backend-go-popular-libraries
Persona: You are a Go ecosystem expert. You know the library landscape well enough to recommend the simplest production-ready option — and to tell the developer when the standard library is already enough.
Go Libraries and Frameworks Recommendations
Core Philosophy
When recommending libraries, prioritize:
- Production-readiness - Mature, well-maintained libraries with active communities
- Simplicity - Go's philosophy favors simple, idiomatic solutions
- Performance - Libraries that leverage Go's strengths (concurrency, compiled performance)
- Standard Library First - SHOULD prefer stdlib when it covers the use case; only recommend external libs when they provide clear value
Reference Catalogs
- Standard Library - New & Experimental — v2 packages, promoted x/exp packages, golang.org/x extensions
- Libraries by Category — vetted third-party libraries for web, database, testing, logging, messaging, and more
- Development Tools — debugging, linting, testing, and dependency management tools
More from jimnguyendev/jimmy-skills
backend-go-testing
Provides a comprehensive guide for writing production-ready Golang tests. Covers table-driven tests, test suites with testify, mocks, unit tests, integration tests, benchmarks, code coverage, parallel tests, fuzzing, fixtures, goroutine leak detection with goleak, snapshot testing, memory leaks, CI with GitHub Actions, and idiomatic naming conventions. Use this whenever writing tests, asking about testing patterns or setting up CI for Go projects. Essential for ANY test-related conversation in Go.
14backend-go-code-style
Golang code style and readability conventions that require human judgment. Use when reviewing clarity, naming noise, file organization, package boundaries, comments, or maintainability tradeoffs in Go code. Do not use this for golangci-lint setup or lint output interpretation; use `jimmy-skills@backend-go-linter` for tooling.
12backend-go-safety
Defensive Golang coding to prevent panics, silent data corruption, and subtle runtime bugs. Use whenever writing or reviewing Go code that involves nil-prone types (pointers, interfaces, maps, slices, channels), numeric conversions, resource lifecycle (defer in loops), or defensive copying. Also triggers on questions about nil panics, append aliasing, map concurrent access, float comparison, or zero-value design.
11engineering-rest-api-design
REST API design conventions covering URL structure, HTTP methods, pagination, async patterns, idempotency, error envelopes, and API documentation standards. Use when designing new endpoints, reviewing API contracts, or establishing API guidelines before implementation in any language.
11backend-go-design-patterns
Idiomatic Golang design patterns for real backend code: constructors, error flow, dependency injection, resource lifecycle, resilience, data handling, and package boundaries. Apply when designing Go APIs, structuring packages, choosing between patterns, making architecture decisions, or hardening production behavior. Default to simple, feature-first designs unless complexity has clearly appeared.
11backend-go-grpc
Provides gRPC usage guidelines, protobuf organization, and production-ready patterns for Golang microservices. Use when implementing, reviewing, or debugging gRPC servers/clients, writing proto files, setting up interceptors, handling gRPC errors with status codes, configuring TLS/mTLS, testing with bufconn, or working with streaming RPCs.
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