Go web apps

Read ../web.md, baseline.md, mise.md, testing.md, and preferred-libraries.md before applying these Go web specifics.

Default to a light server-rendered stack unless the product is clearly frontend-heavy.

Default light web stack

• net/http
• html/template or text/template as appropriate
• embed.FS for templates and static assets
• plain CSS with semantic variables
• semantic HTML forms and links before client-side JavaScript
• small Node toolchain only for things like Prettier/template formatting when needed

This is the default for admin panels, dashboards, release trackers, internal tools, and server-rendered apps with modest interaction.

Light web layout

cmd/<app>/main.go
internal/config/...
internal/db/...
internal/<domain>/...
internal/web/ or web/
├── handler.go
└── static/
    ├── head.html.tmpl
    ├── page.html.tmpl
    ├── styles.css
    └── reset.css

Use template.ParseFS with named shared templates. Keep handlers thin: parse input, call domain code, render or redirect.

Security

• Treat form/query values as untrusted.
• Use bluemonday when rendering user-provided HTML or Markdown-derived HTML.
• Keep auth/session logic in a domain package; handlers should not duplicate password or token handling.
• Prefer database/sql with explicit migrations for small SQLite-backed apps.

Escalate to frontend-heavy only when needed

Escalate to a frontend-heavy stack only when the UI needs rich local state, complex component composition, desktop integration, drag/drop, long-running event streams, or substantial client-side interaction. For Wails, prefer Svelte 5 + TypeScript + Vite; Tailwind and shadcn-svelte remain explicit project choices. If the page can remain a form and a template, keep it light.