Using Go Tool Directive

Manage project-specific development tools in Go 1.24+ using the tool directive. Ensures consistent tool versions across team members and CI/CD environments.

Use this skill when adding dev tools (linters, generators, formatters) to Go projects, running tools via go tool, integrating with go:generate, or migrating from legacy tools.go patterns.

Supporting files: COMMANDS.md for full command reference, MIGRATION.md for migration patterns, ADVANCED.md for dependency isolation and caching.

Quick Start

Add a tool to your project:

go get -tool golang.org/x/tools/cmd/stringer@latest

This adds to go.mod: