Go for Visual Studio Code

The VS Code Go extension provides rich language support for the Go programming language.

📣 Remote attach debugging is now available via Delve's native DAP implementation with Delve v1.7.3 or newer. It enchances remote debugging with the same debugging features that are already in use for local debugging. It is now the default with the Go Nightly build of the extension and will become the default for the stable releases in mid 2022. We recommend switching your remote attach configurations in launch.json to use "debugAdapter":"dlv-dap" now to verify that this works for you. Please file a new issue if you encounter any problems.

📣📣 Watch Debugging Treasure Hunt from GopherCon 2021 for a fun take on a debugging demo with VS Code Go and Delve DAP.

Quick Start

Welcome! 👋🏻
Whether you are new to Go or an experienced Go developer, we hope this extension fits your needs and enhances your development experience.

1. Install Go 1.14 or newer if you haven't already.

2. Install the VS Code Go extension.

3. Open any directory or workspace containing Go code to automatically activate the extension. The Go status bar appears in the bottom left corner of the window and displays your Go version.

4. The extension depends on go, gopls, dlv and other optional tools. If any of the dependencies are missing, the ⚠️ Analysis Tools Missing warning is displayed. Click on the warning to download dependencies.

   See the tools documentation for a complete list of tools the extension depends on.

(Install Missing Tools)

You are ready to Go :-)    🎉🎉🎉

What's next

• Explore more features of the VS Code Go extension.
• Learn how to customize your settings.
• Solve issues with Troubleshooting.
• file an issue for problems with the extension.
• Start a GitHub discussion or get help on Stack Overflow.

If you are new to Go, this article provides the overview on Go code organization and basic go commands. Watch "Getting started with VS Code Go" for an explanation of how to build your first Go application using VS Code Go.

Feature highlights

• IntelliSense - Results appear for symbols as you type.
• Code navigation - Jump to or peek at a symbol's declaration.
• Code editing - Support for saved snippets, formatting and code organization, and automatic organization of imports.
• Diagnostics - Build, vet, and lint errors shown as you type or on save.
• Enhanced support for testing and debugging

See the full feature breakdown for more details.

(Code completion and Signature Help)

In addition to integrated editing features, the extension provides several commands for working with Go files. You can access any of these by opening the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P on Linux/Windows and Cmd+Shift+P on Mac), and then typing in the command name. See the full list of commands provided by this extension.

(Toggle Test File)

⚠️ Note: the default syntax highlighting for Go files is provided by a TextMate rule embedded in VS Code, not by this extension.

For better syntax highlighting, we recommend enabling semantic highlighting by turning on Gopls' ui.semanticTokens setting. "gopls": { "ui.semanticTokens": true }

Tools

The extension uses a few command-line tools developed by the Go community. In particular, go, gopls, and dlv must be installed for this extension to work correctly. See the tools documentation for a complete list of tools the extension depends on.

In order to locate these command-line tools, the extension searches GOPATH/bin and directories specified in the PATH environment variable (or Path on Windows) with which the VS Code process has started. If the tools are not found, the extension will prompt you to install the missing tools and show the "⚠️ Analysis Tools Missing" warning in the bottom right corner. Please install them by responding to the warning notification, or by manually running the Go: Install/Update Tools command.

Setting up your workspace

Go modules are how Go manages dependencies in recent versions of Go. Modules replace the GOPATH-based approach to specifying which source files are used in a given build, and they are the default build mode in go1.16+. While this extension continues to support both Go modules and GOPATH modes, we highly recommend Go development in module mode. If you are working on existing projects, please consider migrating to modules.

Unlike the traditional GOPATH mode, module mode does not require the workspace to be located under GOPATH nor to use a specific structure. A module is defined by a directory tree of Go source files with a go.mod file in the tree's root directory.

Your project may involve one or more modules. If you are working with multiple modules or uncommon project layouts, you will need to configure your workspace by using Workspace Folders. Please see this documentation about supported workspace layouts.

Customization

The extension needs no configuration and should work out of the box. However, you may wish to adjust settings to customize its behavior. Please see the settings documentation for a comprehensive list of settings. See advanced topics for further customizations and unique use cases.

Troubleshooting

If the extension isn't working as you expect, you can take a look at our troubleshooting guides. There is one for general troubleshooting, and another specifically for troubleshooting the debugging feature.

Ask for help

If the troubleshooting guides did not resolve the issue, please reach out to us by filing an issue, starting a GitHub discussion, or by asking a question on Stack Overflow.

Also, you can take a look at go.dev/learn and golang.org/help for more general guidance on using Go.

Preview version

If you'd like to get early access to new features and bug fixes, you can use the nightly build of this extension. Learn how to install it in by reading the Go Nightly documentation.

Contributing

We welcome your contributions and thank you for working to improve the Go development experience in VS Code. If you would like to help work on the VS Code Go extension, please see our contribution guide. It explains how to build and run the extension locally, and describes the process of sending a contribution.

Code of Conduct

This project follows the Go Community Code of Conduct. If you encounter a conduct-related issue, please mail conduct@golang.org.

License

MIT