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Installing a Go Development Environment

This guide walks you through setting up Git, Go, and a code editor on macOS, Windows, and Linux (Ubuntu).

🍎 macOS

If Homebrew is installed, you can install Git and Go with two commands:

brew install git
brew install go

Otherwise, follow the steps below.

1. Install Apple Command Line Tools

Before installing anything else, macOS needs its basic developer foundation.

  1. Open your Terminal (press Cmd + Space and type "Terminal").
  2. Run: 
    xcode-select --install
  3. A popup will appear — click Install and agree to the terms.

2. Install Git

macOS ships with an outdated Git; install the official version.

  1. Download: Go to git-scm.com/download/mac.
  2. Use the binary installer package.
  3. Verify: 
    git --version

3. Install Go

  1. Download: Visit go.dev/dl and select the macOS installer (.pkg).
  2. Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3/…): choose ARM64.
  3. Intel Mac: choose x86-64.
  4. Open the package and follow the wizard.
  5. Verify (open a new Terminal window): 
    go version

4. Editor: Visual Studio Code (VS Code)

If you do not already have a favourite editor (Vim or Emacs work great too), install VS Code.

  1. Download: code.visualstudio.com.
  2. Unzip the download and drag Visual Studio Code into your Applications folder.
  3. Add the code command to PATH:
  4. Open VS Code, press Cmd + Shift + P.
  5. Type shell command and select "Shell Command: Install 'code' command in PATH".
  6. Install the Go extension:
  7. Click the Extensions icon (four squares) in the left sidebar.
  8. Search for "Go" and install the one by the Go Team at Google.

🪟 Windows

1. Install Git

  1. Download: git-scm.com/download/win.
  2. Run the .exe installer. On most screens you can click Next, but note:
  3. Editor: choose "Visual Studio Code as Git's default editor" (if already installed).
  4. PATH: select "Git from the command line and also from 3rd-party software".
  5. Line endings: choose "Checkout Windows-style, commit Unix-style line endings".
  6. Verify — open Command Prompt (Win + R, type cmd) and run: 
    git --version

2. Install Go

  1. Download: go.dev/dl — choose the Windows installer (.msi).
  2. Run the installer; it defaults to C:\Program Files\Go.
  3. Close any open Command Prompts, then open a new one.
  4. Verify: 
    go version
    You should see something like go version go1.26.x windows/amd64.

3. Editor: Visual Studio Code (VS Code)

  1. Download: code.visualstudio.com.
  2. Run the installer and make sure "Add to PATH" is checked.
  3. Set up Go support:
  4. Open VS Code and click the Extensions icon (four squares).
  5. Search for "Go" (by the Go Team at Google) and click Install.
  6. Press Ctrl + Shift + P, type Go: Install/Update Tools, select all boxes, and click OK.

🐧 Linux (Ubuntu)

1. Install Git

Git is available in Ubuntu's package repository:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install git

Verify: 

git --version

2. Install Go

Ubuntu's packaged Go is often outdated. Install the latest version directly from the official site.

  1. Download the Linux tarball from go.dev/dl (choose the linux-amd64 build for most machines): 

    wget https://go.dev/dl/go1.24.3.linux-amd64.tar.gz
    Replace the filename with the latest version shown on the downloads page.

  2. Extract to /usr/local (this is the standard location): 

    sudo rm -rf /usr/local/go
sudo tar -C /usr/local -xzf go1.24.3.linux-amd64.tar.gz

  3. Add Go to your PATH. Append the following lines to ~/.bashrc (or ~/.zshrc if you use Zsh): 

    export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/go/bin
    Then reload your shell: 
    source ~/.bashrc

  4. Verify: 

    go version

3. Editor: Visual Studio Code (VS Code)

  1. Install via Snap (simplest method): 

    sudo snap install --classic code
    Alternatively, download the .deb package from code.visualstudio.com and install with sudo apt install ./code_*.deb.

  2. Install the Go extension:

  3. Click the Extensions icon (four squares) in the left sidebar.
  4. Search for "Go" and install the one by the Go Team at Google.
  5. Press Ctrl + Shift + P, type Go: Install/Update Tools, select all, and click OK.

Your First Program (Hello World)

Once Go is installed on any platform, verify everything works:

  1. Create a project folder and initialise a module: 

    mkdir hello && cd hello
go mod init hello

  2. Create main.go: 

    package main
import "fmt"

func main() {
    fmt.Println("Hello, Gopher! Your environment is ready.")
}

  3. Run it: 

    go run .

You should see Hello, Gopher! Your environment is ready. printed in the terminal.