Golang libraries I refuse to build backend systems without in 2026: 🔶 chi (or gin) = HTTP routing that stays out of your way 🔶 zap (or slog) = structured logging that won’t slow prod 🔶 validator/v10 = request validation that isn’t “if err != nil” spaghetti 🔶 sqlc = type-safe SQL without ORM magic 🔶 pgx = Postgres driver that actually performs 🔶 redis/go-redis = caching + rate limits + locks 🔶 grpc-go = service-to-service calls done right 🔶 protobuf = contracts that don’t break silently 🔶 go-playground/middleware patterns = timeouts, recover, request IDs 🔶 prometheus/client_golang = metrics you can alert on 🔶 OpenTelemetry (otel) = tracing when “it’s slow sometimes” happens 🔶 testify = tests that don’t make you cry 🔶 mockery = sane mocking for interfaces 🔶 uber-go/fx (optional) = DI when the codebase gets big 🔶 golangci-lint = one command to keep code quality honest Which 3 Go libs are non-negotiable for you?