Build and test Go projects

Azure DevOps Services

Use a pipeline to automatically build and test your Go projects.

Create your first pipeline

New to Azure Pipelines? If so, then we recommend you try this section before moving on to other sections.

Fork the following repo at GitHub:

https://github.com/MicrosoftDocs/pipelines-go

Sign in to Azure Pipelines

Sign-in to Azure Pipelines. After you sign in, your browser goes to https://dev.azure.com/my-organization-name and displays your Azure DevOps dashboard.

Within your selected organization, create a project. If you don't have any projects in your organization, you see a Create a project to get started screen. Otherwise, select the New Project button in the upper-right corner of the dashboard.

Create the pipeline

1. Sign-in to your Azure DevOps organization and go to your project.

2. Go to Pipelines, and then select New pipeline.

3. Do the steps of the wizard by first selecting GitHub as the location of your source code.

4. You might be redirected to GitHub to sign in. If so, enter your GitHub credentials.

5. When you see the list of repositories, select your repository.

6. You might be redirected to GitHub to install the Azure Pipelines app. If so, select Approve & install.

When the Configure tab appears, select Go. Your new pipeline appears, with the azure-pipelines.yml YAML file ready to be configured. See the following sections to learn some of the more common ways to customize your pipeline.

Build environment

You can use Azure Pipelines to build your Go projects without setting up any infrastructure of your own. You can use Linux, macOS, or Windows agents to run your builds.

Update the following snippet in your azure-pipelines.yml file to select the appropriate image.

pool:
  vmImage: 'ubuntu-latest'

Modern versions of Go are pre-installed on Microsoft-hosted agents. For the exact versions of pre-installed Go, refer to Microsoft-hosted agents in Azure Pipelines.

Set up Go

Go 1.11+

Starting with Go 1.11, you no longer need to define a $GOPATH environment, set up a workspace layout, or use the dep module. Dependency management is now built in.

This YAML implements the go get command to download Go packages and their dependencies. It then uses go build to generate the content that is published with PublishBuildArtifacts@1 task.

trigger: 
 - main

pool:
   vmImage: 'ubuntu-latest'

steps: 
- task: GoTool@0
  inputs:
    version: '1.13.5'
- task: Go@0
  inputs:
    command: 'get'
    arguments: '-d'
    workingDirectory: '$(System.DefaultWorkingDirectory)'
- task: Go@0
  inputs:
    command: 'build'
    workingDirectory: '$(System.DefaultWorkingDirectory)'
- task: CopyFiles@2
  inputs:
    TargetFolder: '$(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)'
- task: PublishBuildArtifacts@1
  inputs:
     artifactName: drop

Go < 1.11

As the Go documentation describes, a Go workspace consists of a root directory to which the $GOPATH environment variable points. Within that directory, are the following standard subdirectories:

• bin to contain executable commands
• pkg to contain compiled packages (.a files)
• src to contain Go source files (.go, .c, .g, .s)

When an Azure Pipelines build fetches code from a remote repository, it places the code in the default working directory of the build. To match the expected structure of a Go workspace, add the following snippet to your azure-pipelines.yml file. This script runs in bash on Linux and macOS agents, but must be modified for Windows.

variables:
  GOBIN:  '$(GOPATH)/bin' # Go binaries path
  GOPATH: '$(system.defaultWorkingDirectory)/gopath' # Go workspace path
  modulePath: '$(GOPATH)/src/github.com/$(build.repository.name)' # Path to the module's code

steps:
- script: |
    mkdir -p '$(GOBIN)'
    mkdir -p '$(GOPATH)/pkg'
    mkdir -p '$(modulePath)'
    shopt -s extglob
    shopt -s dotglob
    mv !(gopath) '$(modulePath)'
    echo '##vso[task.prependpath]$(GOBIN)'
  displayName: 'Set up the Go workspace'

- script: |
    go version
    go get -v -t -d ./...
    if [ -f Gopkg.toml ]; then
        curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/golang/dep/master/install.sh | sh
        dep ensure
    fi
    go build -v .
  workingDirectory: '$(modulePath)'
  displayName: 'Get dependencies, then build'

If your code isn't at GitHub, change the modulePath variable's use of github.com to an appropriate value for your module.

This snippet does the following actions:

1. Sets $GOROOT to the version of Go that should be used.
2. Sets other well-known Go environment variables to their proper values.
3. Creates a Go workspace in a subdirectory named gopath with child directories bin, pkg, and src.
4. Moves code that was fetched from the remote repository into the workspace src directory
5. Adds the version of Go and the workspace bin directory to the path.

Install dependencies

Use go get

Use go get to download the source code for a Go project or to install a tool into the Go workspace. Add the following snippet to your azure-pipelines.yml file:

- script: go get -v -t -d ./...
  workingDirectory: '$(modulePath)'
  displayName: 'go get dependencies'

Use dep ensure

Use dep ensure if your project uses dep to download dependencies imported in your code. Running dep ensure clones imported repositories into your project's vendor directory. Its Gopkg.lock and Gopkg.toml files guarantee that everyone working on the project uses the same version of dependencies as your build. Add the following snippet to your azure-pipelines.yml file.

Note

The following script runs on Linux and macOS agents and can be used for older versions of Go that require a specific folder structure. The script is written for Unix shells, and as a result cannot work with Windows agents.

- script: |
    if [ -f Gopkg.toml ]; then
        curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/golang/dep/master/install.sh | sh
        dep ensure
    fi
  workingDirectory: '$(modulePath)'
  displayName: 'Download dep and run `dep ensure`'

Build

Use go build to build your Go project. Add the following snippet to your azure-pipelines.yml file:

- task: Go@0
  inputs:
    command: 'build'
    workingDirectory: '$(System.DefaultWorkingDirectory)'

Test

Use go test to test your go module and its subdirectories (./...). Add the following snippet to your azure-pipelines.yml file:

- task: Go@0
  inputs:
    command: 'test'
    arguments: '-v'
    workingDirectory: '$(System.DefaultWorkingDirectory)'

When you're ready, Commit a new azure-pipelines.yml file to your repository and update the commit message. Select Save and run.

If you want to watch your pipeline in action, select the build in the Jobs option on your Azure Pipelines dashboard.

Because your code appeared to be a good match for the Go template, we automatically created your pipeline.

You now have a working YAML pipeline (azure-pipelines.yml) in your repository that's ready for you to customize!

When you're ready to make changes to your pipeline, select it in the Pipelines page, and then Edit the azure-pipelines.yml file.

Tip

To make changes to the YAML file as described in this article, select the pipeline in Pipelines page, and then select Edit to open an editor for the azure-pipelines.yml file.

Build an image and push to container registry

For your Go app, you can also build an image and push it to a container registry.

Related extensions

Go extension for Visual Studio Code (Microsoft)