Golang error handling

Skill ComeOnOliver/skillshub/skills/HoangNguyen0403/agent-skills-standard/golang-error-handling

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npx -y skills add ComeOnOliver/skillshub --skill golang-error-handling

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Standards for error wrapping, checking, and definition in Golang. Use when wrapping errors, defining sentinel errors, or handling errors idiomatically in Go. (triggers: fmt.Errorf, errors.Is, errors.As, error wrapping, sentinel error, error handling)

SKILL.md

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Golang Error Handling Standards

Priority: P0 (CRITICAL)

Principles

Errors are Values: Handle them like any other value.
Handle Once: Log OR Return. Never Log AND Return (creates duplicate logs).
Add Context: Don't just return err bubble up. Wrap it with context: fmt.Errorf("failed to open file: %w", err).
Use Standard Lib: Go 1.13+ errors package (Is, As, Unwrap) is sufficient. Avoid pkg/errors (deprecated).

Guidelines

Sentinel Errors: Expoted, fixed errors (io.EOF, sql.ErrNoRows). Use errors.Is(err, io.EOF).
Error Types: Structs implementing error. Use errors.As(err, &target).
Panic: Only for unrecoverable startup errors.

Anti-Patterns

No bare return err: Wrap with fmt.Errorf("context: %w", err) to preserve call chain.
No string error checks: Use errors.Is/errors.As; string comparison is brittle.
No swallowed errors: Never assign errors to _; always handle or propagate.

References

Error Wrapping Patterns