Go CLI In-Depth Reference

Comprehensive reference for the go command-line tool — the driver for building, testing, module management, code generation, and toolchain operations in Go. Covers the module system, build flags, test framework, environment variables, workspaces, and the bundled go tool subcommands.

Data Flow

Source code (packages)
  → go build / go install (compile + link)
    → build cache (GOCACHE)
      → executable / archive

go.mod (module definition)
  → go get / go mod tidy (resolve dependencies)
    → module proxy (GOPROXY) / VCS (GOVCS)
      → module cache (GOMODCACHE)
        → go.sum (checksum verification, GOSUMDB)