go-errors

name	go-errors
description	Idiomatic Go error handling. ALWAYS use this skill when writing or reviewing Go code that raises, returns, wraps, matches, or aggregates errors — questions about `fmt.Errorf` with `%w` vs `%v`, `errors.Is` and `errors.As`, sentinel errors, typed error structs, `errors.Join` for combining failures, the "handle exactly once" rule, panic vs error, guard clauses and early return, error message formatting, or any `if err != nil` pattern. Use alongside go-style for general idioms.
version	1.0.0
tags	["go","golang","errors","error-handling","errors-join"]

Go Errors

Errors are values. Treat them with the same care as any other return.

For the comprehensive reference, see references/error-handling.md.

The four rules

1. Check every returned error. No exceptions for "this can't fail."
2. Handle each error exactly once. Either log it OR return it; never both. Log-and-return causes duplicate log lines further up the stack.
3. Wrap with context as the error travels up.
4. Never panic in library code. Return an error and let the caller decide.

Decision tree

Got an error from a call.
├── Can I handle it completely here?            → Log (or recover) and continue.
├── Does the caller need programmatic match?    → fmt.Errorf("op: %w", err) — wraps.
├── Should I hide implementation details?       → fmt.Errorf("op: %v", err) — flattens.
└── Is this a library?                          → Return; never log.

Wrapping

// Add context as the error climbs the stack
if err != nil {
    return fmt.Errorf("connect to database: %w", err)
}

• Lowercase, no trailing punctuation, no failed to prefix. The strings get concatenated: processing request: connect to database: connection refused reads cleanly.
• %w wraps so errors.Is / errors.As work upstream.
• %v flattens — use when you don't want callers depending on the inner error's type.

Sentinels and typed errors

// Sentinel: comparable with errors.Is
var ErrNotFound = errors.New("user not found")

// Typed error: comparable with errors.As, carries data
type ValidationError struct {
    Field string
    Issue string
}

func (e *ValidationError) Error() string {
    return fmt.Sprintf("validation: %s: %s", e.Field, e.Issue)
}

// Caller side
var verr *ValidationError
switch {
case errors.Is(err, ErrNotFound):
    // 404
case errors.As(err, &verr):
    // 400 with verr.Field
}

errors.Join — combining failures

Use when several independent operations may each fail and you want to report all of them:

func ValidateConfig(cfg Config) error {
    var errs []error
    if cfg.Host == "" {
        errs = append(errs, errors.New("host is required"))
    }
    if cfg.Port < 1 || cfg.Port > 65535 {
        errs = append(errs, fmt.Errorf("invalid port: %d", cfg.Port))
    }
    return errors.Join(errs...) // nil if errs is empty
}

errors.Join returns nil for an empty slice and supports errors.Is / errors.As against any constituent. Also handy for cleanup paths:

func cleanup(db *sql.DB, file *os.File) error {
    return errors.Join(db.Close(), file.Close())
}

Guard clauses keep the success path left

// GOOD
func ProcessFile(path string) error {
    f, err := os.Open(path)
    if err != nil {
        return fmt.Errorf("open %s: %w", path, err)
    }
    defer f.Close()

    data, err := io.ReadAll(f)
    if err != nil {
        return fmt.Errorf("read %s: %w", path, err)
    }
    return process(data)
}

Avoid else branches after a return. Avoid nested error checks — flat is readable.

Don't panic

Panics crash the program and cascade through any process running the library. Return an error every time.

Acceptable panic uses:

• API misuse inside internal code (e.g. reflect-style developer error).
• main() initialization failures — prefer log.Fatal over panic so deferred functions don't deadlock.
• Marking unreachable code paths.

When to load a sibling skill

Task	Skill
errgroup patterns, goroutine error propagation	go-concurrency
Logging an error you've decided to handle	go-logging
Returning HTTP status codes from typed errors	go-http
Wrapping sql.ErrNoRows etc. at the data layer	go-sql
General Go idioms and naming	go-style