building-go-github-pipelines

name	building-go-github-pipelines
description	Use when setting up, updating, or auditing GitHub Actions CI/CD pipelines for Go projects on GitHub. Triggers include: project has no CI, workflows use Dependabot instead of Renovate, total-coverage instead of per-file gate, legacy dockers config, Codecov dependency, unpinned tool versions, missing secret scanning, or missing govulncheck ignore-list gate.

Building Go GitHub Pipelines

Overview

Assembles a complete, self-consistent GitHub Actions pipeline for Go projects from versioned templates. Encodes the best patterns distilled from five production repos (ha-mcp, dlia, notebook, bka-go, car-check). Generates both CI workflow and companion files (golangci.yml, Taskfile, coverage script, GoReleaser config, Renovate config, Dockerfile) so a bare repo can be fully bootstrapped.

Step 1 — Detect

Read these files/paths and record what exists:

Check	If present →
go.mod	Extract module path → {{MODULE}}, last segment → {{PROJECT}}
frontend/ or root package.json	Enable Frontend+Embed block
Existing .goreleaser.yaml	Note release style (upgrade legacy dockers → dockers_v2)
Existing Dockerfile	Enable Docker block
go.mod extra external test tool (e.g. typst, ffmpeg)	Enable Extra-Toolchain block
No .github/workflows/ at all	Full bootstrap mode

Ask the user for:

• {{GITHUB_USER}} — GitHub username (e.g. zorak1103). Used for Renovate gitAuthor and wrapcheck module glob.
• {{DOCKER_USER}} — Docker Hub username (same as {{GITHUB_USER}} in most cases; confirm if they differ)
• Release style: GoReleaser (default) or manual matrix (no Docker, just binaries)?
• Does this project publish to Docker Hub? (sets whether release+Docker block is included)

Also detect:

• Project type — Check ./cmd/*/ and ./main.go: if there is a cmd/ binary entry point with no HTTP server / gRPC handler patterns, treat as CLI. Otherwise treat as service/library. For CLI projects, remove the profile:service-only linters from .golangci.yml (wrapcheck, noctx).
• Existing golangci config — If .golangci.yml already exists and is non-trivial (has linters.enable with 5+ linters), preserve its rigor (use strict thresholds from the template). If absent or minimal (e.g., only go vet), ask the user: "Start with strict thresholds (funlen:60/40, gocognit:23, gocyclo:15) or onboarding thresholds (funlen:80/50, gocognit:30, gocyclo:20)?" Use the onboarding values to avoid 365-findings-on-first-run.

Derive: {{DOCKER_IMAGE}} = {{DOCKER_USER}}/{{PROJECT}}

Pre-flight checks (run before generating any files)

Before writing any output, verify the project is in a state that CI can run successfully:

Check	Command	Action if fails
Binary entry point is committed	git ls-files cmd/	Warn: "cmd/ is not tracked by git — check .gitignore for patterns that match source directories"
Test fixtures are committed	git ls-files testdata/	Warn: "testdata/ is not tracked — fixtures may be gitignored; tests may pass locally but fail on CI"
.gitignore doesn't shadow sources	`grep -E '^(cmd	internal

Step 2 — Block Inventory

Always-On (every Go project)

• ci.yml — lint, test/coverage, build, govulncheck, secret-detection
• renovate.yml + renovate.json — daily dep updates via Renovate
• .golangci.yml — full ~30-linter config (v2 schema)
• scripts/check-coverage.sh — configurable coverage gate (per-file default, 80% threshold), honors // coverage-exempt:; modes: per-file (default), per-function (strictest), total
• .govulncheck-ignore — ignore-list for CVEs without fixes

Conditional

Block	Template file	Activate when
Frontend+Embed	blocks/frontend-embed.yml	frontend/ or root package.json
Release (GoReleaser)	templates/workflows/release-goreleaser.yml.tmpl	Docker/packages release
Release (matrix)	templates/workflows/release-matrix.yml.tmpl	Binary-only, no Docker
Docker runtime	templates/Dockerfile.tmpl	GoReleaser release
GoReleaser config	templates/goreleaser.yaml.tmpl	GoReleaser release
Extra toolchain	blocks/extra-toolchain.yml	External binary needed for tests
Taskfile	templates/Taskfile.yml.tmpl	No existing Taskfile.yml

Golden rule: Never emit a task <name> step without the corresponding task in Taskfile.yml. Never emit task build:frontend without the Frontend+Embed block active.

