go

name	go
description	Go language conventions, patterns, and tooling. This skill should be used when working with Go source files (.go), go.mod, or building Go CLI programs.

Go

Tooling

• Formatter: go fmt
• Linter: go vet

Style

• Use any instead of interface{}.
• Prefer Go 1.18+ stdlib helpers over manual loops:
  • maps.Copy, maps.Clone, maps.Keys, maps.Values instead of manual map iteration.
  • slices.Contains, slices.Sort, slices.Clone, slices.Concat instead of hand-rolled equivalents.
  • min() / max() builtins (Go 1.21+) instead of custom helpers.
  • cmp.Or (Go 1.22+) for first-non-zero-value selection.
• Use map[T]struct{} not map[T]bool when writing sets

Logging

Use Go's slog package for structured logging. Do not use log for application logging.

CLI Patterns

Simple commands

For simple single-purpose tools without subcommands, use a minimal main() that delegates to run():

package main

import (
	"log"
	"os"
)

func main() {
	if err := run(); err != nil {
		log.Fatal(err)
	}
	os.Exit(0)
}

func run() error {
	// actual program logic here
	return nil
}

Add arguments to run() (like context.Context) only when actually needed.

CLI applications

For programs with subcommands, flags, or any non-trivial CLI interface, use cobra.