| name | gopher-guides |
| description | Authoritative Gopher Guides Go training materials accessed via REST API/cache wrapper. Use when reviewing Go code and the user explicitly asks 'what would Gopher Guides recommend?', 'how do professionals do this?', or wants training-material-backed practices/examples/audit. SKIP for general Go idiom questions handled by the `go` skill. |
Gopher Guides Professional Training
Access official Gopher Guides training materials via API for authoritative Go best practices.
Important: Always Use --variable/--expand-header Syntax
Do NOT use $VAR or ${VAR} shell expansion in curl commands. Environment variable expansion is unreliable in AI coding assistant shell/bash tools (Claude Code, Codex, etc.). Always use curl's built-in --variable % and --expand-header syntax instead.
Requires curl 8.3+. If you get unknown option: --variable, see the fallback note at the bottom.
Step 1: Verify API Key
curl -s --variable %GOPHER_GUIDES_API_KEY \
--expand-header "Authorization: Bearer {{GOPHER_GUIDES_API_KEY}}" \
https://gopherguides.com/api/gopher-ai/me
On success: Display a brief confirmation to the user, then proceed to Step 2:
- "✓ Gopher Guides API: Authenticated as {email} ({tier_category} tier)"
On error or missing key: Help the user configure:
- Get API key at gopherguides.com
- Add to shell profile (
~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc): export GOPHER_GUIDES_API_KEY="your-key"
- Restart your terminal/IDE to pick up the new environment variable
Do NOT provide Go advice without a valid, verified API key.
Step 2: Query the API
Use the cache wrapper script for all API calls. It automatically caches responses
(24h for practices/examples, 1h for audit/review) to avoid redundant API calls.
The cache wrapper is at ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/cache-api.sh.
For "what's the best way to..." questions
"${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/cache-api.sh" practices '{"topic": "error handling"}'
For code review/audit
"${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/cache-api.sh" audit '{"code": "<user code here>", "focus": "error-handling"}'
For "show me an example of..."
"${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/cache-api.sh" examples '{"topic": "table driven tests"}'
For PR/diff review
"${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/cache-api.sh" review '{"diff": "<diff output>"}'
Direct API calls (bypassing cache)
If you need to bypass the cache, use curl directly:
curl -s -X POST --variable %GOPHER_GUIDES_API_KEY \
--expand-header "Authorization: Bearer {{GOPHER_GUIDES_API_KEY}}" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"topic": "error handling"}' \
https://gopherguides.com/api/gopher-ai/practices
Cache Management
- Cache location:
.claude/gopher-guides-cache.json
- Clear cache: Use
/clear-cache command
Response Handling
The API returns JSON with:
content: Formatted guidance from training materialssources: Module references with similarity scores
Present the content to the user with proper attribution to Gopher Guides.
Fallback for curl < 8.3
If --variable is not supported (curl versions before 8.3), use printf to avoid shell expansion issues:
KEY=$(printenv GOPHER_GUIDES_API_KEY) && curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $KEY" https://gopherguides.com/api/gopher-ai/me
Check your curl version with curl --version.
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