goatstack

A project scaffolding tool for creating Go + Templ web applications, similar to Create React App or Vite.

Features

The created Go web applications have the following features:

• Full-stack Go Web Applications: Backend + Frontend in pure Go
  • Templ Integration: Modern HTML templating with Templ
  • HTMX Integration: Dynamic frontend without complex JavaScript
• Database Support: Integrated SQLite or PostgreSQL
• Production Ready: Includes daemonization and deployment scripts for FreeBSD
• Development Tools: Live reload with Air, comprehensive Justfile

Prerequisites

Before using goatstack, ensure you have the following dependencies installed:

• Go 1.26.0+: Required for building the scaffolding tool and the generated projects
• just: Command runner (used for build automation)

Installation

just install

This builds the binary and copies it to ~/bin.

~/bin should be in your PATH for goatstack to be accessible from your shell.

Usage

goatstack create --app <name> --module <module> --daemon <daemon> [--db <type>]

Flags

Flag	Alias	Description	Required	Default
--app	-a	Main application name	Yes	-
--module	-m	Go module name for go.mod	Yes	-
--daemon	-d	Daemon name for deployment	Yes	-
--db	-	Database type (sqlite, postgres)	No	postgres

Example

goatstack create --app myproject --module codeberg.org/myproject --daemon myprojectd

After creation, run just dev in the generated project to start developing.

Generated Project Structure

The scaffolding generates a comprehensive Go web application with the following structure:

myproject/
├── backend/
│   ├── cmd/
│   │   └── myproject/          # Main application
│   ├── internal/
│   │   ├── daemonize/          # Goroutine (daemon) management
│   │   ├── emaild/             # Email daemon
│   │   ├── server/             # HTTP server
│   │   ├── state/              # Database queries
│   │   ├── static/             # Static assets (CSS, JS)
│   │   ├── views/              # Templ components/views
│   │   └── web/                # Web utilities
│   ├── go.mod                  # Go module file
│   └── .air.toml               # Live reload config
├── freebsd/
│   ├── INSTALL.sh              # FreeBSD installation script
│   └── myprojectd              # FreeBSD rc script
├── justfile
├── .envrc                      # Environment setup
├── .gitignore
└── README.md

Backend Features

• HTTP Server with middleware (logging, security headers, authentication, session management)
• Database integration (SQLite or PostgreSQL)
• Goroutine management
• Email daemon for sending emails with SMTP
• Configuration management via environment variables
• Health checks and basic endpoints

Frontend Features

• Templ components for HTML templating
• HTMX integration for dynamic interactions withous JS
• CSS styling with base styles

Development Tools

• Air for live reloading during development
• Comprehensive Justfile with targets for:
  • just dev - Start development server with live reloading
  • just build - Build production binary
  • just test - Run tests
  • just deploy - Deployment scripts

Deployment

• FreeBSD rc script to create a system daemon
• Installation script

Developing goatstack

Use the following just targets for working on goatstack:

Command	Description
just	List available targets
just build	Build the binary
just test	Run tests
just vet	Run go vet
just clean	Remove build and tmp folders
just install	Build and install to ~/bin
just binary	Test the compiled binary by creating a sample project

Limitations

• Currently focused on FreeBSD deployment (rc scripts)
• Limited to SQLite and PostgreSQL databases
• Basic authentication middleware included but may need customization

Future Plans (maybe?)

• Linux systemd service files?
• Docker support
• Additional Templ components and UI kits?