go

name	go
description	Best practices for working with Go codebases. Use when writing, debugging, or exploring Go code, including reading dependency sources and documentation.
allowed-tools	Read,Bash(go:*)

Go Programming Language

Guidelines for working effectively with Go projects.

Code Style

• Concrete types over interface{}/any — interfaces hide bugs.
• Channels for synchronization, not time.Sleep().
• Early returns to reduce nesting.
• Wrap errors with fmt.Errorf("context: %w", err) to preserve chains.
• Table tests for complex logic.
• Godoc all exported symbols.

Reading Dependency Source Files

To see source files from a dependency, or to answer questions about a dependency:

go mod download -json MODULE

Use the returned Dir path to read the source files.

Reading Documentation

Use go doc to read documentation for packages, types, functions, etc:

go doc foo.Bar       # Documentation for a specific symbol
go doc -all foo      # All documentation for a package

Running Programs

Use go run instead of go build to avoid leaving behind build artifacts:

go run .             # Run the current package
go run ./cmd/foo     # Run a specific command