go

A Docker image that ships the latest stable Go toolchain (fetched from go.dev at build time) together with a complete set of tools for building, testing, linting, debugging, and releasing Go projects. The image is based on Alpine and produces fully static binaries by default (CGO_ENABLED=0); the CGO build-deps (gcc, musl-dev, openssl-dev, etc.) are still present so you can opt in per build.

---

📦 Install

docker pull casjaysdev/go:latest

---

🐳 Docker

Default workflow — no args needed

Mount your project at /app and run with no arguments. The container automatically runs the full Go workflow:

go mod tidy  →  gofmt -w .  →  go vet ./...  →  go test ./...  →  go build ./...

docker run --rm -v "$PWD:/app" casjaysdev/go:latest

Production mode

Set GO_MODE=prod to strip binaries for release: -trimpath removes all local file system paths; -ldflags=-s -w strips the symbol table and DWARF debug info. Applied to go build only — go test is unaffected so stack traces stay readable.

docker run --rm -v "$PWD:/app" -e GO_MODE=prod casjaysdev/go:latest

GO_MODE=production is also accepted. MODE is an alias for GO_MODE. GO_PROD=1 is a legacy alias that still works when GO_MODE is not set.

One-shot commands

Pass any command and it runs directly instead of the default workflow:

# run tests only
docker run --rm -v "$PWD:/app" casjaysdev/go:latest go test -v ./...

# lint (add --timeout for cold caches)
docker run --rm -v "$PWD:/app" casjaysdev/go:latest golangci-lint run --timeout=5m ./...

# cross-compile for arm64
docker run --rm -v "$PWD:/app" \
  -e GOOS=linux -e GOARCH=arm64 \
  casjaysdev/go:latest go build -o app-arm64 ./...

# interactive shell
docker run --rm -it -v "$PWD:/app" casjaysdev/go:latest bash

# sh -c for compound commands
docker run --rm -v "$PWD:/app" casjaysdev/go:latest sh -c 'go vet ./... && staticcheck ./...'

Long-running container

docker run -d \
  --restart always \
  --name casjaysdev-go \
  --hostname go \
  -e TZ=${TIMEZONE:-America/New_York} \
  -v go-state:/usr/local/share/go \
  -v "$PWD:/app" \
  casjaysdev/go:latest \
  tail null

# exec into it
docker exec -it casjaysdev-go bash
docker exec casjaysdev-go go test ./...
docker exec casjaysdev-go golangci-lint run --timeout=5m
docker exec casjaysdev-go goreleaser release --snapshot --clean

docker-compose

services:
  go:
    image: casjaysdev/go:latest
    container_name: casjaysdev-go
    hostname: go
    command: tail null
    environment:
      - TZ=America/New_York
    volumes:
      - go-state:/usr/local/share/go
      - .:/app
    restart: always

volumes:
  go-state:

---

🔧 Included tools

Go distribution

Binary	Purpose
go	Go compiler and toolchain
gofmt	Standard formatter (bundled with Go)

Linting & static analysis

Tool	Purpose
golangci-lint	Meta-linter — runs 50+ analysers in one pass
staticcheck	Advanced static analyser (SA, QF, ST, S1 checks)
govulncheck	Vulnerability scanner against the Go vuln DB

Formatting & imports

Tool	Purpose
goimports	gofmt + automatic import grouping
gofumpt	Stricter formatter used by many golangci-lint configs

Testing & benchmarking

Tool	Purpose
gotestsum	Structured test runner — JUnit/JSON export, better output
benchstat	Statistically sound comparison of go test -bench runs

Debugging & diagnostics

Tool	Purpose
dlv	Delve — full Go source-level debugger
gops	Live process diagnostics — stacks, GC, process list

Code generation

Tool	Purpose
stringer	Generates String() for iota-based types
wire	Compile-time dependency injection code generator
mockgen	Interface mock generator (Uber fork of golang/mock)

Protobuf & gRPC

Tool	Purpose
protoc	Protocol Buffers compiler (system package)
protoc-gen-go	Protobuf Go code generator
protoc-gen-go-grpc	gRPC Go code generator
buf	Modern protobuf toolchain — lint, format, breaking-change detection

