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This action sets up a Go environment for use in GitHub Actions by:

• Optionally downloading and caching a version of Go by version and adding to PATH
• Registering problem matchers for error output
• Providing intelligent caching for Go modules and build outputs

steps:  -uses:actions/checkout@v5  -uses:actions/setup-go@v6with:go-version:'1.23'  -run:go version

• Upgraded from Node 20 to Node 24
• ⚠️Action Required: Ensure your runner is on version v2.327.1 or later for compatibility
• SeeRelease Notes for more details

V6 introduces significant improvements for reliable and consistent Go version selection:

Toolchain Directive SupportNow correctly interprets bothgo andtoolchain directives fromgo.mod:

go1.23.0// Minimum required versiontoolchaingo1.23.2// V6 uses this exact version

Intelligent CachingCache keys now incorporate thetoolchain directive version fromgo.mod, eliminating cache conflicts when switching between different toolchain versions within the same Go minor release.

For more details, see thefull release notes.

• Upgraded Node.js runtime from node16 to node20
• Seefull release notes for complete details

The action follows this resolution order:

1. Local cache - Checks for a cached version match
2. go-versions repository - Pulls from the main branch of thego-versions repository
3. Direct download - Falls back to downloading directly fromgo.dev

To change the default behavior, use thecheck-latest input.

Note: The setup-go action uses executable binaries built by the Golang team. The action does not build golang from source code.

steps:  -uses:actions/checkout@v5  -uses:actions/setup-go@v6with:go-version:'1.23'  -run:go run hello.go

steps:  -uses:actions/checkout@v5  -uses:actions/setup-go@v6with:go-version:'^1.23.1'# The Go version to download (if necessary) and use.  -run:go version

steps:  -uses:actions/checkout@v5  -uses:actions/setup-go@v6with:go-version:'>=1.22.0'  -run:go version

Important: Due to YAML parsing behavior, always wrap version numbers in single quotes:

go-version:'1.22'# Correctgo-version:1.22# Incorrect - YAML parser interprets as 1.2

# RC versionsteps:  -uses:actions/checkout@v5  -uses:actions/setup-go@v6with:go-version:'1.24.0-rc.1'# The Go version to download (if necessary) and use  -run:go version

# Beta versionsteps:  -uses:actions/checkout@v5  -uses:actions/setup-go@v6with:go-version:'1.23.0-beta.1'# The Go version to download (if necessary) and use  -run:go version

Stable Release

Ifstable is provided, action will get the latest stable version from thego-versions repository manifest.

steps:  -uses:actions/checkout@v5  -uses:actions/setup-go@v6with:go-version:'stable'# Latest stable version  -run:go version

Previous Stable Release

Ifoldstable is provided, when the current release is 1.23.x, the action will resolve version as 1.22.x, where x is the latest patch release.

steps:  -uses:actions/checkout@v5  -uses:actions/setup-go@v6with:go-version:'oldstable'# Previous stable version  -run:go version

Note: Using aliases is equivalent to using the corresponding minor release withcheck-latest: true

The action can automatically detect the Go version from various project files using thego-version-file input. This parameter supportsgo.mod,go.work,.go-version, and.tool-versions files.

Note: If bothgo-version andgo-version-file are provided,go-version takes precedence.

Automatically detect the Go version from your project'sgo.mod file:

steps:  -uses:actions/checkout@v5  -uses:actions/setup-go@v6with:go-version-file:'go.mod'  -run:go version

Version Resolution from go.mod:

1. Uses thetoolchain directive version if present
2. Falls back to thego directive version
3. If no patch version is specified, uses the latest available patch

Use the Go version specified in yourgo.work file:

steps:  -uses:actions/checkout@v5  -uses:actions/setup-go@v6with:go-version-file:'go.work'  -run:go version

Read the Go version from a.go-version file:

steps:  -uses:actions/checkout@v5  -uses:actions/setup-go@v6with:go-version-file:'.go-version'  -run:go version

Use the Go version from an.tool-versions file:

steps:  -uses:actions/checkout@v5  -uses:actions/setup-go@v6with:go-version-file:'.tool-versions'  -run:go version

The action searches for version files relative to the repository root by default. You can specify a custom path:

steps:  -uses:actions/checkout@v5  -uses:actions/setup-go@v6with:go-version-file:'path/to/.go-version'  -run:go version

