Building the Pkg.go.dev TUI Explorer
17 hours ago
- The new pkg.go.dev API provides programmatic access to package metadata, module versions, symbols, vulnerabilities, and more, eliminating the need for scraping HTML.
- The API is published with an official OpenAPI specification, making it easy to generate a Go client using tools like oapi-codegen.
- The author built a terminal UI (TUI) using Bubble Tea to browse Go documentation entirely from the terminal, improving workflow by avoiding context switching to a browser.
- The TUI currently supports searching packages, browsing module versions, and inspecting exported symbols, with potential for future features like vulnerability browsing and dependency trees.
- The generated API client had minor issues from the OpenAPI spec, which were fixed locally, and some response types needed manual extension.
- The application architecture separates state, networking, and rendering cleanly using Bubble Tea's message-driven model.
- The author highlights the API as a significant addition to Go tooling, enabling easier development of editor plugins, terminal tools, and automation.