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Bazelle

Go

Bazelle includes built-in support for Go through Gazelle’s core language extension. It automatically generates go_library, go_binary, and go_test rules.

Generated Rules

Source PatternGenerated Rule
*.go filesgo_library
package maingo_binary
*_test.gogo_test

Configuration

Module Prefix

Set your Go module path in the root BUILD file:

# gazelle:prefix github.com/your-org/your-repo

Naming Convention

Bazelle uses the modern import naming convention by default:

# Bazelle default (recommended)
# gazelle:go_naming_convention import


# Results in: //pkg/foo (target name = directory name)

The legacy convention produces verbose names:

# Legacy naming
# gazelle:go_naming_convention go_default_library


# Results in: //pkg/foo:go_default_library

External Dependencies

Configure how external dependencies are named:

# Modern naming for external deps (bazelle default)
# gazelle:go_naming_convention_external import


# Results in: @gazelle//language

Example

Given this Go source file:

pkg/greeter/greeter.go
package greeter


import "fmt"


func Hello(name string) string {
    return fmt.Sprintf("Hello, %s!", name)
}

Bazelle generates:

pkg/greeter/BUILD.bazel
load("@rules_go//go:def.bzl", "go_library")


go_library(
    name = "greeter",
    srcs = ["greeter.go"],
    importpath = "github.com/your-org/your-repo/pkg/greeter",
    visibility = ["//visibility:public"],
)

Dependencies

Gazelle automatically resolves:

  • Standard library imports: No deps needed
  • Internal imports: Resolved to //path/to:target
  • External imports: Resolved via go.mod to @module//path

Managing External Dependencies

Use go.mod with rules_go’s bzlmod support:

MODULE.bazel
bazel_dep(name = "rules_go", version = "0.59.0")
bazel_dep(name = "gazelle", version = "0.47.0")


go_deps = use_extension("@gazelle//:extensions.bzl", "go_deps")
go_deps.from_file(go_mod = "//:go.mod")
use_repo(go_deps, "com_github_...")

Common Directives

These are standard Gazelle directives (see Gazelle documentation for full details):

# Set import path prefix
# gazelle:prefix github.com/your-org/your-repo


# Exclude test files from library
# gazelle:build_tags !integration


# Map import path to target
# gazelle:resolve go github.com/foo/bar //third_party/foo:bar


# Exclude directories
# gazelle:exclude vendor

Proto Support

Go proto libraries are handled by Gazelle’s proto extension. When both .proto and Go code are present, appropriate go_proto_library rules are generated.