golang-error-handling

The `golang-error-handling` skill is designed to enforce idiomatic and robust error handling practices in Go applications. It addresses common challenges in Go development where errors can be silently ignored, improperly wrapped, or inconsistently logged, which complicates debugging and monitoring in production systems. By guiding developers through best practices for error creation, wrapping, inspection, and logging, this skill ensures that errors are consistently handled, providing clarity and reliability in Go codebases.

This skill offers a comprehensive set of features to manage Go errors effectively. It covers error creation, wrapping with `%w`, and inspection using `errors.Is` and `errors.As`. It supports combining errors with `errors.Join`, creating custom error types, using sentinel errors for expected conditions, and adhering to the single handling rule to avoid duplicate logging. For logging, it integrates structured logging with `slog` and provides middleware for HTTP request logging. It also leverages `samber/oops` for production-grade error reporting, including stack traces and structured attributes. Additionally, it guides safe use of `panic` and `recover`, ensuring unrecoverable conditions are handled appropriately.

This skill is intended for Go developers, reliability engineers, and teams responsible for maintaining high-quality, production-ready Go applications. It is particularly useful in scenarios where consistent error handling, structured logging, and observability are critical, such as web services, APIs, and systems monitored via APM or log aggregation tools. By applying this skill, users can minimize silent failures, reduce debugging complexity, and produce maintainable, scalable Go applications that integrate seamlessly with modern monitoring and logging infrastructures.