Build & Development Commands

• Always use Go modules for dependency management (go mod tidy before committing).
• Prefer make or Taskfile.yaml for automating common development tasks.
• Use golangci-lint for static code analysis before committing.
• When working with Kubernetes, use ko or Buildpacks for building OCI images instead of Dockerfiles when possible.
• Use kind or k3d to create local Kubernetes clusters for testing.

Testing Guidelines

• Write unit tests using Go's built-in testing package and table-driven tests.
• Use testify for assertions and mocks when needed.
• Aim for at least 80% test coverage, but focus on testing critical logic.
• Run tests in parallel where applicable (t.Parallel()).
• Use go test -race to detect race conditions.
• For integration tests involving Kubernetes, prefer envtest or kind-based testing environments.

Code Style & Guidelines

• Follow idiomatic Go practices (Effective Go and Go Proverbs).
• Use structured logging (log/slog or zap for performance-sensitive applications).
• Always check and handle errors properly; never ignore errors.
• Use context (context.Context) in APIs to support timeouts and cancellations.
• Use sync.Pool or buffer pooling for optimizing high-performance applications.
• Avoid using global variables except for configuration or logging.
• For cloud-native applications, prefer gRPC over REST when possible.

Documentation Guidelines

• Document all public types, functions, and methods using GoDoc style.
• Use README.md to provide setup and usage instructions for repositories.
• Provide example-based documentation where applicable (examples/ directory).
• Use OpenAPI (Swagger) for documenting RESTful APIs.
• When writing Kubernetes CRDs, always include clear spec and status documentation.
• Ensure Helm charts and Kubernetes manifests have proper annotations and comments.