golang-performance Skill (samber): Go Performance Tuning

Makes Claude optimise Go code the measured way: profile first, change one thing, then compare benchmarks.

Installs: 42.8K; on skills.sh
Stars: 3.7K; on GitHub
Files: 8; besides SKILL.md
Updated: Nov 2026; last repo commit

golang-performance makes Claude act as a Go performance engineer who never optimises without profiling. It follows a cycle: define a metric, write an atomic benchmark, measure a baseline, diagnose, make one change, then compare with benchstat. It maps each bottleneck, such as allocations, CPU, GC pauses, I/O or repeated work, to a pattern from its guides.

It has two review modes (architecture with up to 3 sub-agents, and a single hot path) and an optimise mode. SKILL.md lists benchstat as a dependency installed with go install, and saves baseline reports as /tmp/report-N.txt files.

Good for

Go developers with a profiled bottleneck to fix
Reviewers looking for quick performance wins in a pull request
Backend teams tuning allocations, GC and caching

Install golang-performance

Claude Code

Copy this prompt.

Install the golang-performance skill in Claude Code. Run this command:

/plugin marketplace add samber/cc
/plugin install cc-skills-golang@samber

Then check that it loaded and tell me how to use it.

2
Paste it into Claude Code. It shows the change and asks before running it.

The README says these skills are built as atomic, cross-referencing units, and that installing only a subset gives a partial and potentially inconsistent view of the guidelines. It recommends installing all the general-purpose skills together, which the plugin does. Its manifest lists no hooks or MCP servers, and the repo holds 46 skills. Use the skills CLI line only if you want just this one. Pick one route, not both.

From the project README. Source.

What's in the skill

When it loads

Golang performance optimization patterns and methodology - if X bottleneck, then apply Y. Covers allocation reduction, CPU efficiency, memory layout, GC tuning, pooling, caching, and hot-path optimization. Use when profiling or benchmarks have identified a bottleneck and you need the right optimization pattern to fix it. Also use when performing performance code review to suggest improvements or benchmarks that could help identify quick performance gains. Not for measurement methodology (→ See `samber/cc-skills-golang@golang-benchmark` skill) or debugging workflow (→ See `samber/cc-skills-golang@golang-troubleshooting` skill).

Sections in SKILL.md

Core Philosophy
Rule Out External Bottlenecks First
Iterative Optimization Methodology
The cycle: Define Goals → Benchmark → Diagnose → Improve → Benchmark
Decision Tree: Where Is Time Spent?
Common Mistakes
Deep Dives
CI Regression Detection
Cross-References

Key facts

Author: samber, per the SKILL.md metadata
Repo: samber/cc-skills-golang
Installs on skills.sh: 42,837 (Nov 2, 2026)
GitHub stars: 3,749 (Nov 2, 2026)
License: MIT
Last commit: Nov 1, 2026
Skill version: 1.3.2
Files: 9 files including SKILL.md: evals/evals.json, assets/prometheus-alerts.yml, 6 reference guides
Triggers on: Go files (paths: **/*.go). Needs the go tool and benchstat (installed with go install)
Related skills: 7 other skills named in SKILL.md; the README says to install the set together
skills.sh checks: Gen Agent Trust Hub pass, Socket pass, Snyk pass

What it includes

Define metric, baseline, diagnose, improve one thing, compare
Runs go test -bench with -benchmem and -count=6, then benchstat on two report files. Reports are saved as /tmp/report-N.txt as an audit trail.
Runs code · Optimize mode
Up to 3 sub-agents: allocation, I/O and concurrency, complexity and caching
Scans a package or service for structural anti-patterns such as missing connection pools or unbounded goroutines.
Read · Review mode (architecture)
Looks at one function or tight loop, sequentially
One sub-agent is enough.
Read · Review mode (hot path)
Check with fgprof, goroutine profiles and tracing before touching Go code
If the time is a slow database or API call, optimising allocations will not help.
Runs code · Rule out external bottlenecks
Maps pprof signals to memory, CPU, runtime, I/O, caching or algorithm fixes
For example high alloc_objects points to the memory guide.
Decision tree
Statistical comparison of two benchmark reports, installed with go install ...@latest
SKILL.md lists golang.org/x/perf/cmd/benchstat@latest as a dependency.
Runs code · benchstat
Memory, CPU, I/O and networking, runtime tuning, caching, observability
Six files in references/, plus assets/prometheus-alerts.yml for alerting rules.
Read · Deep-dive guides
Default http.Client limits, logging in hot loops, unsafe without proof, no GOMEMLIMIT
A table of seven frequent mistakes and their fixes.
Common mistakes

