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Golang Samber Oops

Samuel BertheCommunityCreated by samberDistributed by Samuel Berthe

  • Skill
  • Tool integration
  • Software development
  • MIT
  • No issues found

From the author

Structured error handling in Golang with samber/oops — error builders, stack traces, error codes, error context, error wrapping, error attributes, user-facing vs developer messages, panic recovery, and logger integration. Apply when using or adopting samber/oops, or when the codebase already imports github.com/samber/oops.
— the description by samber

AutoGineer summary

Written by AutoGineer from the skill’s own files, not by the author

The samber/oops skill provides a framework for structured error handling in Go. It replaces standard error patterns with a fluent builder interface that attaches rich metadata—such as domain, error codes, user context, and stack traces—directly to the error object. By separating technical details from user-facing messages and ensuring low-cardinality error strings, it enables better observability and grouping in APM tools like Datadog, Loki, and Sentry.

What it does

  • Provides a fluent builder pattern for creating and wrapping errors with structured metadata.
  • Captures automatic stack traces for improved debugging.
  • Supports separation of technical error details from user-safe public messages.
  • Enables panic recovery by converting panics into structured errors.
  • Facilitates context propagation through Go context objects.
  • Integrates with standard loggers like slog, zerolog, and logrus.

When to use it

  • When you need to improve error observability in a Go application.
  • When standard Go errors lack sufficient context for production debugging.
  • When you need to group errors effectively in APM tools by using low-cardinality messages.
  • When you want to standardize error handling across different architectural layers.
  • When you need to safely recover from panics in goroutines.

Advantages

  • Errors carry their own context through the call stack.
  • Improved APM grouping due to low-cardinality error messages.
  • Clear distinction between developer-facing technical details and user-facing messages.
  • Easy integration with existing logging infrastructure.
  • Reduces boilerplate for adding context at every layer of the application.

Usage examples

“Wrap a database error with domain and user context using samber/oops.”
The agent will use the oops builder to attach the domain, user ID, and query attributes to the error before wrapping it.
“How do I recover from a panic in a goroutine using oops?”
The agent will demonstrate using the oops.Recover() method to capture the panic and return it as a structured error.
“Show me how to set a public-facing message for an error.”
The agent will use the .Public() method on the error builder to define a user-safe string.
“How do I extract error information for logging?”
The agent will show how to type-assert the error to oops.OopsError to access methods like Code(), Domain(), and Context() for log fields.

Install

  1. Download the skill as a ZIP:

    https://autogineer.com/agent-skills/samber/golang-samber-oops/download
  2. Unzip it into the cross-client skills folder of your project:

    mkdir -p .agents/skills && unzip golang-samber-oops.zip -d .agents/skills

Documentation by samber

Persona: You are a Go engineer who treats errors as structured data. Every error carries enough context — domain, attributes, trace — for an on-call engineer to diagnose the problem without asking the developer.

samber/oops Structured Error Handling

samber/oops is a drop-in replacement for Go's standard error handling that adds structured context, stack traces, error codes, public messages, and panic recovery. Variable data goes in .With() attributes (not the message string), so APM tools (Datadog, Loki, Sentry) can group errors properly. Unlike the stdlib approach (adding slog attributes at the log site), oops attributes travel with the error through the call stack.

Why use samber/oops

Standard Go errors lack context — you see connection failed but not which user triggered it, what query was running, or the full call stack. samber/oops provides:

  • Structured context — key-value attributes on any error

  • Stack traces — automatic call stack capture

  • Error codes — machine-readable identifiers

  • Public messages — user-safe messages separate from technical details

  • Low-cardinality messages — variable data in .With() attributes, not the message string, so APM tools group errors properly

This skill is not exhaustive — refer to library documentation and code examples for more information:

  • For Go package docs, symbols, versions, importers, and known vulnerabilities, → See samber/cc-skills-golang@golang-pkg-go-dev skill (godig), preferred over Context7 for Go package facts.

  • To navigate this library's usage in your own code (definitions, call sites, diagnostics), → See samber/cc-skills-golang@golang-gopls skill (gopls).

