Go Nightly for VS Code

ATTENTION: This is the preview version of the VS Code Go extension, used for early feedback and testing.

It is published nightly and contains previews of new features and bug fixes that are still under review or test. Therefore, this extension can be broken or unstable at times. If you are looking for the stable version, please install the default VS Code Go extension instead.

NOTE: The stable Go extension (golang.go) cannot be used at the same time as the preview Go Nightly extension (golang.go-nightly). If you have installed both extensions, you must disable or uninstall one of them. For further guidance, read the documentation on how to disable an extension.

Differences between Go and Go Nightly

• Go Nightly is released more frequently than the stable version (once per weekday).
• Go Nightly includes features and bug fixes that are not yet finalized.
• Go Nightly may use pre-release versions of tools (such as gopls) instead of released versions.
• For more information about Go Nightly, read the Go Nightly documentation.

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 1.18 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.
• View the settings documentation and advanced topics to customize the extension.
• View the tools documentation for a complete list of tools the VS Code Go extension depends on.
• Solve issues with the general troubleshooting and debugging troubleshooting guides.
• file an issue for problems with the extension.
• Start a GitHub discussion or get help on Stack Overflow.
• Explore Go language resources on go.dev/learn and golang.org/help.

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 }

Setting up your workspace

The VS Code Go extension supports both GOPATH and Go modules modes.

Go modules are used to manage 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+. 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. See the Supported workspace layouts documentation for more information.

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, see our contribution guide to learn how to build and run the VS Code Go extension locally and contribute to the project.

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