Goa transforms how you build APIs and microservices in Go with its powerful design-first approach. Instead of writing boilerplate code, you express your API's intent through a clear, expressive DSL. Goa then automatically generates production-ready code, comprehensive documentation, and client libraries—all perfectly aligned with your design.
The result? Dramatically reduced development time, consistent APIs, and the elimination of the documentation-code drift that plagues traditional development.
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Traditional API development suffers from:
- Inconsistency: Manually maintained docs that quickly fall out of sync with code
- Wasted effort: Writing repetitive boilerplate and transport-layer code
- Painful integrations: Client packages that need constant updates
- Design afterthoughts: Documentation added after implementation, missing key details
Goa solves these problems by:
- Generating 30-50% of your codebase directly from your design
- Ensuring perfect alignment between design, code, and documentation
- Supporting multiple transports (HTTP, gRPC, and JSON-RPC) from a single design
- Maintaining a clean separation between business logic and transport details
- Expressive Design Language: Define your API with a clear, type-safe DSL that captures your intent
- Comprehensive Code Generation:
- Type-safe server interfaces that enforce your design
- Client packages with full error handling
- Transport layer adapters (HTTP/gRPC/JSON-RPC) with routing and encoding
- OpenAPI/Swagger documentation that's always in sync
- CLI tools for testing your services
- Multi-Protocol Support: Generate HTTP REST, gRPC, and JSON-RPC endpoints from a single design
- Clean Architecture: Business logic remains separate from transport concerns
- Enterprise Ready: Supports authentication, authorization, CORS, logging, and more
- Comprehensive Testing: Includes extensive unit and integration test suites ensuring quality and reliability
┌─────────────┐ ┌──────────────┐ ┌─────────────────────┐
│ Design API │────>│ Generate Code│────>│ Implement Business │
│ using DSL │ │ & Docs │ │ Logic │
└─────────────┘ └──────────────┘ └─────────────────────┘
- Design: Express your API's intent in Goa's DSL
- Generate: Run
goa gento create server interfaces, client code, and documentation - Implement: Focus solely on writing your business logic in the generated interfaces
- Evolve: Update your design and regenerate code as your API evolves
# Install Goa
go install goa.design/goa/v3/cmd/goa@latest
# Create a new module
mkdir hello && cd hello
go mod init hello
# Define a service in design/design.go
mkdir design
cat > design/design.go << EOF
package design
import . "goa.design/goa/v3/dsl"
var _ = Service("hello", func() {
Method("say_hello", func() {
Payload(func() {
Field(1, "name", String)
Required("name")
})
Result(String)
HTTP(func() {
GET("/hello/{name}")
})
})
})
EOF
# Generate the code
goa gen hello/design
goa example hello/design
# Build and run
go mod tidy
go run cmd/hello/*.go --http-port 8000
# In another terminal
curl http://localhost:8000/hello/worldThe example above:
- Defines a simple "hello" service with one method
- Generates server and client code
- Starts a server that logs requests server-side (without displaying any client output)
For a JSON-RPC service, simply add a JSONRPC expression to the service and
method:
var _ = Service("hello" , func() {
JSONRPC(func() {
Path("/jsonrpc")
})
Method("say_hello", func() {
Payload(func() {
Field(1, "name", String)
Required("name")
})
Result(String)
JSONRPC(func() {})
})
}Then test with:
curl -X POST http://localhost:8000/jsonrpc \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"hello.say_hello","params":{"name":"world"},"id":"1"}'Our documentation site at goa.design provides comprehensive guides and references:
- Introduction: Understand Goa's philosophy and benefits
- Getting Started: Build your first Goa service step-by-step
- Tutorials: Learn to create REST APIs, gRPC services, and more
- Core Concepts: Master the design language and architecture
- Real-World Guide: Follow best practices for production services
- Advanced Topics: Explore advanced features and techniques
The examples repository contains complete, working examples demonstrating:
- Basic: Simple service showcasing core Goa concepts
- Cellar: A more complete REST API example
- Cookies: HTTP cookie management
- Encodings: Working with different content types
- Error: Comprehensive error handling strategies
- Files & Upload/Download: File handling capabilities
- HTTP Status: Custom status code handling
- Interceptors: Request/response processing middleware
- Multipart: Handling multipart form submissions
- Security: Authentication and authorization examples
- Streaming: Implementing streaming endpoints (HTTP, WebSocket, JSON-RPC SSE)
- Tracing: Integrating with observability tools
- TUS: Resumable file uploads implementation
- Join the #goa channel on Gophers Slack
- Ask questions on GitHub Discussions
- Follow us on Bluesky
- Report issues on GitHub
- Find answers with the Goa Guru AI assistant
- Subscribe to our Substack, “Design First”: Design First
July 2025: Goa now includes comprehensive JSON-RPC 2.0 support as a first-class transport alongside HTTP and gRPC! Generate complete JSON-RPC services with streaming support (WebSocket and SSE), client/server code, CLI tools, and full type safety - all from a single design.
February 2025: The Goa website has been completely redesigned with extensive new documentation, tutorials, and guides to help you build better services.
Jan 2024: Goa's powerful design DSL is now accessible through the Goa Design Wizard, a specialized AI trained on Goa. Generate service designs through natural language conversations!
MIT License - see LICENSE for details.