Go Defensive Programming Patterns

Compatibility: Crypto examples may use crypto/rand.Text, which requires Go 1.24+.

Resource Routing

• references/BOUNDARY-COPYING.md - Read when copying slices/maps across API boundaries.
• references/GLOBAL-STATE.md - Read when introducing or removing package globals.
• references/MUST-FUNCTIONS.md - Read when deciding whether a panic-on-error helper is acceptable.
• references/PANIC-RECOVER.md - Read when evaluating panic, recover, or crash containment.
• references/TIME-ENUMS-TAGS.md - Read when handling time types, enum zero values, or struct tags.

Defensive Checklist Priority

When hardening code at API boundaries, check in this order: