Guide · Agent skill
How to use the Go Concurrency Patterns agent skill
Updated · written with AI from the project's own documentation and checked against our catalogue data
The go-concurrency-patterns skill is a guide that gives an AI agent working knowledge of Go concurrency: goroutines, channels, sync primitives and context. It is for Go developers who want help building concurrent services, worker pools and pipelines, or tracking down race conditions and goroutine leaks. After this guide you will know what the skill changes, how to install it, how to ask for help in a way that triggers it, and what to expect from it.
Go Concurrency Patternswshobson/agents · MIT Download the skill Quick start
- 1Download the ZIP. Download the go-concurrency-patterns ZIP from this page.
- 2Unzip the skill folder. Unzip it so the go-concurrency-patterns folder, with SKILL.md and references/details.md inside, is in a skills folder.
- 3Choose where to put it. Place the folder in ~/.claude/skills/ for personal use, or in a project's .claude/skills/ folder for one project.
- 4Or upload it in the Claude apps. In the Claude apps, open Settings, go to Capabilities, then Skills, and upload the skill.
- 5Ask a Go concurrency question. Describe a task such as a worker pool, a pipeline, graceful shutdown or a race condition, and mention Go and the relevant code.
- 6Review the output. Check the agent's exit paths and channel ownership, then confirm with tests and Go's race detector.
What the skill makes the agent do
Once the skill is installed, the agent follows a set of Go concurrency patterns when you ask for concurrent code. The skill's main file covers the core primitives: goroutine for lightweight concurrent execution, channel for communication between goroutines, select for multiplexing channel operations, sync.Mutex for mutual exclusion, sync.WaitGroup for waiting on goroutines, and context.Context for cancellation and deadlines.
The skill also states Go's guiding idea, 'Don't communicate by sharing memory; share memory by communicating.' Its best-practice lists ask the agent to use context for cancellation, close channels from the sender side only, buffer channels when the count is known, and prefer channels over mutexes when possible. It also warns against leaking goroutines, closing channels from the receiver, and using time.Sleep for synchronization.
- Worker pools and pipelines
- Graceful shutdown
- Managing goroutine lifecycles
- Debugging race conditions
- Using errgroup for concurrent operations with errors
Install the skill from the ZIP download
Download the go-concurrency-patterns ZIP from this page. The skill is a folder that contains SKILL.md and references/details.md, so unzip it so that the go-concurrency-patterns folder ends up inside a skills folder.
You can install it for yourself or for one project. For yourself, put the folder in ~/.claude/skills/. For a single project, put it in that project's .claude/skills/ folder. Claude picks up skills from these locations.
If you use the Claude apps instead, open Settings, go to Capabilities, then Skills, and upload the skill there.
- Personal: ~/.claude/skills/go-concurrency-patterns
- Project: .claude/skills/go-concurrency-patterns inside your project
- Claude apps: Settings → Capabilities → Skills → upload
Trigger the skill with natural requests
You do not need a special command. The skill's description tells the agent when to use it: building concurrent Go applications, implementing worker pools, or debugging race conditions. Describe the task in those terms and mention Go, so the agent knows which language and model apply.
Good requests name the goal and the code. For example, ask the agent to write a worker pool that stops when a context is cancelled, or to review a function for goroutine leaks. The more concrete the request, the more useful the answer.
- Write a worker pool in Go that reads jobs from a channel and stops when the context is cancelled.
- Review this Go service for goroutine leaks and show where each goroutine exits.
- Add graceful shutdown to this Go HTTP worker so in-flight jobs finish before exit.
- Find possible race conditions in this struct that several goroutines update.
Example: a worker pool with cancellation
The skill's quick start shows a common shape: a context with a timeout, a buffered results channel, a sync.WaitGroup to track workers, and a goroutine that closes the results channel once all workers are done. Workers exit through a select on ctx.Done().
The reference file goes further. Its first pattern is a worker pool that takes a context, a worker count and a read-only jobs channel, and returns a results channel. Use it as a starting point and check the details against your own code and types.
select {
case <-ctx.Done():
return
case results <- fmt.Sprintf("Worker %d done", id):
}Know what the skill needs and what it does not do
The skill lists no requirements. It does not run scripts and does not use the network, so it only gives the agent written guidance. It does not run your code, race detector or profiler, and it cannot prove that your program is free of races. Use Go's own tools for that kind of checking.
The skill assumes you already know Go syntax. It is aimed at concurrency design, not at teaching the language. It is also specific to Go, so it will not help with Python asyncio or Java threads.
- Requires: nothing listed
- Runs scripts: no
- Uses network: no
- Licence: MIT
Tips for getting better results
Paste the actual function or type, along with where it is started and stopped. The agent can then check exit paths and channel ownership instead of giving general advice. Say which problem you have, such as a hang, a panic on a closed channel, or memory that grows over time.
Treat the output as a review, not a proof. Ask the agent to explain each goroutine's exit path, then confirm the result with tests and the race detector in your own environment.
- Include the full concurrent code path, not just one goroutine.
- State the symptom, such as a deadlock, panic or growing memory.
- Ask for the reasoning behind each channel close or cancellation point.
- Ask the agent to check the reference file when the basic patterns do not cover your case.
What people use it for
- Designing a worker pool that processes jobs from a channel and stops on cancellation.
- Adding graceful shutdown so a service finishes in-flight work before it exits.
- Finding goroutines that have no exit path in an existing codebase.
- Reviewing shared state that several goroutines update, and deciding whether to use a channel or a mutex.
- Building a multi-stage pipeline with context-based timeouts.
Frequently asked questions
How do I install the go-concurrency-patterns skill?
Download the ZIP from this page and unzip it so the go-concurrency-patterns folder sits in ~/.claude/skills/ for personal use or in a project's .claude/skills/ folder. In the Claude apps, you can instead upload it under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.
Is the go-concurrency-patterns skill free?
The skill is released under the MIT licence, as listed on this page. The listing does not mention any price, so check the licence text in the download for the exact terms.
What does the skill require?
The listing says it requires nothing beyond the agent that loads it. It does not run scripts and does not use the network.
Does it work with languages other than Go?
No. The guidance is specific to Go's concurrency model. It would not help with Python asyncio or Java threads.
Can this skill find race conditions in my code?
Not by itself. It gives patterns and advice, and it cannot run a race detector or profiler, so it cannot prove code is race-free. Use Go's own tools and tests to verify.
Why is my skill not triggering?
Check that the folder is in the right place and contains SKILL.md. Then make your request about Go concurrency, such as worker pools, goroutines, channels or race conditions, and mention Go explicitly.
Is this skill a good alternative to learning Go concurrency myself?
It can explain patterns and review code, but it assumes you already know Go syntax. If you are new to the language, learn the basics first and use the skill to check your concurrent designs.
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Our verdict
This skill suits Go developers who build concurrent services or worker pools, and engineers who need help reviewing goroutine lifecycles and shutdown logic. It is a poor fit for non-Go projects, for people still learning Go syntax, or for anyone who needs a race detector or profiler, since it only provides guidance.
Download the skill