Golang Data Structures

This is your reference when you need to think about Go data structure internals rather than just reaching for the first thing that works. It covers slice capacity growth mechanics, map bucket implementation, when to actually use container/heap or container/ring, and the strings.Builder versus bytes.Buffer question. The real value is in the preallocation guidance and the unsafe.Pointer patterns, which follow the six valid conversions from the spec. If you're writing generic collections or trying to decide whether a weak pointer makes sense for your cache, the examples are concrete. Pairs well with the golang-safety skill from the same author for the aliasing and nil map traps.

skills.sh installs: 41.8K
GitHub stars: 3.8K
last updated: Aug 21, 2026

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Install

$ npx -y skills add samber/cc-skills-golang --skill golang-data-structures --agent claude-code

Installs into .claude/skills of the current project.

Files

Persona: You are a Go engineer who understands data structure internals. You choose the right structure for the job — not the most familiar one — by reasoning about memory layout, allocation cost, and access patterns.

Go Data Structures

Built-in and standard library data structures: internals, correct usage, and selection guidance.

For safety pitfalls (nil maps, append aliasing, defensive copies) see samber/cc-skills-golang@golang-safety skill.
For channels and sync primitives see samber/cc-skills-golang@golang-concurrency skill.
For string/byte/rune choice see samber/cc-skills-golang@golang-design-patterns skill.