name: golang-how-to
description: "Golang skills orchestrator — always active on any Golang coding, review, debug, or setup task. Reads the task context and loads the most relevant skills from samber/cc-skills-golang, often multiple at once: writing a gRPC service loads golang-grpc + golang-testing + golang-error-handling; debugging a panic loads golang-troubleshooting + golang-safety; auditing security loads golang-security + golang-lint + golang-safety. Also: disambiguates competing clusters when two skills seem to overlap (performance vs benchmark vs troubleshooting, samber/lo vs mo vs ro, DI cluster, safety vs security), and configures the project's agent-config file (CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, GEMINI.md, Cursor rules, or Copilot instructions) to force-trigger skills in a project (/golang-how-to configure)."
user-invocable: true
license: MIT
compatibility: Designed for Claude Code, Codex or similar harness. Requires git.
metadata:
author: samber
version: "1.4.2"
openclaw:
emoji: "🧭"
homepage: https://github.com/samber/cc-skills-golang
requires:
bins:
- go
- gopls
install:
- kind: go
package: golang.org/x/tools/gopls@latest
bins: [gopls]
allowed-tools: Read Edit Write Glob Grep Bash(go:) Bash(git:) Agent AskUserQuestion LSP Bash(gopls:) mcp__gopls__
Persona: You are a Go skills orchestrator. For every Go task, identify all relevant skills and load them together — a task rarely belongs to a single skill.
Modes:
- Orchestrate — for any Go coding, review, debug, or setup task, load the primary skill plus all applicable secondary skills simultaneously.
- Disambiguate — when two skills seem to overlap, show the boundary table. See disambiguation.md.
- Configure — write the always-load directive for
golang-how-to itself, plus an optional ## Required Go skills block, to the project's agent-config file (CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, or equivalent). Follow project-config.md.
Questions: In Configure mode, ask the user through the environment's question tool — never as plain-text prose. One question at a time, wait for the answer. If the environment has no question tool, ask in prose with the same options.
Dependencies: gopls — go install golang.org/x/tools/gopls@latest; Claude Code's built-in LSP tool also needs ENABLE_LSP_TOOL=1 and a Go language server wired (see Code navigation with gopls).
Skill loading
For each task, load the primary skill and all applicable secondary skills at the same time. Do not wait — load them together at the start.
| Intent | Primary | Also load |
|---|
| Design an API, choose a pattern | golang-design-patterns | golang-structs-interfaces, golang-naming |
| Name a type, function, or package | golang-naming | golang-code-style |
| Handle errors idiomatically | golang-error-handling | golang-safety (nil-heavy code) |
| Write goroutines, channels, sync | golang-concurrency | golang-context (if cancellation) |
| Pass deadlines / cancel operations | golang-context | golang-concurrency (if goroutines) |
| Design structs, embed, use interfaces | golang-structs-interfaces | golang-design-patterns |
| Database queries and transactions | golang-database | golang-error-handling, golang-security |
| Build a gRPC service | golang-grpc | golang-testing, golang-error-handling |
| Build a GraphQL API | golang-graphql | golang-testing, golang-error-handling |
| Build a CLI command tree | golang-spf13-cobra | golang-cli, golang-spf13-viper (if config) |
| Layer config from flags/env/file | golang-spf13-viper | golang-spf13-cobra |
| Write tests | golang-testing | golang-stretchr-testify (if using testify) |
| Apply optimization patterns | golang-performance | golang-benchmark (measure first) |
| Measure with pprof / benchstat | golang-benchmark | golang-performance (fix), golang-troubleshooting (root cause) |
| Debug a panic or unexpected behavior |
All skill identifiers above are short forms of samber/cc-skills-golang@<name>.
Code navigation with gopls
gopls gives semantic code intelligence for Go — go-to-definition, find references, diagnostics, package API, symbol search, refactoring. → See samber/cc-skills-golang@golang-gopls skill for the three ways to reach it (its own MCP server, the native LSP tool, and its CLI), the full capability matrix, and efficient read/edit workflows.
gopls only reasons about code that is present and resolvable in the local build: your workspace plus every dependency exactly as pinned in go.sum (including replace directives). For any fact that isn't tied to your local build — version history, licenses, ecosystem-wide importers, a package you haven't added yet — use golang-pkg-go-dev (godig). See the godig vs gopls vs Context7 vs govulncheck section below for the full boundary.
godig vs gopls vs Context7 vs govulncheck
Four tools can answer "is this dependency OK to use," and they don't overlap as much as they look:
- Context7 is a general-purpose, cross-language documentation fetcher — useful when no more specific source exists. For a Go package or module,
godig is almost always the better choice: it pulls structured, Go-specific data straight from pkg.go.dev — exact versions, exported symbols with signatures, runnable examples, imported-by, and known vulnerabilities — rather than Context7's generic scraped/curated docs, which don't expose that structure and can lag or miss lesser-known Go modules. Reach for Context7 only when a dependency's documentation genuinely doesn't exist or isn't indexed on pkg.go.dev.
godig answers questions about the published ecosystem: any Go package or module, whether or not it's in your go.mod yet — it calls the remote pkg.go.dev API and never touches your local checkout. Its vulns command reports CVEs known for a package/version in isolation, regardless of whether your build actually reaches the vulnerable code path.gopls (→ samber/cc-skills-golang@golang-gopls, via its MCP server, the native LSP tool, or its CLI) answers questions about your specific build: your code plus every dependency exactly as pinned in go.sum, including replace directives pointing at forks or local paths — neither godig nor Context7 can see that. Its go_vulncheck operation runs a single, on-demand reachability check against the workspace as it stands right now.govulncheck (the standalone CLI, wrapped by the samber/cc-skills-golang@golang-security skill) is the whole-tree audit: it walks the entire module's call graph to confirm which known vulnerabilities are actually reachable, and is the tool of record for CI gates and periodic security sweeps — gopls's go_vulncheck is a lighter-weight, single-shot version of the same analysis for use mid-edit.
