Goa Service Designer

Goa Service Designer

Use this skill when working in an application repository that uses Goa. If the task is about changing Goa's own compiler, runtime, templates, or generators, follow that repository's contributor instructions instead.

Default Workflow

1. Classify the Goa change before editing:
   • New project or first service: read Quickstart and Code Generation.
   • New method, payload, result, validation, views, streaming shape, or shared type: read DSL Reference.
   • HTTP path, query, headers, body, CORS, content negotiation, static files, WebSocket, or SSE: read HTTP Guide.
   • gRPC, protobuf field numbers, metadata, trailers, or streaming: read gRPC Guide.
   • Error names, error payloads, status-code mapping, or generated error constructors: read Error Handling.
   • Goa interceptors, HTTP middleware, gRPC interceptors, or ordering: read Interceptors.
   • Authentication, production wiring, observability, health checks, shutdown, or timeouts: read Production.
2. Find the local design source, generated service contract, implementation, generation command, validation commands, and downstream consumers before choosing a pattern.
3. State the intended contract change in one or two sentences.
4. Edit the Goa design first.
5. Regenerate with the project's wrapper or goa gen <design-package-import-path>. Never use goa gen ./design.
6. Implement the generated interface outside gen/.
7. Update only affected consumers: mocks, clients, docs, examples, API snapshots, OpenAPI/protobuf consumers, command wiring, and project-specific SDKs generated from Goa output.
8. Run the generation, lint, type-check, and test commands allowed by the repository instructions. If a command is prohibited or too broad, state exactly what was not run.
9. Review generated and hand-written diffs together. Every generated change should have a direct design cause.

Use goa example <design-package-import-path> only for first-time scaffolding. It creates owned implementation files and does not overwrite existing custom implementation later.

Hard Rules

• Treat the Goa design as the canonical contract. If payload shape, result shape, validation, security, errors, transport mapping, documentation, OpenAPI, protobuf, generated clients, or CLIs need to change, edit the design first and regenerate.
• Never patch generated files, OpenAPI output, protobuf output, or generated clients to hide a stale design.
• Import generated packages with explicit aliases prefixed by gen, such as genfront, gendefinitions, or genruns, so generated Goa contracts are recognizable at call sites.
• In Goa design for public HTTP APIs, JSON body properties, query parameters, and path parameters use lower camel case (Field(1, "accountId", ...), Param("fromEventId"), Param("accountId"), Required("accountId")). If a protocol or compatibility boundary requires another transport name, keep the route/header explicit and map it in the HTTP DSL (for example Header("tusResumable:Tus-Resumable")). Method names use snake_case (Method("get_account", ...)).
• Use literal integer field tags in Goa design. For each non-Extend type, payload, or result definition, start Field tags at 1 and increment by 1 within that definition. For any definition that calls Extend, the fields introduced by that definition start at 100 and increment by 1. Do not carry field counters across methods or types, and do not hide field tags behind variables or helper calls.
• Put boundary validation in Goa. Use Required, Enum, Format, Pattern, Minimum, Maximum, MinLength, MaxLength, defaults, security fields, and explicit transport mappings in the design.
• Model error applicability at the narrowest correct Goa scope. API-level errors define reusable potential errors and let transports map them once; they do not mean every endpoint returns every API-level error. Service-level errors apply to all methods in that service. Method-level errors apply only to that method. Do not list an error at service scope just to make a generated constructor convenient if only some methods can return it.
• In service code, trust decoded payloads and enforce business invariants. Do not add nil guards, fallback behavior, silent recovery, blanket string trimming, or compatibility shims for values the design guarantees.
• Do not use nil versus empty slices or maps as API meaning. Empty arrays are indistinguishable from nil after marshaling/unmarshalling.
• Preserve compatibility for shipped public APIs, persisted data, external SDKs, and documented behavior. For internal-only contracts or unshipped branch work, update callers cleanly instead of adding shims.

What To Read Next

Load these references only when the task needs them:

• references/modeling-and-validation.md: type modeling, primitive aliases, required fields, pointer/default semantics, views, presence, and compatibility.
• references/transport-errors-interceptors.md: HTTP mapping, gRPC mapping, streaming, errors, security, interceptors, middleware, and observability labels.
• references/generated-code-and-implementation.md: generated diff triage, dirty worktrees, implementation updates, downstream artifacts, and validation commands.
• references/troubleshooting.md: generation failures, decode bugs, gRPC output surprises, interceptor ordering, and common mini-patterns.

Final Review

Before finishing, verify:

• The design remains the source of truth.
• Generated code was regenerated, not edited.
• Payloads, results, validation, security, errors, and transport mappings are explicit.
• Service code trusts Goa boundary validation and handles real dependency failures.
• Compatibility choices are represented in the design and tests, not hidden in service fallbacks.
• Affected downstream consumers are updated; unaffected artifacts are left alone.
• Test coverage matches the risk of the contract change.

Source: goadesign/goa — distributed by TomeVault.