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Go Setup

Installation and development workflow for Go, including Air for live reload.

Installation

# winget
winget install GoLang.Go

# scoop
scoop install go

brew install go

Air (live reload)

Air provides live reload for Go apps during development. Follow these steps to install and use it.

1. Install Air

go install github.com/air-verse/air@latest

go install github.com/air-verse/air@latest

Or on macOS via Homebrew:

brew install go-air

2. Add Go bin to PATH (Windows)

The air binary is installed to $(go env GOPATH)/bin (typically %USERPROFILE%\go\bin). Add it to your session PATH:

$env:Path += ";" + (go env GOPATH) + "\bin"

NOTE: This only affects the current session. To make it permanent, add the same line to your PowerShell profile, or add %USERPROFILE%\go\bin to your user PATH in Environment Variables (System Properties → Advanced → Environment Variables).

3. Verify PATH

Confirm that Go's bin directory is on your PATH:

$env:Path -split ";"

Check that %USERPROFILE%\go\bin (or the path from (go env GOPATH)\bin) appears in the list.

4. Initialize Air in your backend

Go to the root folder of your backend (where go.mod and your Go code live) and create the Air config:

cd C:\path\to\your\backend
air init

This creates a .air.toml file in the current directory.

5. Run Air

From the same backend root folder, run:

air

Air will build and run your app and reload when you change your code.

TIP: You can customize build and run behavior by editing .air.toml. See the air-verse/air README and air_example.toml in the repo for options.