Integration tests: If the project has a //go:build integration tag pattern or a test:integration task, split the test job into unit-test + integration-test + coverage jobs (bka-go pattern). The Extra-Toolchain block is often needed alongside this.

Binary name: Check ./cmd/*/ directories — the folder name is the binary name (e.g. ./cmd/server/ → BINARY=server). Use PROJECT only as a fallback.

Step 3 — Placeholders

Placeholder	Source	Example
{{MODULE}}	go.mod first line	github.com/zorak1103/ha-mcp
{{PROJECT}}	Last path segment of MODULE	ha-mcp
{{BINARY}}	Check ./cmd/*/ dirs first; fall back to PROJECT	ha-mcp or server
{{DOCKER_USER}}	User-provided	zorak1103
{{GITHUB_USER}}	User-provided (same as DOCKER_USER unless they differ)	zorak1103
{{DOCKER_IMAGE}}	{{DOCKER_USER}}/{{PROJECT}}	zorak1103/ha-mcp
{{GOLANGCI_VERSION}}	Latest golangci-lint v2	v2.12.2
{{GOVULNCHECK_VERSION}}	Latest govulncheck	v1.3.0
{{GORELEASER_VERSION}}	Latest goreleaser	v2.16.0
{{TOOL_NAME}}	External test tool name (Extra-Toolchain block)	typst
{{TOOL_NAME_UPPER}}	Uppercase of TOOL_NAME (for env var names)	TYPST
{{TOOL_VERSION}}	External tool version (Extra-Toolchain block)	0.14.2
{{NODE_VERSION}}	Node.js version (Frontend+Embed block)	24
{{SKILL_VERSION}}	Version from .claude-plugin/plugin.json	1.2.0

Placeholder disambiguation

Three similar syntaxes appear in the templates — only {{UPPERCASE}} markers are yours to substitute:

Syntax	Owner	Action
{{UPPERCASE_SNAKE}}	This skill	Substitute with actual value
{{.CamelCase}}	GoReleaser (text/template)	Leave as-is in .goreleaser.yaml
${{ expression }}	GitHub Actions	Leave as-is in workflow YAML

Never substitute placeholders inside ${{ }} expressions or GoReleaser {{.Variable}} references.

Profile selection: After placeholder substitution, apply the project profile:

• CLI projects: remove linters marked # profile:service-only from linters.enable in .golangci.yml (wrapcheck, noctx)
• Onboarding strictness: if user chose onboarding thresholds, update the funlen/gocognit/gocyclo settings in .golangci.yml to the onboarding values noted in the template comments

Step 4 — Generate Files

Write these files (always-on first, then conditionals):

.github/
  workflows/
    ci.yml                        ← from templates/workflows/ci.yml.tmpl
    renovate.yml                  ← from templates/workflows/renovate.yml.tmpl
    release.yml                   ← from release-goreleaser or release-matrix tmpl
.golangci.yml                     ← from templates/golangci.yml.tmpl
scripts/
  check-coverage.sh               ← from templates/check-coverage.sh (chmod +x)
.govulncheck-ignore               ← from templates/govulncheck-ignore.tmpl
renovate.json                     ← from templates/renovate.json.tmpl
Taskfile.yml                      ← from templates/Taskfile.yml.tmpl (if missing)
.goreleaser.yaml                  ← from templates/goreleaser.yaml.tmpl (if GoReleaser)
Dockerfile                        ← from templates/Dockerfile.tmpl (if Docker)

Do NOT overwrite files that already exist and are correct — compare and upgrade instead.

Upgrading older generated configs: v1.2.0 is not a minor bump — it changes how Go's toolchain version is managed (from a pinned GO_VERSION env var to go-version-file: go.mod). If you generated CI config with v1.1.0 or earlier, regenerate with /go-github-pipelines to adopt the new pattern. Manually patching is error-prone.

