Go Linting

Core Principle

More important than any "blessed" set of linters: lint consistently across a codebase.

Consistent linting helps catch common issues and establishes a high bar for code quality without being unnecessarily prescriptive.

Setup Procedure

1. Create .golangci.yml using the configuration below
2. Run golangci-lint run ./...
3. If errors appear, fix them category by category (formatting first, then vet, then style)
4. Re-run until clean

Minimum Recommended Linters

These linters catch the most common issues while maintaining a high quality bar:

Note: revive is the modern, faster successor to the now-deprecated golint.

Lint Runner: golangci-lint

Use golangci-lint as your lint runner. See the example .golangci.yml from uber-go/guide.

Example Configuration

See assets/golangci.yml when creating a new .golangci.yml or comparing your existing config against a recommended baseline.

Create .golangci.yml in your project root:

linters:
  enable:
    - errcheck
    - goimports
    - revive
    - govet
    - staticcheck

linters-settings:
  goimports:
    local-prefixes: github.com/your-org/your-repo
  revive:
    rules:
      - name: blank-imports
      - name: context-as-argument
      - name: error-return
      - name: error-strings
      - name: exported

run:
  timeout: 5m

Running

# Install
go install github.com/golangci/golangci-lint/cmd/golangci-lint@latest

# Run all linters
golangci-lint run

# Run on specific paths
golangci-lint run ./pkg/...

Additional Recommended Linters

Beyond the minimum set, consider these for production projects:

Nolint Directives

When suppressing a lint finding, always explain why:

//nolint:errcheck // fire-and-forget logging; error is not actionable
_ = logger.Sync()

Rules:

• Use //nolint:lintername — never bare //nolint
• Place the comment on the same line as the finding
• Include a justification after //

CI/CD Integration

GitHub Actions

# .github/workflows/lint.yml
name: Lint
on: [push, pull_request]
jobs:
  lint:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-go@v5
        with:
          go-version: stable
      - uses: golangci/golangci-lint-action@v6
        with:
          version: latest

Pre-commit Hook

#!/bin/sh
# .git/hooks/pre-commit
golangci-lint run --new-from-rev=HEAD~1

Use --new-from-rev to lint only changed code, keeping the feedback loop fast.

Available Scripts

• scripts/setup-lint.sh — Generates .golangci.yml and runs initial lint

bash scripts/setup-lint.sh github.com/your-org/your-repo
bash scripts/setup-lint.sh --force github.com/your-org/your-repo  # overwrite existing
bash scripts/setup-lint.sh --dry-run                               # preview config
bash scripts/setup-lint.sh --json                                  # structured output

Validation: After generating .golangci.yml, run golangci-lint run ./... to verify the configuration is valid and produces expected output. If it fails with a config error, fix and retry.

scripts/setup-lint.sh generates a minimum config (5 core linters). For established projects, use assets/golangci.yml as a starting point — it adds gosec, ineffassign, misspell, gocyclo, and bodyclose.

Quick Reference

Linter Selection Guidelines

Related Skills

• Style foundations: See go-style-core when resolving style questions that linters enforce (formatting, nesting, naming)
• Code review: See go-code-review when combining linter output with a manual review checklist
• Error handling: See go-error-handling when errcheck flags unhandled errors and you need to decide how to handle them
• Testing: See go-testing when running linters alongside tests in CI pipelines