HTTP Patterns

Go 1.22+ patterns and project-specific conventions for HTTP handlers.

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Go 1.22: ServeMux Method Routing

No more manual method checks. Register with HTTP verb prefix:

mux := http.NewServeMux()
mux.HandleFunc("GET /healthz", healthHandler)
mux.HandleFunc("GET /_cooked/{path...}", assetHandler)
mux.HandleFunc("GET /{upstream...}", renderHandler)

Path Parameters

func renderHandler(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
    upstream := r.PathValue("upstream")  // NEW in Go 1.22
    // ...
}

Special Patterns

Precedence

More specific wins:

• /healthz beats /{upstream...}
• GET /posts/{id} beats /posts/{id}

Conflicting patterns panic at registration:

mux.HandleFunc("GET /posts/{id}", h1)
mux.HandleFunc("GET /{resource}/latest", h2)  // PANIC - both match /posts/latest

Automatic 405

Unmatched methods return 405 Method Not Allowed with Allow header.

go.mod Requirement

Go 1.22+ patterns require go 1.22 or later in go.mod. Without it, patterns are treated literally (braces aren't wildcards).

Sources: Go Blog: Routing Enhancements, Eli Bendersky

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Middleware Pattern

This project uses the standard wrapper pattern:

func RequestLogger(next http.Handler) http.Handler {
    return http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
        start := time.Now()
        wrapped := &byteCountingWriter{ResponseWriter: w}
        next.ServeHTTP(wrapped, r)
        slog.Info("request",
            "method", r.Method,
            "path", r.URL.Path,
            "status", wrapped.statusCode,
            "bytes", wrapped.bytes,
            "total_ms", time.Since(start).Milliseconds(),
        )
    })
}

// Composable
var handler http.Handler = mux
handler = RequestLogger(handler)
handler = RecoveryMiddleware(handler)

srv := &http.Server{Handler: handler}

---

Request Context

Store request-scoped values using typed keys:

// Define typed key (prevents collisions)
type contextKey string
const loggerKey contextKey = "logger"

// Set in middleware
ctx := context.WithValue(r.Context(), loggerKey, logger)
next.ServeHTTP(w, r.WithContext(ctx))

// Retrieve in handlers
func Logger(ctx context.Context) *slog.Logger {
    if l, ok := ctx.Value(loggerKey).(*slog.Logger); ok {
        return l
    }
    return slog.Default()
}

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ResponseWriter Wrapping

Wrap to capture bytes and status:

type byteCountingWriter struct {
    http.ResponseWriter
    bytes      int64
    statusCode int
}

func (w *byteCountingWriter) WriteHeader(code int) {
    w.statusCode = code
    w.ResponseWriter.WriteHeader(code)
}

func (w *byteCountingWriter) Write(b []byte) (int, error) {
    if w.statusCode == 0 {
        w.statusCode = 200  // Default if WriteHeader not called
    }
    n, err := w.ResponseWriter.Write(b)
    w.bytes += int64(n)
    return n, err
}

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Graceful Shutdown

Standard Pattern

srv := &http.Server{
    Addr:    ":8080",
    Handler: mux,
}

// Start server
go func() {
    if err := srv.ListenAndServe(); !errors.Is(err, http.ErrServerClosed) {
        log.Fatal(err)
    }
}()

// Wait for signal
<-ctx.Done()

// Graceful shutdown with timeout
shutdownCtx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), 30*time.Second)
defer cancel()

if err := srv.Shutdown(shutdownCtx); err != nil {
    log.Printf("shutdown error: %v", err)
}

What Shutdown() Does

1. Stops accepting new connections immediately
2. Closes idle connections
3. Waits for active requests to complete
4. Returns when all handlers finish OR context expires

Kubernetes Considerations

Add a health endpoint that fails during shutdown:

healthService.MarkShuttingDown()  // Called before Shutdown()
// Readiness probe now returns 503

Sources: VictoriaMetrics, DEV Community

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Error Responses

cooked returns HTML error pages, not JSON:

func renderError(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request, status int, errType, message string) {
    w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "text/html; charset=utf-8")
    w.WriteHeader(status)
    // Render error template with same theming as content pages
}

Error pages use the same HTML template with:

• Proper theming (respects user's theme choice)
• #cooked-error element with data-error-type and data-status-code
• Direct link to the upstream URL

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Handler Naming

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What NOT to Do