Legacy pattern upgrades to always apply:

• dockers: + docker_manifests: → dockers_v2: in goreleaser config
• golangci-lint-action step → go install pinned step
• govulncheck@latest plain run → ignore-list gate
• @main action pins → versioned pins
• GO_VERSION env var + go-version: ${{ env.GO_VERSION }} on setup-go steps → drop the env var and switch to go-version-file: go.mod; also remove the golang-version Renovate customManager

SHA-pinning third-party actions

After writing all workflow files, resolve every uses: line with a # SHA-pin trailing comment:

1. Extract the owner/repo@tag from the uses: value
2. Resolve to a commit SHA:

   gh api repos/<owner>/<repo>/commits/<tag> --jq '.sha'
   

   For example: gh api repos/arduino/setup-task/commits/v2 --jq '.sha'
3. Rewrite the line: uses: <owner>/<repo>@<sha40> # <tag> For example: uses: arduino/setup-task@abc123...def456 # v2

This applies to all non-actions/* action pins:

• arduino/setup-task@v2 (ci.yml ×3, release-matrix ×2, release-goreleaser ×2)
• trufflesecurity/trufflehog@v3.x.y (ci.yml ×1)
• softprops/action-gh-release@v3 (release-matrix ×1)
• docker/setup-qemu-action@v4, docker/setup-buildx-action@v4, docker/login-action@v4 (release-goreleaser ×1 each)
• goreleaser/goreleaser-action@v7 (release-goreleaser ×1)

Renovate will update the SHA automatically when it detects a new release, matching the # vX.Y.Z comment tag.

Step 5 — Verify

After writing all files, run this mental dry-run checklist:

• Every task <name> in ci.yml has a matching task in Taskfile.yml
• task build:frontend only appears when Frontend+Embed block is active
• {{PROJECT}}, {{MODULE}}, {{DOCKER_IMAGE}} all substituted (no raw {{ in output)
• Pinned versions match Renovate customManager regex patterns in renovate.json
• golangci-lint version in ci.yml matches version in Taskfile.yml (if locally installed)
• CGO_ENABLED=1 only on the test job (race detector needs it)
• Release workflow (matrix): verify gates build, build gates publish (single publisher eliminates parallel release-API race)
• .govulncheck-ignore exists and is referenced by the govulncheck gate in ci.yml
• fetch-depth: 0 on the secret-detection job (TruffleHog needs full history)
• Action versions are consistent: checkout@v6, setup-go@v6 (with cache: true), setup-node@v6, upload-artifact@v7, download-artifact@v8, docker actions @v4, goreleaser-action@v7
• git ls-files cmd/ returns hits — binary entry point is tracked
• git ls-files testdata/ returns all required test fixtures (if testdata/ exists)
• golangci config loads cleanly — substitute {{MODULE}} and run golangci-lint config verify .golangci.yml (or golangci-lint run --issues-exit-code=0 on a minimal test); must NOT error with "is a formatter" or similar
• No ${{ github.* }} or ${{ matrix.* }} expressions appear inside any run: block in release workflows (all routed via env:)
• Every non-actions/* uses: line is pinned to a 40-hex commit SHA with a # vX.Y.Z trailing comment
• No GO_VERSION env var in any workflow — all setup-go steps use go-version-file: go.mod
• ci.yml has a concurrency: cancel-in-progress block (absent from release workflows)
• govulncheck v1.4.0 warning comment is above the # renovate: line in ci.yml
• Every comment-supporting generated file has # generated by go-github-pipelines v<version> as first line (or second line for shell scripts after shebang)

Key Decisions Baked In

Pattern	Choice	Why
Step runner	Taskfile	Local/CI parity; consistent across all 5 projects
golangci-lint	go install pinned	Exact local/CI parity via Taskfile
Coverage gate	Per-file 80% default via check-coverage.sh	Catches low-coverage new files; total% can hide it. Per-function (strictest) and total also available as explicit modes.
Coverage service	Artifact upload only	No external service dependency (Codecov not used)
Build step	Real go build	go build -n (dry-run) misses linker errors
Vuln scanner	govulncheck + ignore-list gate	Language-aware; ignores unfixable CVEs safely
Secret scan	TruffleHog --only-verified	Low false-positive rate; runs on full history
Release	GoReleaser dockers_v2	Single multi-arch image; modern API
Deps	Renovate (self-hosted)	Handles everything: Go modules, actions, tools
Action pinning	Official actions/*: major-version tags; Third-party: SHA-pins + Renovate comment	SHA-pins are immutable (tags can move); Renovate maintains SHAs automatically