  • Context7 remains a fallback for docs not indexed on pkg.go.dev.

Core pattern: Error builder chain

All oops errors use a fluent builder pattern:

err := oops.
    In("user-service").           // domain/feature
    Tags("database", "postgres").  // categorization
    Code("network_failure").       // machine-readable identifier
    User("user-123", "email", "[email protected]").  // user context
    With("query", query).          // custom attributes
    Errorf("failed to fetch user: %s", "timeout")

Terminal methods:

  • .Errorf(format, args...) — create a new error

  • .Wrap(err) — wrap an existing error

  • .Wrapf(err, format, args...) — wrap with a message

  • .Join(err1, err2, ...) — combine multiple errors

  • .Recover(fn) / .Recoverf(fn, format, args...) — convert panic to error

Error builder methods
MethodsUse case
.With("key", value)Add custom key-value attribute (lazy func() any values supported)
.WithContext(ctx, "key1", "key2")Extract values from Go context into attributes (lazy values supported)
.In("domain")Set the feature/service/domain
.Tags("auth", "sql")Add categorization tags (query with err.HasTag("tag"))
.Code("iam_authz_missing_permission")Set machine-readable error identifier/slug
.Public("Could not fetch user.")Set user-safe message (separate from technical details)
.Hint("Runbook: https://doc.acme.org/doc/abcd.md")Add debugging hint for developers
.Owner("team/slack")Identify responsible team/owner
.User(id, "k", "v")Add user identifier and attributes
.Tenant(id, "k", "v")Add tenant/organization context and attributes
.Trace(id)Add trace / correlation ID (default: ULID)
.Span(id)Add span ID representing a unit of work/operation (default: ULID)
.Time(t)Override error timestamp (default: time.Now())
.Since(t)Set duration based on time since t (exposed via err.Duration())
.Duration(d)Set explicit error duration
.Request(req, includeBody)Attach *http.Request (optionally including body)
.Response(res, includeBody)Attach *http.Response (optionally including body)
oops.FromContext(ctx)Start from an OopsErrorBuilder stored in a Go context

Common scenarios

Database/repository layer
func (r *UserRepository) FetchUser(id string) (*User, error) {
    query := "SELECT * FROM users WHERE id = $1"
    row, err := r.db.Query(query, id)
    if err != nil {
        return nil, oops.
            In("user-repository").
            Tags("database", "postgres").
            With("query", query).
            With("user_id", id).
            Wrapf(err, "failed to fetch user from database")
    }
    // ...
}
HTTP handler layer
func (h *Handler) CreateUser(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
    userID := getUserID(r)

    err := h.service.CreateUser(r.Context(), userID)
    if err != nil {
        err = oops.
            In("http-handler").
            Tags("endpoint", "/users").
            Request(r, false).
            User(userID).
            Wrapf(err, "create user failed")
        http.Error(w, oops.GetPublic(err, "Internal server error"), http.StatusInternalServerError)
        return
    }

    w.WriteHeader(http.StatusCreated)
}
Service layer with reusable builder
func (s *UserService) CreateOrder(ctx context.Context, req CreateOrderRequest) error {
    builder := oops.
        In("order-service").
        Tags("orders", "checkout").
        Tenant(req.TenantID, "plan", req.Plan).
        User(req.UserID, "email", req.UserEmail)

    product, err := s.catalog.GetProduct(ctx, req.ProductID)
    if err != nil {
        return builder.
            With("product_id", req.ProductID).
            Wrapf(err, "product lookup failed")
    }

    if product.Stock < req.Quantity {
        return builder.
            Code("insufficient_stock").
            Public("Not enough items in stock.").
            With("requested", req.Quantity).
            With("available", product.Stock).
            Errorf("insufficient stock for product %s", req.ProductID)
    }

    return nil
}

Error wrapping best practices

DO: Wrap directly, no nil check needed
// ✓ Good — Wrap returns nil if err is nil
return oops.Wrapf(err, "operation failed")

// ✗ Bad — unnecessary nil check
if err != nil {
    return oops.Wrapf(err, "operation failed")
}
return nil
DO: Add context at each layer

Each architectural layer SHOULD add context via Wrap/Wrapf — at least once per package boundary (not necessarily at every function call).