Supported Version Formats:

• Major and minor only:1.25 (action will use the latest patch version, e.g.,1.25.4)
• Major, minor, and patch:1.25.4 (exact version)

The check-latest flag defaults to false for stability. This ensures your workflow uses a specific, predictable Go version.Whencheck-latest: true, the action verifies if your cached Go version is the latest available. If not, it downloads and uses the newest version.

steps:  -uses:actions/checkout@v5  -uses:actions/setup-go@v6with:go-version:'1.23'check-latest:true# Always check for the latest patch release  -run:go version

Performance Considerations:

• check-latest: false (default) - Uses cached versions for faster builds
• check-latest: true - Downloads the latest version, slower but ensures up-to-date releases

The action features integrated caching for Go modules and build outputs. Built ontoolkit/cache, it simplifies the caching process by requiring fewer configuration options. The cache input is optional, and caching is turned on by default.

Default behavior: Searches forgo.sum in the repository root and uses its hash for the cache key.

steps:  -uses:actions/checkout@v5  -uses:actions/setup-go@v6with:go-version:'1.23'# cache: true (default)  -run:go run hello.go

For advanced scenarios, usecache-dependency-path to specify:

• Multiple dependency files: When your project has dependencies in different directories
• Custom locations: When yourgo.sum files are not in the repository root
• Monorepos: When managing multiple Go modules in a single repository
• Glob patterns: For flexible file matching

# Example: Monorepo with multiple go.sum filessteps:  -uses:actions/checkout@v5  -uses:actions/setup-go@v6with:go-version:'1.23'check-latest:truecache-dependency-path:|        subdir/go.sum        tools/go.sum  -run:go run hello.go

# Example: Using glob patterns to match all go.sum filessteps:  -uses:actions/checkout@v5  -uses:actions/setup-go@v6with:go-version:'1.23'cache-dependency-path:"**/*.sum"  -run:go run hello.go

steps:  -uses:actions/checkout@v5  -uses:actions/setup-go@v6with:go-version:'1.23'cache:false  -run:go run hello.go

Note: If caching fails, the action logs a warning but continues execution without interrupting your workflow.

Test across multiple Go versions:

jobs:test:runs-on:ubuntu-lateststrategy:matrix:go-version:['1.21', '1.22', '1.23']steps:      -uses:actions/checkout@v5      -uses:actions/setup-go@v6with:go-version:${{ matrix.go-version }}      -run:go test ./...

Thego-version input supports the following syntax:

For more information about semantic versioning, see thesemver documentation.

-uses:actions/setup-go@v6with:# Version or version range of Go to usego-version:'1.23'# Path to go.mod, go.work, .go-version, or .tool-versions filego-version-file:'go.mod'# Check for latest versioncheck-latest:false# GitHub token for authenticationtoken:${{ github.token }}# Enable/disable cachingcache:true# Path to dependency files for cachingcache-dependency-path:'go.sum'# Architecture to install (auto-detected if not specified)architecture:'x64'

setup-go comes pre-installed on GHES when Actions is enabled. For dynamic Go version downloads, the action fetches distributions from thego-versions repository on github.com (external to your appliance).

These calls toactions/go-versions are made via unauthenticated requests, which are limited to 60 requests per hour per IP. If more requests are made within the time frame, then the action leverages the raw API to retrieve the version-manifest. This approach does not impose a rate limit and hence facilitates unrestricted consumption. This is particularly beneficial for GHES runners, which often share the same IP, to avoid the quick exhaustion of the unauthenticated rate limit. If that fails as well the action will try to download versions directly fromgo.dev.

If that fails as well you can get a higher rate limit with generating a personal access token on github.com and passing it as the token input to the action:

uses:actions/setup-go@v6with:token:${{ secrets.GH_DOTCOM_TOKEN }}go-version:'1.23'

For runners without github.com access, Go versions must be pre-cached in the runner's tool cache. See "Setting up the tool cache on self-hosted runners without internet access".

When using the setup-go action in your GitHub Actions workflow, it is recommended to set the following permissions to ensure proper functionality:

permissions:contents:read# Required to checkout code and install dependencies

The scripts and documentation in this project are released under theMIT License.

Contributions are welcome! See ourContributor's Guide for details.

👋 Be nice. See ourCode of Conduct.