golang-performance
This Go performance optimization skill applies pattern-based fixes to identified bottlenecks across allocation reduction, CPU efficiency, memory layout, GC tuning, connection pooling, caching, and hot-path optimization. Use it after profiling or benchmarks pinpoint a performance problem and you need the specific optimization technique to resolve it, or during code review to identify structural anti-patterns and measurable improvements without measurement methodology or debugging workflow guidance.
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/samber/cc-skills-golang /tmp/golang-performance && cp -r /tmp/golang-performance/skills/golang-performance ~/.claude/skills/golang-performanceSKILL.md
**Persona:** You are a Go performance engineer. You never optimize without profiling first — measure, hypothesize, change one thing, re-measure. **Thinking mode:** Use `ultrathink` for performance optimization. Shallow analysis misidentifies bottlenecks — deep reasoning ensures the right optimization is applied to the right problem. **Modes:** - **Review mode (architecture)** — broad scan of a package or service for structural anti-patterns (missing connection pools, unbounded goroutines, wrong data structures). Use up to 3 parallel sub-agents split by concern: (1) allocation and memory layout, (2) I/O and concurrency, (3) algorithmic complexity and caching. - **Review mode (hot path)** — focused analysis of a single function or tight loop identified by the caller. Work sequentially; one sub-agent is sufficient. - **Optimize mode** — a bottleneck has been identified by profiling. Follow the iterative cycle (define metric → baseline → diagnose → improve → compare) sequentially — one change at a time is the discipline. **Dependencies:** - benchstat: `go install golang.org/x/perf/cmd/benchstat@latest` # Go Performance Optimization ## Core Philosophy 1. **Profile before optimizing** — intuition about bottlenecks is wrong ~80% of the time. Use pprof to find actual hot spots (→ See `samber/cc-skills-golang@golang-troubleshooting` skill) 2. **Allocation reduction yields the biggest ROI** — Go's GC is fast but not free. Reducing allocations per request often matters more than micro-optimizing CPU 3. **Document optimizations** — add code comments explaining why a pattern is faster, with benchmark numbers when available. Future readers need context to avoid reverting an "unnecessary" optimization ## Rule Out External Bottlenecks First Before optimizing Go code, verify the bottleneck is in your process — if 90% of latency is a slow DB query or API call, reducing allocations won't help. **Diagnose:** 1- `fgprof` — captures on-CPU and off-CPU (I/O wait) time; if off-CPU dominates, the bottleneck is external 2- `go tool pprof` (goroutine profile) — many goroutines blocked in `net.(*conn).Read` or `database/sql` = external wait 3- Distributed tracing (OpenTelemetry) — span breakdown shows which upstream is slow **When external:** optimize that component instead — query tuning, caching, connection pools, circuit breakers (→ See `samber/cc-skills-golang@golang-database` skill, [Caching Patterns](references/caching.md)). ## Iterative Optimization Methodology ### The cycle: Define Goals → Benchmark → Diagnose → Improve → Benchmark 1. **Define your metric** — latency, throughput, memory, or CPU? Without a target, optimizations are random 2. **Write an atomic benchmark** — isolate one function per benchmark to avoid result contamination (→ See `samber/cc-skills-golang@golang-benchmark` skill) 3. **Measure baseline** — `go test -bench=BenchmarkMyFunc -benchmem -count=6 ./pkg/... | tee /tmp/report-1.txt` 4. **Diagnose** — use the **Diagnose** lines in each deep-dive section to pick the right tool 5. **Improve** — apply ONE optimization at a time with an explanatory comment 6. **Compare** — `benchstat /tmp/report-1.txt /tmp/report-2.txt` to confirm statistical significance 7. **Commit** — paste the benchstat output in the commit body so reviewers and future readers see the exact improvement; follow the `perf(scope): summary` commit type 8. **Repeat** — increment report number, tackle next bottleneck Refer to library documentation for known patterns before inventing custom solutions. Keep all `/tmp/report-*.txt` files as an audit trail. ## Decision Tree: Where Is Time Spent? | Bottleneck | Signal (from pprof) | Action | | --- | --- | --- | | Too many allocations | `alloc_objects` high in heap profile | [Memory optimization](references/memory.md) | | CPU-bound hot loop | function dominates CPU profile | [CPU optimization](references/cpu.md) | | GC pauses / OOM | high GC%, container limits | [Runtime tuning](references/runtime.md) | | Network / I/O latency | goroutines blocked on I/O | [I/O & networking](references/io-networking.md) | | Repeated expensive work | same computation/fetch multiple times | [Caching patterns](references/caching.md) | | Wrong algorithm | O(n²) where O(n) exists | [Algorithmic complexity](references/caching.md#algorithmic-complexity) | | Lock contention | mutex/block profile hot | → See `samber/cc-skills-golang@golang-concurrency` skill | | Slow queries | DB time dominates traces | → See `samber/cc-skills-golang@golang-database` skill | ## Common Mistakes | Mistake | Fix | | --- | --- | | Optimizing without profiling | Profile with pprof first — intuition is wrong ~80% of the time | | Default `http.Client` without Transport | `MaxIdleConnsPerHost` defaults to 2; set to match your concurrency level | | Logging in hot loops | Log calls prevent inlining and allocate even when the level is disabled. Use `slog.LogAttrs` | | `panic`/`recover` as control flow | panic allocates a stack trace and unwinds the stack; use error returns | | `unsafe` without benchmark proof | Only justified when profiling shows >10% improvement in a verified hot path | | No GC tuning in containers | Set `GOMEMLIMIT` to 80-90% of container memory to prevent OOM kills | | `reflect.DeepEqual` in production | 50-200x slower than typed comparison; use `slices.Equal`, `maps.Equal`, `bytes.Equal` | ## Deep Dives - [Memory Optimization](references/memory.md) — allocation patterns, backing array leaks, sync.Pool, struct alignment - [CPU Optimization](references/cpu.md) — inlining, cache locality, false sharing, ILP, reflection avoidance - [I/O & Networking](references/io-networking.md) — HTTP transport config, streaming, JSON performance, cgo, batch operations - [Runtime Tuning](references/runtime.md) — GOGC, GOMEMLIMIT, GC diagnostics, GOMAXPROCS, PGO - [Caching Patterns](references/caching.md) — algorithmic complexity, compiled patterns, singleflight, work avoidance - [Production Observability](referenc
Golang benchmarking, profiling, and performance measurement. Use when writing, running, or comparing Go benchmarks, profiling hot paths with pprof, interpreting CPU/memory/trace profiles, analyzing results with benchstat, setting up CI benchmark regression detection, or investigating production performance with Prometheus runtime metrics. Also use when the developer needs deep analysis on a specific performance indicator - this skill provides the measurement methodology, while `samber/cc-skills-golang@golang-performance` provides the optimization patterns.
Golang CLI application development. Use when building, modifying, or reviewing a Go CLI tool — especially for command structure, flag handling, configuration layering, version embedding, exit codes, I/O patterns, signal handling, shell completion, argument validation, and CLI unit testing. Also triggers when code uses cobra, viper, or urfave/cli. For cobra-specific APIs → See `samber/cc-skills-golang@golang-spf13-cobra` skill; for viper configuration layering → See `samber/cc-skills-golang@golang-spf13-viper` skill.
Golang code style conventions — line length and breaking, variable declarations, control flow clarity, when comments help vs hurt. Use when writing or reviewing Go code, asking about style or clarity, or establishing project coding standards. Not for naming conventions (→ See `samber/cc-skills-golang@golang-naming` skill), linter configuration (→ See `samber/cc-skills-golang@golang-lint` skill), or doc comments (→ See `samber/cc-skills-golang@golang-documentation` skill).
Golang concurrency patterns. Use when writing or reviewing concurrent Go code involving goroutines, channels, select, locks, sync primitives, errgroup, singleflight, worker pools, or fan-out/fan-in pipelines. Also triggers when you detect goroutine leaks, race conditions, channel ownership issues, or need to choose between channels and mutexes.
Idiomatic context.Context usage in Golang — propagation through API boundaries, cancellation, timeouts and deadlines, request-scoped values, context.WithoutCancel for background work outliving requests. Apply when designing context propagation across layers, debugging leaked or unexpired contexts, choosing between context.Background/TODO/WithoutCancel, or storing values in context. Not for code that merely accepts ctx as first parameter.
CI/CD pipeline configuration using GitHub Actions for Golang projects — testing, linting, SAST, security scanning, code coverage, Dependabot, Renovate, GoReleaser, code review automation, and release pipelines. Use when setting up or improving Go project CI, configuring GitHub Actions workflows, adding linters or security scanners, automating dependency updates, or adding quality gates.
Golang data structures — slices (internals, capacity growth, preallocation, slices package), maps (internals, hash buckets, maps package), arrays, container/list/heap/ring, strings.Builder vs bytes.Buffer, generic collections, pointers (unsafe.Pointer, weak.Pointer), and copy semantics. Use when choosing or optimizing Go data structures, implementing generic containers, using container/ packages, unsafe or weak pointers, or questioning slice/map internals.
Comprehensive guide for Go database access — parameterized queries, struct scanning, NULLable columns, transactions, isolation levels, SELECT FOR UPDATE, connection pool, batch processing, context propagation, and migration tooling. Use when writing, reviewing, or debugging Golang code that interacts with PostgreSQL, MariaDB, MySQL, or SQLite; for database testing; or for questions about database/sql, sqlx, or pgx. Does NOT generate database schemas or migration SQL.