go-defensive-coding agent skill by eduardo-sl

At a glance

Before you install

Read from the skill's files at the directory's October 19, 2026 snapshot: what ships with it, what its code reads, and the terms it is published under.

• Bundled scripts: none.
• Tool permissions requested: Read Edit Write Glob Grep Bash(go:*) Bash(gofmt:*) Bash(golangci-lint:*) Bash(gosec:*) (the allowed-tools field of SKILL.md).
• License: MIT, an open-source or open-content license.

Install go-defensive-coding

The skills CLI works with Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and other agents; the other routes copy the folder by hand.

npx skills add 'https://github.com/eduardo-sl/go-agent-skills/tree/main/skills/(safety)/go-defensive-coding'

tmp="$(mktemp -d)"
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/eduardo-sl/go-agent-skills.git "$tmp/repo"
mkdir -p .claude/skills
cp -R "$tmp/repo/"'skills/(safety)/go-defensive-coding' .claude/skills/
rm -rf "$tmp"

python3 ~/.codex/skills/.system/skill-installer/scripts/install-skill-from-github.py \
    --repo eduardo-sl/go-agent-skills \
    --path 'skills/(safety)/go-defensive-coding'

eduardo-sl/go-agent-skills is third-party code. Read SKILL.md and any bundled scripts before you install it.

How the author describes it

Prevent panics, silent corruption, and subtle runtime bugs in Go: typed-nil interfaces, slice aliasing, integer overflow on conversion, float comparison, defer in loops, defensive copying at API boundaries, and zero-value design. Use when hardening code against crashes, reviewing for nil-safety, converting between numeric types, or deciding what to copy at a package boundary. Trigger examples: "nil pointer panic", "why is my error not nil", "slice aliasing", "integer overflow", "compare floats", "defer in a loop", "defensive copy", "make this crash-proof". Not for: data races and goroutine lifecycle (go-concurrency-review), injection and auth (go-security-audit), a panic that already happened (go-troubleshooting).

From the description field of SKILL.md. Agents read this line to decide when to load the skill.

Compatibility, from SKILL.md

Sections in SKILL.md

• Operating Modes
• 1. The Typed-Nil Interface Trap
• 2. Nil Map, Slice, and Channel Behaviour
• 3. Slice Aliasing
• 4. Defensive Copying at Boundaries
• Preventing accidental copies
• 5. Numeric Conversion and Comparison
• 6. Resource Lifecycle
• 7. Zero-Value and Initialisation Safety
• Enforce with Tooling
• Verification Checklist

Files in the skill folder

• SKILL.md
• references/copies-and-lifecycle.md
• references/nil-and-aliasing.md
• references/numeric-safety.md

Suede Skill Check: 93/100 · A

go-defensive-coding passes the required frontmatter check and all seven graded checks, which cover the SKILL.md format, a declared license and a commit in the last year. Those checks earn 56 of the score’s points; the rest come from description quality, instruction depth, bundled files, maintenance and curated-list citations. How the score works.

Where this skill is cited

eduardo-sl/go-agent-skills appears in 3 curated lists: BehiSecc/awesome-claude-skills, VoltAgent/awesome-agent-skills, heilcheng/awesome-agent-skills.

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