create-packkit-go 🐹📦

Scaffold a modern Go project — a go.mod module, idiomatic layout, table-style tests — from a CLI (and soon the browser). Packkit's Go sibling.

Prefer clicking to typing? Configure a Go project in the browser → — pick options, preview the tree, download a zip (or copy the command). No install needed.

Like create-packkit and create-packkit-py, this is a JavaScript generator — but its output is an idiomatic Go project. The whole Packkit engine pattern (a deterministic core, presets, a browser configurator, --schema, MCP, and a packkit.json provenance file) carries over, while you get standard Go: a go.mod module, a package with a doc comment, and go test-ready table tests. No Go toolchain is needed to generate — only to run what's generated.

Quick start

npx create-packkit-go go-lib my-lib
# then:
cd my-lib && go test ./... && go build ./...

Every generated project is gofmt-clean and passes go vet, go build, and go test out of the box — the same guarantee create-packkit makes for JS/TS.

Presets

| Preset | Alias | What you get | | ------------ | ---------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | go-lib | lib | Library — go.mod module, a documented package with an exported function, a table test, README, .gitignore. | | go-cli | cli | Command — everything in go-lib plus a cmd/<name>/main.go that wires the package to flags (logic stays testable in the package). | | go-worker | worker | Background worker — a testable Handle seam, a runner that drains on SIGTERM and exits 0, JSON logs, retries + poison hook, distroless Dockerfile. | | go-service | service, svc | HTTP service — net/http server on $PORT, / + /healthz, JSON logs, graceful shutdown, an httptest handler test + a live-server shutdown test, distroless Dockerfile. |

Each target emits its own provider-neutral deployment contract, exactly as the JS and Python generators do — go-service emits the language-neutral service contract (runtime: "go-1.x"), the same contract shape a Node or Python HTTP service uses.

Options

--name <name>            Project name (or a positional, in either slot)
--module <path>          go.mod module path (default: sanitized name)
--description <text>
--author "<name> <email>"
--license <MIT|Apache-2.0|ISC|none>   (default: MIT)
--go <1.x>               Minimum Go version (default: 1.23)
--release <none|goreleaser>  GoReleaser config + tag-triggered release workflow (default: none)
--here                   Scaffold into the current directory
--no-git                 Skip initializing a git repository
--force                  Overwrite existing files

Where it fits

create-packkit-go is a separate package, not a fork of create-packkit's core. It implements the shared @packkit/core PackkitGenerator contract — the same interface the JS and Python generators implement — with zero core changes. Go-specific concerns (the go.mod manifest diff that powers baseline-aware upgrade) stay in this package; the core stays language-neutral. The shared packkit-mcp server can front all three generators, and the browser configurator can host all three engines.

Requirements

Node.js >= 20 to run the generator. Go (any recent version, go.mod floor 1.23) to build and test what it produces.

License

MIT © DanMat