How to use the Go Formatter
Format Go code in three steps:
1
Paste or upload your Go code
Paste Go source code into the input panel or upload a .go file. Code using spaces for indentation will be converted to tabs.
2
Set your tab display width
Choose 4 or 8 for the visual tab display width. This only affects visual rendering — the output file always contains real tab characters as required by gofmt.
3
Format, copy, or download
Click 'Format Go' to apply gofmt-style indentation and Go syntax highlighting. Copy the output (with real tabs) or download as a .go file.
When to use this tool
Use the Go formatter when you need gofmt-consistent code without running the tool locally:
- →Formatting Go code snippets from documentation or GitHub issues before using them in a project
- →Quickly reformatting a Go function or struct before pasting into a code review comment
- →Checking how Go code will look after gofmt without having Go installed on the current machine
- →Preparing Go examples for blog posts, README files, or technical documentation
- →Cleaning up AI-generated Go code that uses spaces for indentation instead of tabs
- →Formatting competitive programming solutions written in Go for readable submission
Frequently asked questions
Q:Why does Go use tabs instead of spaces?
The Go team deliberately chose tabs for indentation to allow each developer to set their editor's tab display width to their preference without changing the source file. gofmt enforces tabs universally, making Go one of the few mainstream languages where tab vs. space is not a team decision — it is mandated by the official toolchain. Using spaces in Go code is incorrect and will be converted by gofmt.
Q:Does the output contain real tab characters or rendered spaces?
The formatted output contains real tab characters (\t), matching gofmt exactly. The 'Tab display width' setting only changes how tabs appear in the preview panel — it does not add spaces to the actual output. When you copy or download the formatted code, it contains the correct tab characters for Go.
Q:How close is this to running gofmt locally?
This formatter applies gofmt's block indentation logic using tab characters and handles Go's control flow constructs accurately for most practical code. Full gofmt also handles spacing around operators, alignment of struct field tags, blank lines between declarations, and import grouping — these require Go AST parsing and are beyond what a browser-based formatter can fully replicate. For complete gofmt output, run the tool in your Go installation.
Q:Does it handle goroutines, channels, defer, and panic/recover?
Yes — go, chan, defer, panic, and recover are recognised Go keywords and are correctly handled in indentation and highlighted in the syntax output. Goroutine launches (go func(){}()) and channel operations are indented as part of the function body they appear in.
Q:Can it format Go code with generics (Go 1.18+)?
Yes — generics syntax (type constraints with [T any], [T comparable]) is treated as part of the function or type declaration line and indented correctly at the block level. The specific generic type parameter tokens are preserved without modification.
Q:Does it work with multiple Go files or just single functions?
The formatter works on any amount of Go source code — from a single function to an entire file with multiple type declarations, methods, and init functions. Paste or upload the complete file and the entire content is formatted in one pass.