Go Coding Standards

Go Coding Standards

This skill provides modern Go coding guidelines and best practices for this project.

When to Apply

Apply these standards when:

• Writing new Go code
• Reviewing or refactoring existing Go code
• Designing package APIs and interfaces
• Implementing error handling strategies

Core Principles

1. Simplicity Over Cleverness - Clear, readable code beats clever abstractions
2. Composition Over Inheritance - Use interfaces and embedding
3. Explicit Over Implicit - Make behavior obvious, avoid magic
4. Fail Fast - Return errors early, handle them explicitly

Quick Reference

Must-Use Patterns

Must-Avoid Anti-Patterns

Detailed Guidelines

For comprehensive guidance, see:

• Error Handling Patterns - Error wrapping, sentinel errors, custom types
• Project Layout Conventions - Standard layout, layered architecture
• Concurrency Patterns - Goroutines, channels, sync primitives
• Interface Design - Composition, small interfaces, mocking
• Security Guidelines - Credential protection, path sanitization, sensitive data handling

Code Style

Naming Conventions

Documentation

// Package user provides user management functionality.
package user

// User represents a registered user in the system.
// It contains the user's identity and profile information.
type User struct {
    ID    string
    Email string
    Name  string
}

// NewUser creates a new User with the given email.
// Returns an error if the email format is invalid.
func NewUser(email string) (*User, error) {
    // ...
}

Tooling

Always run these before committing:

go fmt ./...           # Format code
go vet ./...           # Static analysis
go test ./...          # Run tests
go mod tidy            # Sync dependencies

Consider adding:

• golangci-lint - Comprehensive linter
• staticcheck - Advanced static analysis

References

• Effective Go
• Go Code Review Comments
• Standard Go Project Layout
• Uber Go Style Guide

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