// ✓ Good — each layer adds relevant context
func Controller() error {
    return oops.In("controller").Trace(traceID).Wrapf(Service(), "user request failed")
}

func Service() error {
    return oops.In("service").With("op", "create_user").Wrapf(Repository(), "db operation failed")
}

func Repository() error {
    return oops.In("repository").Tags("database", "postgres").Errorf("connection timeout")
}
DO: Keep error messages low-cardinality

Error messages MUST be low-cardinality for APM aggregation. Interpolating variable data into the message breaks grouping in Datadog, Loki, Sentry.

// ✗ Bad — high-cardinality, breaks APM grouping
oops.Errorf("failed to process user %s in tenant %s", userID, tenantID)

// ✓ Good — static message + structured attributes
oops.With("user_id", userID).With("tenant_id", tenantID).Errorf("failed to process user")

Panic recovery

oops.Recover() MUST be used in goroutine boundaries. Convert panics to structured errors:

func ProcessData(data string) (err error) {
    return oops.
        In("data-processor").
        Code("panic_recovered").
        Hint("Check input data format and dependencies").
        With("input_data", data).
        Recover(func() {
            riskyOperation(data)
        })
}

Accessing error information

samber/oops errors implement the standard error interface. Access additional info:

if oopsErr, ok := err.(oops.OopsError); ok {
    fmt.Println("Code:", oopsErr.Code())
    fmt.Println("Domain:", oopsErr.Domain())
    fmt.Println("Tags:", oopsErr.Tags())
    fmt.Println("Context:", oopsErr.Context())
    fmt.Println("Stacktrace:", oopsErr.Stacktrace())
}

// Get public-facing message with fallback
publicMsg := oops.GetPublic(err, "Something went wrong")
Output formats
fmt.Printf("%+v\n", err)       // verbose with stack trace
bytes, _ := json.Marshal(err)  // JSON for logging
slog.Error(err.Error(), slog.Any("error", err))  // slog integration

Context propagation

Carry error context through Go contexts:

func middleware(next http.Handler) http.Handler {
    return http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
        builder := oops.
            In("http").
            Request(r, false).
            Trace(r.Header.Get("X-Trace-ID"))

        ctx := oops.WithBuilder(r.Context(), builder)
        next.ServeHTTP(w, r.WithContext(ctx))
    })
}

func handler(ctx context.Context) error {
    return oops.FromContext(ctx).Tags("handler", "users").Errorf("something failed")
}

For assertions, configuration, and additional logger examples, see Advanced patterns.

References

Cross-References

  • → See samber/cc-skills-golang@golang-error-handling skill for general error handling patterns

  • → See samber/cc-skills-golang@golang-observability skill for logger integration and structured logging

Files

Requirements and compatibility

Written for: Claude Code, OpenAI Codex

Works with: Claude Code, Claude apps, OpenAI Codex, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Kiro, OpenCode, Goose, Amp, Roo Code, JetBrains Junie, Factory Droid, Devin (ex-Windsurf), Mistral Vibe, OpenHands, Letta

“Works with” means the tool reads the open Agent Skills format; a skill written for one tool may use features others lack.

Needs: Declares allowed tools, Claude Code frontmatter

The author says: Designed for Claude Code, Codex or similar harness, and for projects using Golang.

Security

No issues found by our static scan· No issues found

A static scan is not a guarantee. Skills are third-party content: review a skill before you let an agent use it.

Attribution and licence

Created by
samber
Publisher
Samuel Berthe (Community)
Distributed by
Samuel Berthe
Source
samber/cc-skills-golang · skills/golang-samber-oops · commit bb1d43d
Licence
MIT License (redistribution allowed)
  • LICENSE (added by AutoGineer from LICENSE)
  • ATTRIBUTION.md (written by AutoGineer)
Synced

AutoGineer is not affiliated with or endorsed by samber or Samuel Berthe.

Download ZIP

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