Upgrade Go Version

Upgrade Go Version

Upgrade the Go toolchain used by the Okteto CLI to a target version, review the release notes for breaking changes, make sure both Go modules still build and test green, then open a PR.

INPUT

• The target Go version comes from the prompt (e.g. /upgrade-go-version 1.26.2).
• If no version is provided, ask the user for the exact target version (major.minor.patch) before changing anything. The repo pins the patch level, so a bare major.minor is not enough.

CONTEXT — where a Go version lives in this repo

This repo has two Go modules plus several pinned images. Only these hold the build toolchain version:

• go.mod (module github.com/okteto/okteto) — the go directive.
• tools/go.mod (module github.com/okteto/tools) — the go directive.
• Dockerfile — ARG GOLANG_VERSION + ARG GOLANG_SHA, used by both the tools-builder and golang-builder stages (golang:${GOLANG_VERSION}-bookworm@${GOLANG_SHA}).
• .circleci/config.yml + okteto.yml — the okteto/golang-ci:<ver>@sha256:... image, only if the user provides a new golang-ci image (Step 8).

Do NOT touch these — they are not the build toolchain:

• okteto/golang:1 floating tags (okteto.yml dev, samples/, pkg/linguist/dev.go)
• okteto/golang:1.22 / golang:1.20 strings inside pkg/schema tests (schema_test.go, test_test.go) and integration/validate/manifests/ (e.g. valid-movies.yml) — they assert manifest parsing
• samples/golang/go.mod

WORKFLOW

1. Determine current and target versions

• Read the current versions:

  grep -E '^go ' go.mod tools/go.mod
  grep GOLANG_VERSION Dockerfile
  

• Confirm both modules match. Classify the jump:

  • Patch (1.25.11 → 1.25.12): security / bug fixes only; breaking changes very unlikely.
  • Minor (1.25.x → 1.26.x): new language, tooling, and stdlib behavior; breaking changes possible.
  • Multiple minors (1.24.x → 1.26.x): review every intervening minor.

2. Review release notes for breaking changes

Use WebFetch / WebSearch to read the notes for each minor between current and target:

• Per-minor release notes: https://go.dev/doc/go1.26 (substitute the version)
• Full release history + per-patch security fixes: https://go.dev/doc/devel/release

Focus on: language changes, go command / tooling changes, removed or behavior-changed standard-library APIs, deprecations, and minimum OS/arch requirements. Summarize the risky items that could matter to a Go codebase.

3. Evaluate whether our code is affected

• Delegate a focused scan to the explore subagent (keeps the main context clean — see the subagent strategy in .claude/CLAUDE.md). For each risky item from Step 2, search both modules (root packages and tools/) for affected stdlib calls, language constructs, build tags, or //go: directives.
• Report anything affected or potentially affected, with file:line references. Decide what (if anything) needs changing — but make code edits only after the version bump, when the compiler can confirm (Step 7).

4. Bump the go directive in both modules

Set both modules to the exact target version, preserving the major.minor.patch precision the repo already uses (run from the repo root — go mod edit takes the target file as its last arg):

go mod edit -go=<target> go.mod
go mod edit -go=<target> tools/go.mod

Editing the go line by hand is equivalent. Do not add a toolchain directive if none exists today.

5. Update the Dockerfile base image and pin by sha256

• Set ARG GOLANG_VERSION=<target> (must match the go directive patch version).

• Resolve the multi-arch manifest-list (index) digest for golang:<target>-bookworm — the CLI is built for multiple arches, so a single-platform digest is wrong:

  docker buildx imagetools inspect golang:<target>-bookworm --format '{{.Manifest.Digest}}'
  # alternative: crane digest golang:<target>-bookworm
  

• Set ARG GOLANG_SHA=sha256:<digest> to the value returned above.

6. Tidy both modules

The version bump (and any module-graph changes it pulls in) can leave go.mod / go.sum out of sync. Run go mod tidy in both modules so each is consistent before building:

go mod tidy                    # root module
cd tools && go mod tidy && cd ..

Review the resulting diff — bumping only the go directive should produce minimal churn, so investigate anything unexpected before moving on.