DB migrations

Tool	Purpose
goose	Go-native migration runner — supports Go and SQL migrations

Release & dev loop

Tool	Purpose
goreleaser	Cross-compile, sign, publish, and push container images
ko	Build Go container images without a Dockerfile
air	Live-reload dev server for iterative development

Language server

Tool	Purpose
gopls	Official Go language server — editor integration

---

⚙️ Environment variables

Variable	Default	Purpose
GOPATH	/usr/local/share/go	Workspace; declared as VOLUME
GOBIN	/usr/local/bin	Destination for go install binaries
GOCACHE	/usr/local/share/go/cache	Build cache (persisted in volume)
GOWORKDIR	(cwd / /app)	Override the working directory used by go-workflow
GOOS	(host OS)	Target OS for cross-compilation — e.g. linux, darwin, windows
GOARCH	(host arch)	Target architecture — e.g. amd64, arm64
CGO_ENABLED	0	Static builds by default — override per build
GOTOOLCHAIN	auto	Auto-fetch the Go version declared in go.mod
GOFLAGS	-buildvcs=false	Suppress VCS stamp errors on mounted projects
GOPROXY	https://proxy.golang.org,direct	Module proxy — override for private registries
GOTELEMETRY	off	Disable Go 1.23+ telemetry
GO_MODE	development	Build mode: prod/production or dev/devel/development
MODE	(unset)	Alias for GO_MODE — GO_MODE takes precedence when both are set
GO_PROD	(unset)	Legacy alias — GO_PROD=1 equals GO_MODE=prod; superseded by GO_MODE
TZ	America/New_York	Override at run time with -e TZ=...

Opt into CGO per build without changing the image:

docker run --rm -v "$PWD:/app" \
  -e CGO_ENABLED=1 \
  casjaysdev/go:latest \
  go build ./...

Override the module proxy for a private registry:

docker run --rm -v "$PWD:/app" \
  -e GOPROXY=https://goproxy.corp.internal,direct \
  casjaysdev/go:latest

---

🗂️ PATH order

/usr/local/go/bin  →  /usr/local/bin  →  $GOPATH/bin  →  ...

Baked tools (/usr/local/bin) always take precedence over anything installed at runtime into $GOPATH/bin, so a volume-mounted Go workspace can never shadow the image tools.

---

💾 Persistence

Go state lives at /usr/local/share/go (declared VOLUME). Mount a named volume to persist the module cache, build cache, and any go install-ed tools across container rebuilds:

# named volume (recommended)
docker run -v go-state:/usr/local/share/go ...

# share with the host's own Go workspace
docker run -v ~/go:/usr/local/share/go ...

---

🌐 Cross-compile

With CGO_ENABLED=0 (the default) the Go toolchain cross-compiles pure-Go binaries with no extra setup:

docker run --rm -v "$PWD:/app" -e GOOS=linux   -e GOARCH=arm64  casjaysdev/go:latest go build -o app-linux-arm64   ./...
docker run --rm -v "$PWD:/app" -e GOOS=darwin  -e GOARCH=arm64  casjaysdev/go:latest go build -o app-darwin-arm64  ./...
docker run --rm -v "$PWD:/app" -e GOOS=windows -e GOARCH=amd64  casjaysdev/go:latest go build -o app-windows.exe   ./...
docker run --rm -v "$PWD:/app" -e GOOS=freebsd -e GOARCH=amd64  casjaysdev/go:latest go build -o app-freebsd-amd64 ./...

Run docker run --rm casjaysdev/go:latest go tool dist list for the full ~50-target matrix. goreleaser is pre-installed to orchestrate multi-platform release builds.

---

🛠️ Development

Prerequisites

• Docker (with buildx)
• make, bash

Build the image locally

git clone https://github.com/dockersrc/go "$HOME/Projects/github/dockersrc/go"
cd "$HOME/Projects/github/dockersrc/go"
docker build --tag casjaysdev/go:test .

---

📄 License

MIT

---

🤖 casjay
⛵ casjaysdev
🐳 Docker Hub