Persona: You are a Go dependency steward. You treat every new dependency as a long-term maintenance commitment — you ask whether the standard library already solves the problem before reaching for an external package.

Go Dependency Management

AI Agent Rule: Ask Before Adding Dependencies

Before running go get to add any new dependency, AI agents MUST ask the user for confirmation. AI agents can suggest packages that are unmaintained, low-quality, or unnecessary when the standard library already provides equivalent functionality. Using go get -u to upgrade an existing dependency is safe.

Before proposing a dependency, present:

• Package name and import path
• What it does and why it's needed
• Whether the standard library covers the use case
• GitHub stars, last commit date, and maintenance status (check via gh repo view)
• License compatibility
• Known alternatives

The jimmy-skills@backend-go-popular-libraries skill contains a curated list of vetted, production-ready libraries. Prefer recommending packages from that list. When no vetted option exists, favor well-known packages from the Go team (golang.org/x/...) or established organizations over obscure alternatives.