go-webapp-template

The French Software Go webapp template

A modern Go web application template with server-side rendering, Google OAuth authentication, and type-safe HTML generation.

Stack

• Go 1.25 - Backend language
• libhtml - Type-safe HTML generation library
• Basecoat UI - Tailwind CSS component library
• TailwindCSS - Utility-first CSS framework
• SQLite - Embedded database (via modernc.org/sqlite)
• Google OAuth 2.0 - Authentication
• Air - Hot reload for development

Prerequisites

• Go 1.25+ - Download
• Bun - Required for TailwindCSS bundling: Installation

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

git clone <your-repo-url>
cd go-webapp-template

2. Install Go dependencies:

go mod download

3. Install Air for hot reload:

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

4. Set up environment variables:

cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env with your Google OAuth credentials

5. Get Google OAuth credentials:
   • Visit Google Cloud Console
   • Create OAuth 2.0 Client ID
   • Add authorized redirect URI: http://localhost:8080/auth/google/callback
   • Copy Client ID and Client Secret to .env

Development

Start the development server with hot reload:

make dev

This will:

• Build and run the Go server
• Automatically rebuild CSS with TailwindCSS on file changes
• Hot reload the browser on Go/HTML/CSS changes
• Server runs at http://localhost:8080

CSS Development

Build CSS once:

make css

Watch CSS for changes (alternative to make dev):

make css-watch

Other Commands

make build    # Build production binary to bin/server
make clean    # Remove build artifacts (tmp/, bin/, public/styles.css)

Architecture

Server-Side Rendering with libhtml

Pages are rendered server-side using Go with the libhtml library for type-safe HTML generation:

import "github.com/frenchsoftware/libhtml"

func MyPage(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) error {
    page := html.Div(
        attr.Class("container mx-auto"),
        html.H1(html.Text("Hello World")),
    )
    return page.Render(w)
}

Basecoat UI Components

The template includes Basecoat UI, a Tailwind CSS component library that works without React. Use pre-built component classes:

html.Button(
    attr.Class("btn-primary"),
    html.Text("Click Me")
)

Available components: buttons, cards, forms, dialogs, badges, alerts, tables, tabs, and more. See views/basecoat.css or Basecoat UI documentation.

Configuration

Environment variables (.env):

Variable	Description	Default
HTTP_ADDR	Server address and port	:8080
DATABASE_URL	SQLite database file path	file:app.db
BASE_URL	Application base URL (for OAuth)	http://localhost:8080
GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID	Google OAuth Client ID	Required
GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET	Google OAuth Client Secret	Required

Deployment

1. Build the binary:

make build

2. Set production environment variables

3. Run the server:

./bin/server

The SQLite database will be created automatically on first run.

License

AGPL-3.0