From the official docs

Permissions

Medium risk

Claude can run benchmarks, profilers and curl, fetch web pages and write report files to /tmp. Read the commands it proposes, especially any that point at a live service.

What it can do

Read your data
Create and change things
Delete things
Read-only mode

Watch out for

It can run curl and fetch web pages
curl, WebFetch and WebSearch are in its tool list. Check the URLs in any command, and avoid pointing profiling commands at production services. github.com
It installs benchstat at @latest
benchstat is installed with go install ...@latest. Pin a version if you need repeatable results. github.com
It writes report files outside your project
SKILL.md says to keep /tmp/report-*.txt files as an audit trail. Delete them when you are done. github.com

Security advisories

No published security advisories as of Nov 2, 2026.

Technical details

Turning on read-only	Review mode looks at a diff, but the skill's tool list includes Edit and Write.
Talks to	go install fetches benchstat at @latest. curl, WebFetch and WebSearch are in the header's tool list
Scopes	The SKILL.md header lists these tools: Read, Edit, Write, Glob, Grep, go, golangci-lint, git, sub-agents, WebFetch, WebSearch, benchstat, fieldalignment, staticcheck, curl, fgprof, perf, AskUserQuestion and the worktree tools Edits Go files in your project

Questions

How do I install golang-performance?

Use the install box above. The plugin route installs the whole Go skill set, and the skills CLI route installs only this skill. Pick one so you do not get every skill twice.

Will it optimise my code without measuring?

No. SKILL.md tells Claude to profile before optimising, apply one optimisation at a time and confirm each change with benchstat. It says intuition about bottlenecks is wrong about 80% of the time.

Does it need other skills?

It works on its own, but SKILL.md points to 7 other skills in the same repo: golang-benchmark, golang-concurrency, golang-data-structures, golang-database, golang-observability, golang-safety, golang-troubleshooting. The README says installing only a subset gives a partial and potentially inconsistent view, so install the set together.

Does it work in the Claude app, Codex or Cursor?

The SKILL.md header says it is designed for Claude Code, Codex or a similar harness, and the README says the set is built for Claude Code, Codex, Gemini, Copilot, Antigravity and Cursor, with an install section for each. The README does not describe a Claude app install.

Does it need an API key?

SKILL.md names no key. It needs the go tool on your PATH and benchstat (installed with go install). The skill folder holds SKILL.md, reference guides and an evals file, with no scripts.

Is it safe to use?

It bundles no scripts besides a Prometheus alert file. Its header lets Claude edit files, run go, benchstat, staticcheck, perf, fgprof and curl, and use WebFetch and WebSearch, and it writes report files under /tmp. Read the commands it proposes, especially any that hit a live service.

golang-performance vs golang-benchmark?

SKILL.md says this skill is for choosing the optimisation once a bottleneck is known. Measurement methodology belongs to golang-benchmark and debugging workflow to golang-troubleshooting.

Information

updated Nov 2, 2026

Repository: samber/cc-skills-golang
Folder: skills/golang-performance

samber/cc-skills-golang skills.sh

Sources

Docs, issue trackers and discussions this page is built from.

Show all 13

cc-skills-golang · github.com
cc-skills-golang README · github.com
plugin.json · github.com
skills CLI commands · github.com
README.md#-how-to-use · github.com
golang-performance SKILL.md · github.com
memory.md · github.com
cpu.md · github.com
io-networking.md · github.com
runtime.md · github.com
caching.md · github.com
observability.md · github.com
prometheus-alerts.yml · github.com