Installation

Prerequisites

Go 1.24 or newer. Nothing else: no C compiler, no Node, no database server (SQLite is built in).

go version

Create a Project

go install github.com/semutdev/goigniter/cmd/goigniter@latest
goigniter new myapp
cd myapp
go run .

Open http://localhost:8080 and log in as admin@admin.com. On the first run the console prints the admin password:

Admin account created: admin@admin.com / 3f9c2a7b1e04d6c8a2 (shown only once, change it after logging in)

Tables are created automatically on startup. There is no separate migration or seeding step.

goigniter not found or not recognized?

go install puts the binary in $(go env GOPATH)/bin (on Windows usually %USERPROFILE%\go\bin), and that folder is not always on your PATH. Add it once, then open a new terminal.

Windows (PowerShell):

[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable('Path', [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable('Path','User') + ";$(go env GOPATH)\bin", 'User')

macOS / Linux (add the line to ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc):

export PATH="$PATH:$(go env GOPATH)/bin"

Or run the CLI without installing it:

go run github.com/semutdev/goigniter/cmd/goigniter@latest new myapp

Using MySQL

SQLite is the default. For MySQL, pass the connection details (the database must already exist):

goigniter new myapp --db=mysql --db-user=root --db-pass=secret --db-name=myapp

All options: goigniter help. You can change the database later in .env (DB_DRIVER, DB_DSN).

Project Structure

myapp/
├── application/
│   ├── config/         # Database connection
│   ├── controllers/    # Your controllers (admin/ holds the admin panel)
│   ├── libs/           # Shared code, e.g. authentication
│   ├── models/         # GORM models
│   └── views/          # HTML templates
├── database/           # Table setup and first-run data
├── public/             # Static files, served at /static/
├── .env                # Configuration (APP_KEY, database, admin account)
├── go.mod
└── main.go             # Entry point

The generated app includes a login page and an admin panel with a dashboard, user management and settings. Use it as a starting point or delete what you don’t need.

Hello World

Add a new route in main.go, before app.Run:

app.GET("/hello", func(c *core.Context) error {
    return c.JSON(200, core.Map{
        "message": "Hello World!",
    })
})

Restart the server and visit http://localhost:8080/hello.

Hot Reload (Optional)

Templates already reload on every request in development. To also restart on Go code changes, use Air:

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

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Next: Routing to learn how to define routes.

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