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name: Effective Go description: "Apply Go best practices, idioms, and conventions from golang.org/doc/effective_go. Use when writing, reviewing, or refactoring Go code to ensure idiomatic, clean, and efficient implementations."

Effective Go

Apply best practices and conventions from the official Effective Go guide to write clean, idiomatic Go code.

When to Apply

Use this skill automatically when:

• Writing new Go code
• Reviewing Go code
• Refactoring existing Go implementations

Key Reminders

Follow the conventions and patterns documented at https://go.dev/doc/effective_go, with particular attention to:

• Formatting: Always use gofmt - this is non-negotiable
• Naming: No underscores, use MixedCaps for exported names, mixedCaps for unexported
• Error handling: Always check errors; return them, don't panic
• Concurrency: Share memory by communicating (use channels)
• Interfaces: Keep small (1-3 methods ideal); accept interfaces, return concrete types
• Documentation: Document all exported symbols, starting with the symbol name

References

• Official Guide: https://go.dev/doc/effective_go
• Code Review Comments: https://go.dev/wiki/CodeReviewComments
• Standard Library: Use as reference for idiomatic patterns
• Error Handling Reference: See references/error-handling.md for comprehensive error handling patterns (wrapping, sentinel errors, custom types, testing)