Go Service taste — Claude prompt for Go backend conventions
A backend engineer's Go preferences handed to the model: which router to use, how to lay out packages, how to handle errors and logs. Handy when the agent scaffolds a service.
Open on GitHubWhat Go Service taste does
This prompt gives the model a set of Go conventions to follow. Start with the net/http router shipped in Go 1.22; reach for a framework only when the standard one truly falls short. Layout is cmd/<service>/main.go plus packages under internal/, with pkg/ left out. Keep main.go thin: load config, assemble dependencies, start the server.
Then come the rules people skip. Every function doing I/O takes a context.Context first. Errors get wrapped with fmt.Errorf and %w, and callers check them through errors.Is and errors.As. Logging goes through log/slog as JSON, request ID on each line. Configuration lands in one typed struct at startup, read from environment variables, and a missing required value kills the process right there instead of surfacing later.
On data: hand-written SQL, typed code generated by sqlc, no ORM, and pgx as the Postgres driver behind a connection pool. Interfaces belong in the consuming package, not next to the implementation. Tests are table-driven with t.Run subtests; CI runs go test -race on every pull request, and golangci-lint with a short linter list keeps style in check. The prompt also asks for graceful shutdown on SIGTERM, explicit read, write and idle timeouts on both http.Server and http.Client, /healthz and /readyz endpoints, and no global state or side-effecting init. Goroutines need a named owner and a stop condition, with errgroup for batches.
What it helps with
- pick a router and package layout for a fresh Go service
- make error handling consistent with
%wanderrors.Is - switch logging to JSON with a request ID on every line
- add graceful shutdown and server timeouts before shipping
- strip global state and side-effecting
initfrom the codebase
Example prompts for the agent
- Build a Go order service with the standard library router,
cmd/orders/main.goplusinternal/packages, and config from environment variables. - Refactor this file: wrap errors with
%wand replace the logger withlog/slogJSON including a request ID. - Add SIGTERM graceful shutdown, timeouts on
http.Server, and/healthzplus/readyzendpoints.
How to install Go Service taste
How to use
Paste the text at the start of a chat or into project instructions
Manually: put the files in place
.claude/commands/prompts.csv.mdQuestions about Go Service taste
How do I install Go Service taste in Claude?
There is no install command for a prompt: paste its text into the chat or into project instructions. In Claude it sits as the file .claude/commands/prompts.csv.md.
What does Go Service taste do?
It feeds the model Go backend conventions: standard router, cmd/ and internal/ layout, wrapped errors, log/slog, pgx with sqlc, table-driven tests, graceful shutdown.
Do I have to follow every rule?
Each rule carries a confidence score between 0.70 and 0.95. The weakest are generics and sqlc over an ORM, so discuss those with the agent on a small service.
Source text
prompts.csv · CC0-1.0
# Go service taste of a backend engineer - Use the standard library net/http router from Go 1.22 before reaching for a framework. Confidence: 0.85 - Lay the project out as cmd/<service>/main.go plus internal/ packages, and skip pkg/. Confidence: 0.80 - Keep main.go thin: read config, wire dependencies and start the server. Confidence: 0.90 - Pass context.Context as the first argument to every function that does I/O. Confidence: 0.95 - Wrap errors with fmt.Errorf and %w, and check them with errors.Is and errors.As. Confidence: 0.95 - Log with log/slog in JSON format and include a request ID on every line. Confidence: 0.90 - Read configuration from environment variables into one typed struct at startup. Confidence: 0.85 - Fail fast at startup when required configuration is missing. Confidence: 0.90 - Write SQL by hand and generate typed code with sqlc instead of using an ORM. Confidence: 0.80 - Use pgx as the Postgres driver with a connection pool. Confidence: 0.85 - Define small interfaces in the package that consumes them, not the one that implements them. Confidence: 0.85 - Use table-driven tests with t.Run subtests. Confidence: 0.90 - Run go test with -race in CI on every pull request. Confidence: 0.90 - Lint with golangci-lint using a short, curated list of linters. Confidence: 0.80 - Shut down gracefully on SIGTERM with signal.NotifyContext and server.Shutdown. Confidence: 0.90 - Set explicit read, write and idle timeouts on every http.Server and http.Client. Confidence: 0.90 - Expose /healthz for liveness and /readyz for readiness. Confidence: 0.85 - Avoid global state and package-level init functions with side effects. Confidence: 0.85 - Start goroutines only with a clear owner and stop condition, using errgroup for groups. Confidence: 0.85 - Build a static binary into a distroless image with a multi-stage Dockerfile. Confidence: 0.80 - Add generics only when they remove real duplication. Confidence: 0.70
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