7. Build to surface compilation errors, then fix

• Preferred: okteto build (builds the cli image from the Dockerfile remotely; any compilation error shows in the build output). Build a single service if needed: okteto build cli.
• Local fallback (no okteto context): docker build -t okteto-cli:test ..
• If the build fails, fix the code for the new Go version (apply the Step 3 findings). Read code before editing, keep changes minimal, preserve the existing Apache 2.0 license headers, and follow existing patterns. Re-build until green.

8. Ask about the golang-ci image (CI dependency)

Do this before running the tests: okteto test unit and the CI lint / unit-test jobs all run inside the okteto/golang-ci image (pinned in the .circleci/config.yml executor and in okteto.yml under test.unit). If that image's bundled Go toolchain is older than the new go directive, CI will fail and the local run won't truly exercise the new toolchain — so settle the image first.

Use AskUserQuestion: "Is there an okteto/golang-ci image that already supports Go <target>? If so, paste the full version@sha256:... reference."

• If provided: replace every pinned occurrence (grep first so none are missed):

  grep -rn 'okteto/golang-ci:' .circleci/config.yml okteto.yml
  

  Update both to okteto/golang-ci:<ver>@sha256:<digest>. Step 9 then runs the tests on the new toolchain (since okteto test unit reads the image from okteto.yml).

• If not provided: warn the user clearly — "CI (golangci-lint + unit tests) will fail until a golang-ci image supporting Go <target> is published and these references are updated." You may still open the PR, but record this as an explicit blocker in the description, and note that the Step 9 results do not reflect the target toolchain.

9. Run the tests

• Preferred: okteto test unit (runs the test.unit suite → make test).
• ⚠️ This runs inside the okteto/golang-ci image from Step 8. If Step 8 produced an updated image, the suite exercises the new toolchain. If not, the image still ships the old toolchain (Go may auto-download the target via GOTOOLCHAIN, or silently run on the old one) — call this out in the results and re-run once the updated golang-ci image lands.
• Local fallback: make test (root) and cd tools && make test.

10. Open the PR

Only after build + tests pass (note any golang-ci caveat from Step 8).

• Use AskUserQuestion: "Is there a Jira ticket associated with this upgrade? If so, paste the ticket key (e.g. OKT-1234) or its URL."

  • If provided: include the ticket key in the PR title (suffix: … (OKT-1234)) and add a Jira: <key or URL> line near the top of the PR description.
  • If not provided: skip it — no placeholder.

• Make sure you are on a feature branch, not master: git checkout -b chore/upgrade-go-<target>.

• Commit signed (DCO), ending the message with a Co-Authored-By trailer for the running Claude model:

  git commit -s \
    -m "chore: upgrade Go to <target>" \
    -m "Co-Authored-By: <running Claude model> <noreply@anthropic.com>"
  

• Create the PR with the required labels (drop the (<ticket>) suffix if there is no ticket):

  gh pr create \
    --label "release/internal" \
    --label "run-e2e" \
    --title "chore: upgrade Go to <target> (<ticket>)" \
    --body "<description>"
  

Required labels

• release/internal
• run-e2e

PR description must include

• The Jira ticket (Jira: <key or URL>) if the user provided one.
• Old → new Go version (both modules + Dockerfile GOLANG_VERSION).
• Dockerfile base image + the new sha256 digest.
• golang-ci image: updated to <ref>, or a clear blocker note that it still needs a Go-<target> image before CI can pass.
• Breaking changes reviewed from the release notes, and why they do / don't affect us.
• Any code changes made to compile or pass tests on the new version.
• Build result (okteto build) and test result (okteto test unit).
• End the PR body with the Claude Code attribution footer.

IMPORTANT CONSTRAINTS

• Keep go.mod, tools/go.mod, and the Dockerfile GOLANG_VERSION on the same version.
• Always pin the Dockerfile base image by sha256 (the multi-arch manifest-list digest).
• Never modify sample or test-fixture Go versions (see CONTEXT).
• Read before edit; keep changes minimal. Any new .go file needs the Apache 2.0 header from .copyright-header.tmpl with a year accepted by the goheader linter — match the format of existing files rather than assuming a fixed year range.
• Sign every commit (git commit -s).
• If the upgrade goes sideways (build won't pass, unexpected breakage), STOP and re-plan rather than pushing through.

Source: okteto/okteto — distributed by TomeVault.