go-error-handling

The best way to wrap Go errors is using the %w verb with fmt.Errorf to preserve the error chain. This standardizes error handling patterns and maintains context for clear logs while allowing robust inspection with errors.Is and errors.As.

Choosing between sentinel errors and custom error types in Go depends on your API needs. Sentinel errors provide simple public API constants for specific expected conditions, while custom structured error types offer richer context and enable type-safe inspection via errors.As for robust checking.

The error type should be the last return value in a Go function to enforce the error type as a public API and prohibit in-band errors. This standardizes error handling patterns across a project to ensure consistent returns and maintainable error semantics.

Inspecting wrapped errors with errors.Is and errors.As works by traversing the error chain created by %w wrapping. errors.Is checks for specific sentinel values, while errors.As extracts custom structured error types, enabling robust checking and clear logs without losing underlying context.

You need to standardize Go error handling patterns across a project when functions create, return, wrap, or inspect errors inconsistently. This ensures consistent error semantics, maintains error chains, and enforces the error type as a public API to prevent in-band errors.

Yes, this approach to Go error handling prohibits in-band errors by enforcing the error type as a public API and ensuring proper wrapping with %w. This guarantees consistent returns and maintainable error chains across the codebase.