Fundamentals
Project Structure
Learn about the project structure of Go.
In Go, we use Modules to track our project.
Standard workflow to start a new project from your terminal:
Initialize the module
Terminal
go mod init github.com/yourusername/myapp
This creates a go.mod file, which is exactly like Python's requirements.txt or Node's package.json.
No.
- You can use any name for local development.
- GitHub URL is only needed if you plan to publish or share the module.
Why:
- Go uses the module name as a download path.
- Tools like
go getlook for that exact URL online. - If it’s not a real/accessible path, others can’t install your code.
- Locally → Works fine. Go only reads
go.mod. - After pushing → Problems start.
Why:
go getuses the module path as a URL.- If names don’t match → download fails or errors.
Fix:
- Update
go.modto match your actual repo URL.
Always make the module name in your go.mod file match the exact URL where the code is actually hosted.
Create your entry point
Create a file named main.go.
Run the code (for development):
Terminal
go run main.go
This compiles and runs your code on the fly.
Build the code (for production):
Terminal
go build
This spits out the magical standalone binary file we talked about.
go build (without arguments) builds the entire module/package defined in go.mod.If you haven’t initialized a module, Go won’t know what to build and may throw an error.
You can also build a specific file directly:
Terminal
go build main.go
This compiles only that file and does not require a module.
Key idea:
go build→ builds the project (module/package)go build <file.go>→ builds a single file