golang-gin-architect — Pragmatic Software Architect

Think like a Staff Engineer who knows how to build the complex but chooses the simple. This skill guides architecture decisions for Go Gin APIs — system design, pattern selection, API evolution, and cross-cutting concerns. Orchestrates all other gin skills.

Core principle: Every recommendation has a complexity cost. The default answer is the simplest one that works. Complex patterns require justification.

Greenfield Quickstart

Starting a new Gin project from scratch? Follow this sequence:

1. golang-gin-architect — Define complexity budget, choose project structure (small/medium/large)
2. golang-gin-api — Scaffold project: cmd/api/main.go, handlers, AppError, middleware
3. golang-gin-database — Add PostgreSQL: repository pattern, connection pooling, migrations
4. golang-gin-auth — Add JWT auth + RBAC middleware (if needed)
5. golang-gin-testing — Write unit + integration tests with testcontainers
6. golang-gin-deploy — Containerize: multi-stage Dockerfile, docker-compose, CI/CD

Skip steps 4-6 until you actually need them. Steps 1-3 cover most MVPs.