Best SKILL.md Skills for Go Developers: Routing, Testing, and Idiomatic Patterns (2026)

Quick Answer: The best SKILL.md skills for Go developers cover routing patterns (Chi, Gin, Echo), test generation with Go's native testing package, database migration review, and Go-specific code review that enforces idiomatic error handling, interface composition, and package layout. Install Go skills from agensi.io/skills or write your own targeting your team's conventions.

Go's strength is its conventions. Effective Go, the standard library, and the community's strong opinions about package layout, error handling, and interface design mean there's usually one right way to do things. This makes Go uniquely suited for AI agent skills.

A well-written Go skill encodes those conventions into instructions your AI agent follows automatically. Instead of reviewing Claude's output to check "did it use error wrapping properly?" the skill tells Claude to use error wrapping from the start.

Why Go developers need skills

Without a Go skill, AI agents write Go that compiles but doesn't feel idiomatic. Common issues: returning errors instead of wrapping them with context, using interface{} instead of type parameters, creating packages that are too granular, and writing tests with assertion libraries instead of Go's native testing style.

A Go skill fixes these by giving the agent explicit rules: always wrap errors with fmt.Errorf and %w, use generics for type-safe collections, keep packages focused but not micro, test with the standard testing package and table-driven tests.

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Browse all Go skills

Best skills for Go web frameworks

Chi router skills are the most requested. Chi v5 is the most popular Go router and has specific patterns for middleware chaining, route grouping, and context handling. A Chi skill tells the agent how to structure routes, apply middleware in the correct order, and use Chi's context patterns.

Gin skills cover Gin's binding/validation patterns, middleware groups, and custom error handling. Gin has its own idioms that differ from Chi and Echo.

Echo and Fiber skills follow similar patterns adapted to each framework's specific middleware and routing conventions.

Best skills for Go testing

Go has strong testing conventions that AI agents often deviate from. A Go testing skill enforces table-driven tests, uses the standard testing package (not testify assertions by default), follows the _test.go naming convention, uses test fixtures properly, and generates subtests with descriptive names.

The most effective Go testing skills also instruct the agent to check for race conditions (go test -race), use test helpers for setup/teardown, and generate benchmarks alongside unit tests.

Best skills for Go database work

Database migration skills review migration files for common Go-specific issues: missing index creation, incorrect foreign key constraints, unsafe ALTER TABLE operations on large tables, and connection pool configuration. A good migration skill checks the migration against your ORM (GORM, sqlx, ent) and your database engine (PostgreSQL, MySQL).

Writing a custom Go skill for your team

Go's conventions are project-specific enough that a custom skill provides the most value. Document your team's specific patterns in a SKILL.md:

Your package layout (cmd/, internal/, pkg/, or flat). Your error handling style (sentinel errors, error wrapping, custom error types). Your logging library (slog, zap, zerolog) and structured logging conventions. Your testing approach (table-driven, mocks with gomock or mockery, integration test setup). Your dependency injection pattern (wire, fx, or manual). Your API patterns (REST with OpenAPI, gRPC with protobuf, GraphQL with gqlgen).

A SKILL.md that covers these six areas will dramatically improve the quality of AI-generated Go code for your entire team. For a step-by-step guide on creating skills, read How to Create Your Own SKILL.md File from Scratch.