Installing Go

Get Go installed on your system and configure your development environment. Choose your operating system below to get started.

macOS
Windows
Linux

Install Go on macOS

Quick Install with Homebrew

If you have Homebrew installed, you can easily install Go with these commands:

# Install Git (if you don't have it)
brew install git

# Install Go
brew install go

# Add GOBIN path to your PATH in ~/.bash_profile or ~/.zshrc
export PATH=${HOME}/go/bin:$PATH

Manual Installation

Install Visual Studio Code

Go to https://code.visualstudio.com
Select macOS and download
Uncompress the downloaded file
Move it to your ~/Applications directory

Install Git

Download from https://git-scm.com/downloads
Run the installer
Select VSCode as the default editor

Install Go

Go to https://golang.org/dl
Select macOS
Run the installer package

Configure VS Code

Open VS Code
From the extensions tab, search for “go” and install the official Go extension
Close and reopen VS Code
Open the Command Palette (cmd+shift+p)
Type: go install
Select “Go: Install/Update Tools”
Check all the checkboxes and install
Open Command Palette again
Type: shell
Select: “Install ‘code’ command in PATH”

Verify Installation

Open your terminal and run:

go version

You should see output like: go version go1.x.x darwin/amd64

Install Go on Windows

Quick Install with Chocolatey

If you have Chocolatey installed:

choco install golang

Manual Installation

Install Visual Studio Code

Go to https://code.visualstudio.com
Select Windows and download
Run the installer

Install Git

Download from https://gitforwindows.org
Run the installer
Select VSCode as the default editor
Enable all checkboxes
Select: “Use Git from the Windows Command Prompt”
For encodings, select: “Checkout as is…”

Install Go

Go to https://golang.org/dl
Select Windows and download
Run the installer

Configure VS Code

Open VS Code
From the extensions tab, search for “go” and install the official Go extension
Close and reopen VS Code
Open the Command Palette (ctrl+shift+p)
Type: go install
Select “Go: Install/Update Tools”
Check all the checkboxes and install

Setup Git Bash (Recommended)

Git Bash provides a better command-line experience on Windows with bash commands similar to macOS/Linux.

Search for “Git Bash” from the start menu
In VS Code, open Command Palette
Type: terminal
Select: “Terminal: Select Default Shell”
Choose: “Git Bash”

When using Git Bash, your files are under /c/ instead of c:\ - it’s the same directory, just different notation.

Verify Installation

Open Git Bash (or Command Prompt) and run:

go version

You should see output like: go version go1.x.x windows/amd64

You can also use WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) for a native Linux experience on Windows.

Install Go on Linux (Ubuntu)

Quick Install with Snap

The easiest way to install Go on Ubuntu:

sudo snap install go --classic

If you used snap, skip to the verification step below.

Manual Installation

Update packages and install Git

# Update local packages
sudo apt-get update

# Install Git
sudo apt-get install git

Download Go

You can download Go in two ways:Option 1: From the web

firefox https://golang.org/dl

Select Linux and download the tar.gz file.Option 2: Using snap (skip to step 4 if you use this)

sudo snap install go --classic

Extract Go to /usr/local

Find the downloaded file name and extract it:

# Replace 'goX.XX.X.linux-amd64.tar.gz' with your downloaded file
sudo tar -C /usr/local -xzf ~/Downloads/go*.linux-amd64.tar.gz

Add Go to PATH

Add Go executables to your PATH:

# Add Go binary directory
echo 'export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/go/bin' >> ~/.profile

# Add your Go workspace bin directory
echo 'export PATH=$PATH:$HOME/go/bin' >> ~/.profile

# Reload your profile
source ~/.profile

Install Go Tools

Install helpful development tools:

go install golang.org/x/tools/...@latest

This creates a ~/go directory where Go tools and your projects will live (when not using Go modules).

Install VS Code (Optional)

Open “Ubuntu Software” application
Search for “Visual Studio Code”
Click Install

Then install the Go extension from the VS Code extensions marketplace.

Verify Installation

go version

You should see output like: go version go1.x.x linux/amd64

Test Your Installation

Create a simple test program:

# Create a test file
cat <<EOF > hello.go
package main

import "fmt"

func main() {
    fmt.Println("hello gopher!")
}
EOF

# Run it
go run hello.go

You should see: hello gopher!

Workspace Setup

After installation, you’ll want to organize your Go projects:

With Go modules (Go 1.11+), you can create Go projects anywhere on your system. You don’t need to follow the old GOPATH structure.

Recommended Structure

~/projects/
  ├── learngo/          # Your learning projects
  │   ├── hello/
  │   ├── variables/
  │   └── ...
  └── myapp/            # Your own projects

Create Your First Project Directory

# Create a projects directory
mkdir -p ~/projects/learngo

# Navigate to it
cd ~/projects/learngo

Next Steps

Now that you have Go installed, you’re ready to write your first program!

Write Your First Program

Learn how to create and run a simple Go program

Get Started

Fundamentals

Control Flow

Data Structures

Functions

Advanced Topics

Install Go

Installing Go

Install Go on macOS

Quick Install with Homebrew

Manual Installation

Install Go on Windows

Quick Install with Chocolatey

Manual Installation

Install Go on Linux (Ubuntu)

Quick Install with Snap

Manual Installation

Test Your Installation

Workspace Setup

Recommended Structure

Create Your First Project Directory

Next Steps

Write Your First Program

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Get Started

Fundamentals

Control Flow

Data Structures

Functions

Advanced Topics

​Installing Go

​Install Go on macOS

​Quick Install with Homebrew

​Manual Installation

​Install Go on Windows

​Quick Install with Chocolatey

​Manual Installation

​Install Go on Linux (Ubuntu)

​Quick Install with Snap

​Manual Installation

​Test Your Installation

​Workspace Setup

​Recommended Structure

​Create Your First Project Directory

​Next Steps

Write Your First Program

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Installing Go

Install Go on macOS

Quick Install with Homebrew

Manual Installation

Install Go on Windows

Quick Install with Chocolatey

Manual Installation

Install Go on Linux (Ubuntu)

Quick Install with Snap

Manual Installation

Test Your Installation

Workspace Setup

Recommended Structure

Create Your First Project Directory

Next Steps