name: go-code-audit description: | WHEN: User asks for a code quality audit, code review, or wants to find code smells, anti-patterns, or non-idiomatic Go code in their project. Also when asked "how good is this code?" or "audit my code." WHEN NOT: When the user wants to fix bugs, run tests, or just lint (use go-lint-audit for linting). license: MIT

Go Code Audit

Comprehensive code quality analysis against Go best practices. Identifies code smells, anti-patterns, and non-idiomatic patterns with categorized findings.

What It Checks

Idiomatic Go Patterns

• Proper use of interfaces (accept interfaces, return structs)
• Channel and goroutine patterns
• Error wrapping with %w and sentinel errors
• Use of context.Context as first parameter
• Functional options pattern where appropriate

Naming & Style

• Package naming (short, lowercase, no underscores)
• Exported name stuttering (user.UserService → user.Service)
• Acronym consistency (URL, HTTP, ID)
• Variable scope and naming length conventions

Package Structure

• internal/ usage for non-public packages
• Circular dependency detection
• Package cohesion (single responsibility)
• cmd/ and pkg/ conventions

Error Handling

• Unchecked errors (errcheck patterns)
• Bare log.Fatal in library code
• Panics in recoverable code paths
• Error wrapping without context

Code Smells

• Global mutable state
• init() function overuse
• Empty interfaces where concrete types suffice
• Overly complex functions (cyclomatic complexity)
• Dead code and unused exports

How to Run

API Integration (Optional)

If GOPHER_GUIDES_API_KEY is set, verify it:

curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $GOPHER_GUIDES_API_KEY" \
  https://gopherguides.com/api/gopher-ai/me

If not set, local analysis tools (go vet, staticcheck, golangci-lint) still provide comprehensive analysis. Set the key for enhanced API-powered insights. Get your key at gopherguides.com.

Full Project Audit

Analyze the entire Go project:

# Run static analysis tools
go vet ./...
staticcheck ./...
golangci-lint run --max-issues-per-linter 0 --max-same-issues 0 ./...

Then review the codebase for patterns the tools don't catch:

1. Read each package's exported API — check for stuttering, interface bloat, and naming
2. Trace error paths — ensure all errors are wrapped with context
3. Review concurrency — check goroutine lifecycle management
4. Check test coverage — identify untested critical paths

Gopher Guides API (Enhanced Analysis)

Note: API calls send source code to gopherguides.com for analysis. Ensure your organization's policy permits external code analysis.

For full API usage examples, see API Usage Reference.

Helper Script

After installation via install.sh, scripts are at .github/skills/scripts/. For a full audit including local tools + API:

bash .github/skills/scripts/audit.sh

Severity Configuration

After installation via install.sh, severity configuration is at .github/skills/config/severity.yaml. Teams can override severity levels per category or per rule. See the Setup Guide for details.

Output Format

Categorize all findings by severity:

🔴 Critical

Issues that will cause bugs, data races, or security vulnerabilities.

🟡 Warning

Non-idiomatic patterns, maintainability concerns, or performance issues.

🟢 Suggestion

Style improvements, naming refinements, or minor optimizations.

Report Template

## Code Audit Report

**Project:** {name}
**Date:** {date}
**Files Analyzed:** {count}

### Summary
- 🔴 Critical: {n}
- 🟡 Warning: {n}
- 🟢 Suggestion: {n}
- Quality Score: {score}/100

### Findings

#### 🔴 Critical

1. **{title}** — `{file}:{line}`
   - Issue: {description}
   - Fix: {recommendation}

#### 🟡 Warning

1. **{title}** — `{file}:{line}`
   - Issue: {description}
   - Fix: {recommendation}

#### 🟢 Suggestion

1. **{title}** — `{file}:{line}`
   - Issue: {description}
   - Fix: {recommendation}

### Recommendations
1. {top priority action items}

References

• Existing gopher-ai skill: plugins/go-dev/skills/go-best-practices/
• Gopher Guides API: plugins/gopher-guides/skills/gopher-guides/
• Effective Go
• Go Code Review Comments

Powered by Gopher Guides training materials.