go-timecache: Ultra-fast time caching for high-performance Go applications

an AGILira library

Features • Quick Start • Performance • Usage • API Reference • Documentation

Part of our Xantos Core, go-timecache provides zero-allocation access to cached time values, eliminating the performance overhead of repeated time.Now() calls in high-throughput scenarios like logging, metrics collection, and real-time data processing.

Features

• Zero-allocation time access: Get current time without heap allocations
• Configurable precision: Choose your ideal balance between accuracy and performance
• Thread-safe: Safe for concurrent use from multiple goroutines
• Simple API: Drop-in replacement for time.Now() with minimal code changes
• Multiple formats: Access time as time.Time, nanoseconds, or formatted string

Compatibility and Support

go-timecache is designed for Go 1.23+ environments and follows Long-Term Support guidelines to ensure consistent performance across production deployments.

Performance

Benchmarks show dramatic improvements over standard time.Now():

AMD Ryzen 5 7520U with Radeon Graphics
BenchmarkTimeNow-8                      25118025           42.98 ns/op          0 B/op         0 allocs/op
BenchmarkCachedTime-8                   1000000000         0.3549 ns/op         0 B/op         0 allocs/op
BenchmarkCachedTimeNano-8               1000000000         0.3574 ns/op         0 B/op         0 allocs/op
BenchmarkTimeNowUnixNano-8              27188656           42.68 ns/op          0 B/op         0 allocs/op
BenchmarkCachedTimeParallel-8           1000000000         0.1737 ns/op         0 B/op         0 allocs/op
BenchmarkTimeNowParallel-8              184139052          6.417 ns/op          0 B/op         0 allocs/op

Reproduce benchmarks:

go test -bench=. -benchmem

• CachedTime is ~121x faster than time.Now()
• CachedTimeParallel is ~37x faster than parallel time.Now()
• Zero heap allocations in all operations

Quick Start

Installation

go get github.com/agilira/go-timecache

Usage

import "github.com/agilira/go-timecache"

// Using the default global cache
now := timecache.CachedTime()
nanos := timecache.CachedTimeNano()  // Zero allocation!

// Create your own cache with custom settings
tc := timecache.NewWithResolution(1 * time.Millisecond)
defer tc.Stop()  // Important: remember to stop when done

customTime := tc.CachedTime()

API Reference

Global Functions

• CachedTime() time.Time: Get current time from default cache
• CachedTimeNano() int64: Get nanoseconds since epoch (zero allocation)
• CachedTimeString() string: Get formatted time string
• DefaultCache() *TimeCache: Access the default TimeCache instance
• StopDefaultCache(): Stop the default cache (use during shutdown)

TimeCache Methods

• New() *TimeCache: Create a new cache with default settings
• NewWithResolution(resolution time.Duration) *TimeCache: Custom resolution
• CachedTime() time.Time: Get current time from this cache
• CachedTimeNano() int64: Get nanoseconds from this cache (zero allocation)
• CachedTimeString() string: Get formatted time from this cache
• Resolution() time.Duration: Get this cache's resolution
• Stop(): Stop this cache's background updater

Documentation

• Quick Start Guide - Get up and running in minutes
• API Reference - Complete API documentation
• Performance Guide - Optimization and benchmarking
• FAQ - Frequently asked questions
• Documentation Index - All documentation in one place

Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md for a detailed history of changes and version information.

License

go-timecache is licensed under the Mozilla Public License 2.0.

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go-timecache • an AGILira library