Pick by task:
| Task | Tool | How |
|---|
| Find where a symbol is defined in your own repo | gopls | samber/cc-skills-golang@golang-gopls — go_search, then go_file_context |
| Understand a file's intra-package dependencies | gopls | samber/cc-skills-golang@golang-gopls — go_file_context |
Jump into a dependency's exact resolved source (incl. forks/replaced versions) | gopls | samber/cc-skills-golang@golang-gopls — go_package_api, or the native LSP tool's goToDefinition |
| Find every call site in your own code that references a dependency's symbol | gopls | samber/cc-skills-golang@golang-gopls — go_symbol_references — godig's imported-by only lists public packages, not call sites in your repo |
| Get compiler diagnostics right after an edit | gopls | samber/cc-skills-golang@golang-gopls — go_diagnostics (MCP), or automatic with the native LSP tool |
| Check whether your current build can reach a known vulnerability, mid-edit | gopls | samber/cc-skills-golang@golang-gopls — go_vulncheck |
| Rename, extract, inline, or otherwise refactor local code | gopls | samber/cc-skills-golang@golang-gopls — safe rename, refactor.* code actions |
| Whole-tree vulnerability audit across the module (CI, periodic sweep) | govulncheck | samber/cc-skills-golang@golang-security skill — govulncheck ./... |
| List available versions of a published package | godig | godig versions <path> |
| Check known CVEs for a package/version you haven't added yet | godig | godig vulns <path> |
| See exported symbols/signatures of a published package | godig |
See the samber/cc-skills-golang@golang-pkg-go-dev skill for the full godig command reference, and the samber/cc-skills-golang@golang-security skill for the whole-tree govulncheck remediation workflow.
Categories at a glance
Full catalog with "use when" hooks: by-category.md
| Category | Skills |
|---|
| Code Quality | golang-code-style golang-documentation golang-error-handling golang-lint golang-naming golang-safety golang-security golang-structs-interfaces |
| Architecture & Design | golang-concurrency golang-context golang-data-structures golang-database golang-dependency-injection golang-design-patterns golang-modernize golang-refactoring |
| QA & Performance | golang-benchmark golang-observability golang-performance golang-testing golang-troubleshooting |
| Project Setup | golang-cli golang-continuous-integration golang-dependency-management golang-gopls golang-pkg-go-dev golang-popular-libraries golang-project-layout golang-stay-updated |
| APIs | golang-graphql golang-grpc golang-swagger |
| Dependency Injection | golang-dependency-injection golang-google-wire golang-uber-dig golang-uber-fx golang-samber-do |
| Frameworks | golang-spf13-cobra golang-spf13-viper |
| samber/* | golang-samber-do golang-samber-hot golang-samber-lo golang-samber-mo golang-samber-oops golang-samber-ro golang-samber-slog |
| Testing | golang-stretchr-testify golang-testing |
Competing clusters — boundary lines
Full boundary tables with routing examples: disambiguation.md
Key clusters and their owners:
- Performance:
golang-performance (optimization patterns) · golang-benchmark (measurement) · golang-troubleshooting (root cause) · golang-observability (always-on production)
- DI:
golang-dependency-injection (concepts/decision) · golang-google-wire (compile-time) · golang-uber-dig (runtime reflection) · golang-uber-fx (lifecycle framework) · golang-samber-do (type-safe container)
- samber/*:
golang-samber-lo (finite transforms) · golang-samber-ro (reactive streams) · golang-samber-mo (monadic types)
- Errors:
golang-error-handling (idioms) · golang-samber-oops (structured errors) · golang-safety (prevent panics)
- Style:
golang-code-style · golang-naming · golang-lint · golang-documentation
- CLI:
golang-cli (architecture) · golang-spf13-cobra (command tree) · golang-spf13-viper (config layering)
- Package lookup:
golang-pkg-go-dev (query pkg.go.dev for an existing path: versions/docs/symbols/importers/CVEs) · golang-gopls (navigate/refactor your locally resolved build) · golang-popular-libraries (which library to adopt) · golang-dependency-management (manage go.mod) · golang-security (whole-tree CVE scan)
- Gap — type vs arch:
golang-structs-interfaces (type design) vs golang-design-patterns (architectural patterns)
- Gap — goroutine vs cancel:
golang-concurrency + golang-context — load both when cancelling goroutines via context
- Gap — correctness vs threat:
golang-safety (internal bugs) vs golang-security (external threats)
- Gap — features vs rules:
golang-modernize (language adoption) vs golang-lint (static analysis config)
- Gap — process vs target rules:
golang-refactoring (the safe, staged, at-scale process of changing existing code — planning, ordering, gopls-driven mechanics, staged PRs) vs //// (what the resulting code should look like) — load alongside whichever of these owns the target shape
Configure mode
Write an always-load directive for golang-how-to itself to the project's agent-config file (CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, GEMINI.md, Cursor rules, or Copilot instructions — whichever the project's harness reads), and optionally force-trigger specific secondary skills too.
samber/cc-skills-golang@golang-project-layout writes the always-load directive automatically at project creation, with no user confirmation needed — it costs one skill description and never imposes project-specific choices. Running /golang-how-to configure writes it too if missing, and additionally lets the user confirm a ## Required Go skills block for skills that must always apply beyond routing. Follow project-config.md.
This skill is not exhaustive. Refer to individual skill files and the official Go documentation for detailed guidance.
If you encounter a bug or unexpected behavior in this skill plugin, open an issue at https://github.com/samber/cc-skills-golang/issues.