Go OpenAPI

The spec is the source of truth. Types, routes, and clients are generated from it — never hand-written alongside it, because two hand-maintained copies of a contract diverge within one sprint.

Operating Modes

• Adopt — the project has hand-written handlers and no spec, or a spec nobody generates from. Introduce generation without a rewrite.
• Extend — the pipeline exists. Change the spec, regenerate, implement.
• Review — check that handlers, spec, and published client agree, and that the change is not silently breaking.

1. Choose the Generator Once

Tool	Use it when
oapi-codegen	Default. Types + server interface + client, works with net/http, chi, echo, gin
ogen	You want a fully generated, strictly validating server and can accept its opinions
swaggo/swag	Only for a legacy code-first project you are not converting — annotations generate the spec, so the spec cannot be reviewed before the code exists

Do not mix. A project with both annotations and a checked-in spec has two sources of truth again.

2. Wire Generation Into the Build

Pin the generator as a module tool (Go 1.24+), so every developer and CI run uses the same version:

go get -tool github.com/oapi-codegen/oapi-codegen/v2/cmd/oapi-codegen

# oapi-codegen.yaml
package: api
output: internal/api/openapi.gen.go
generate:
  models: true
  std-http-server: true   # Go 1.22+ ServeMux; use chi-server / echo-server if that is the router
  strict-server: true     # typed request/response structs instead of raw http.ResponseWriter
  embedded-spec: true     # lets the service serve its own spec
output-options:
  skip-prune: false

//go:generate go tool oapi-codegen -config oapi-codegen.yaml ../../api/openapi.yaml

Commit generated files. Reviewers need to see the diff of a contract change, and a build must not depend on a generator being installed.

CI must fail when they are stale:

go generate ./... && git diff --exit-code

3. Implement the Generated Interface

Strict mode gives typed requests and responses, so the compiler enforces the contract.

// Generated: type StrictServerInterface interface { GetUser(ctx, GetUserRequestObject) (GetUserResponseObject, error) }

type Server struct{ users UserStore }

var _ api.StrictServerInterface = (*Server)(nil) // compile-time compliance

func (s *Server) GetUser(ctx context.Context, req api.GetUserRequestObject) (api.GetUserResponseObject, error) {
    u, err := s.users.Find(ctx, req.Id)
    if errors.Is(err, ErrNotFound) {
        return api.GetUser404JSONResponse{Title: "user not found", Status: 404}, nil
    }
    if err != nil {
        return nil, fmt.Errorf("find user %s: %w", req.Id, err) // 500 via the error handler
    }
    return api.GetUser200JSONResponse{Id: u.ID, Email: u.Email}, nil
}

Rules:

• Assert var _ api.StrictServerInterface = (*Server)(nil). Adding an endpoint to the spec then becomes a compile error, not a 404 in staging.
• Return a typed response for every documented status. Return a Go error only for the undocumented failure path.
• Never edit *.gen.go. Every change starts in the YAML.

4. Validate Requests Against the Spec

Generated types check shape, not constraints. minLength, pattern, enum, and required on query parameters are enforced only if you add the validation middleware.

spec, err := api.GetSwagger()
if err != nil {
    return fmt.Errorf("load spec: %w", err)
}
spec.Servers = nil // otherwise the server URL must match exactly

mux := http.NewServeMux()
handler := nethttpmiddleware.OapiRequestValidator(spec)(mux)

This rejects malformed input at the boundary with a 400 before any handler runs. Keep domain validation in the domain — the middleware enforces the contract, not the business rules.

5. Errors: RFC 9457 Problem Details

Define one error schema and reference it from every failure response.

components:
  schemas:
    Problem:
      type: object
      required: [type, title, status]
      properties:
        type:   { type: string, format: uri, default: "about:blank" }
        title:  { type: string }
        status: { type: integer }
        detail: { type: string }
        instance: { type: string }

Serve it as application/problem+json. Never return a bare string, and never put an internal error message in detail — log the wrapped error, return a stable, safe title.

6. Versioning and Breaking Changes

Detect breaking changes mechanically; reviewers miss them.

go install github.com/oasdiff/oasdiff@latest
oasdiff breaking api/openapi.yaml.base api/openapi.yaml --fail-on ERR

Run it in CI against the spec on the main branch. Breaking, in practice: removing an endpoint or field, narrowing a type, adding a required request field or a required response field the client must understand, changing a status code, removing an enum value from a response.

Additive changes are safe. Version the path (/v2/...) only when a break is unavoidable, and keep the previous version serving until clients have moved.

7. Contract Testing

The spec is only a contract if something fails when the implementation disagrees.

func TestGetUser_MatchesSpec(t *testing.T) {
    spec, err := api.GetSwagger()
    require.NoError(t, err)
    spec.Servers = nil

    srv := httptest.NewServer(newTestHandler(t, spec))
    t.Cleanup(srv.Close)

    // Generated client — if the spec changed, this stops compiling
    c, err := api.NewClientWithResponses(srv.URL)
    require.NoError(t, err)

    resp, err := c.GetUserWithResponse(t.Context(), "u-1")
    require.NoError(t, err)
    require.Equal(t, http.StatusOK, resp.StatusCode())
    require.Equal(t, "u-1", resp.JSON200.Id)
}

Use the generated client in tests, not a hand-rolled http.NewRequest. It turns contract drift into a compile failure.

8. Keep the Spec Reviewable

vacuum lint -d api/openapi.yaml     # or: spectral lint, redocly lint

• One file per API, under api/, checked in, reviewed like code.
• Every operation has an operationId — it becomes the Go method name.
• Every schema has a description; it becomes the godoc on the generated type.
• Split large specs with $ref to components/, not by generating fragments.

Verification Checklist

1. Exactly one source of truth: a checked-in spec, no annotation generator alongside it
2. The generator is pinned via the go.mod tool directive
3. Generated files are committed and CI fails on go generate + git diff --exit-code
4. var _ api.StrictServerInterface = (*Server)(nil) present
5. No hand edits in *.gen.go
6. Request validation middleware installed and covered by a 400 test
7. Errors use a single Problem schema, served as application/problem+json
8. oasdiff breaking runs in CI against the base spec
9. At least one test drives the generated client against the real handler
10. The spec lints clean and every operation has an operationId