Go Cheat Sheet

Go cheat sheet with real commands and snippets for setup, core workflows, debugging, and production-safe automation patterns. If you are working across tools, pair this with the Elixir Cheat Sheet and HTML Cheat Sheet.

Setup and Tooling

Goal: Install and verify language toolchain

# Run go command
go version

# Run go command
go mod init example.com/app

# Run go command
go env GOPATH

Core Workflows

Goal: Run and build source code

# Execute go workflow
go run ./cmd/app

# Execute go workflow
go build ./...

Goal: Use a practical code snippet

package main

import "fmt"

func main() {
	values := []int{1, 2, 3}
	for _, v := range values {
		fmt.Println(v)
	}
}

Testing and Formatting

Goal: Run automated tests

# Execute test-related command
go test ./...

# Execute test-related command
go test ./... -cover

Goal: Run lint and formatter checks

# Execute quality command
gofmt -w .

# Execute quality command
go vet ./...

Automation and CI

Goal: Create a repeatable CI shell step

# Run strict shell mode for CI step
set -euo pipefail

# Install dependencies deterministically
npm ci || pip install -r requirements.txt || true

# Run tests and fail fast on errors
go test ./...

Debugging and Troubleshooting

Goal: Trace runtime issues

# Print runtime and package manager versions
node --version || python --version || true

# Search stack traces and TODO markers
rg "Traceback|Exception|TODO" .

# Re-run tests with verbose output
go test ./... -v || go test ./... --verbose || true

Common Gotchas

• Pin Go language/runtime versions in local and CI environments.
• Keep formatting and linting automated to avoid noisy diffs in code review.
• Prefer explicit dependency lock files for reproducible builds.
• Write small, deterministic tests that can run quickly in pre-commit checks.
• Document compiler/interpreter flags used in production builds.

Related Sheets

• Elixir Cheat Sheet — daily Elixir commands and production-ready examples.
• HTML Cheat Sheet — daily HTML commands and production-ready examples.
• Java Cheat Sheet — daily Java commands and production-ready examples.