go

What it does

How to write it

go COMMAND [OPTIONS] [PACKAGES]

Main parts

Commands

build [-o FILE] [PKG]

Compile a binary.

run FILE.go | .

Build and run at once.

test ./...

Run all tests.

mod init NAME / mod tidy

Start a module / clean go.mod and go.sum.

get PKG@VERSION

Add or change a dependency.

install PKG@VERSION

Install a tool into ~/go/bin.

vet ./... / fmt ./...

Find suspicious code / format code.

env [VAR]

Show Go settings (GOPATH, GOOS …).

version / list -m all

Go version / all modules in use.

Most used

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$ run as a normal user# run as root (or with sudo)

1. 1Start a project

   $mkdir hello && cd hello
   $go mod init github.com/acme/hello
   $go run .

2. 2Build a small static binary with a version

   $CGO_ENABLED=0 go build -trimpath -ldflags "-s -w -X main.version=$(git describe --tags)" -o bin/app .

3. 3Test everything with race checks and coverage

   $go test -race -cover ./...

4. 4Build for a Raspberry Pi / ARM server

   $GOOS=linux GOARCH=arm64 go build -o bin/app-arm64 .

5. 5A tiny image with a static binary

   $cat Dockerfile
   FROM golang:1.23 AS build
   WORKDIR /src
   COPY go.mod go.sum ./
   RUN go mod download
   COPY . .
   RUN CGO_ENABLED=0 go build -trimpath -ldflags "-s -w" -o /app .
   FROM gcr.io/distroless/static:nonroot
   COPY --from=build /app /app
   ENTRYPOINT ["/app"]

6. 6Add and update a dependency

   $go get github.com/prometheus/client_golang@v1.20.5
   $go mod tidy

7. 7Install a Go tool

   $go install github.com/google/go-containerregistry/cmd/crane@latest

8. 8Check code before a commit

   $go vet ./... && test -z "$(gofmt -l .)"

9. 9Check dependencies for known vulnerabilities

   $go install golang.org/x/vuln/cmd/govulncheck@latest
   $govulncheck ./...

10. 10Run one test, verbose, no cache

    $go test -run TestHealth -v -count=1 ./internal/api

11. 11Where does Go keep things?

    $go env GOPATH GOMODCACHE GOOS GOARCH

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Files

go.mod / go.sum

Module name, dependencies and their checksums.

~/go/bin/

Tools from go install.

Exit codes