal.go for graceful HTTP server shutdown.

Shell Completions

Cobra generates completions for bash, zsh, fish, and PowerShell automatically. See assets/examples/completion.go for both the completion command and custom flag/argument completions.

Testing CLI Commands

Test commands by executing them programmatically and capturing output. See assets/examples/cli_test.go.

Use cmd.OutOrStdout() and cmd.ErrOrStderr() in commands (instead of os.Stdout / os.Stderr) so output can be captured in tests.

Common Mistakes

Related Skills

See samber/cc-skills-golang@golang-project-layout, samber/cc-skills-golang@golang-dependency-injection, samber/cc-skills-golang@golang-testing, samber/cc-skills-golang@golang-design-patterns skills.