GrowthBook Go SDK

GrowthBook is a modular feature flagging and experimentation platform.

This is the Go client library that lets you evaluate feature flags and run experiments (A/B tests) within a Go application.

• Requirements
• Installation
• Usage
• Documentation

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Requirements

• Go version 1.21 or higher (tested with 1.21, 1.22, and 1.23)

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Installation

go get github.com/growthbook/growthbook-golang

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Usage

Quick Start

import (
    "context"
    "log"
    gb "github.com/growthbook/growthbook-golang"
)

// Create a new client instance with a client key and 
// a data source that loads features in the background via SSE stream.
// Pass the client's options to the NewClient function.
client, err := gb.NewClient(
    context.Background(),
    gb.WithClientKey("sdk-XXXX"),
    gb.WithSseDataSource(),
) 
defer client.Close()

if err != nil {
    log.Fatal("Client initialization failed: ", err)
}

// The data source starts asynchronously. Use EnsureLoaded to 
// wait until the client data is initialized for the first time.
if err := client.EnsureLoaded(context.Background()); err != nil {
    log.Fatal("Data loading failed: ", err)
}

// Create a child client with specific attributes.
attrs := gb.Attributes{"id": 100, "user": "user1"}
child, err := client.WithAttributes(attrs)
if err != nil {
    log.Fatal("Child client creation failed: ", err)
}

// Evaluate a text feature
buttonColor := child.EvalFeature(context.Background(), "buy-button-color")
if buttonColor.Value == "blue" {
    // Perform actions for blue button
}

// Evaluate a boolean feature
darkMode := child.EvalFeature(context.Background(), "dark-mode")
if darkMode.On {
    // Enable dark mode
}

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Client

The client is the core component of the GrowthBook SDK. After installing and importing the SDK, create a single shared instance of growthbook.Client using the growthbook.NewClient function with a list of options. You can customize the client with options like a custom logger, client key, decryption key, default attributes, or a feature list from JSON. The client is thread-safe and can be safely used from multiple goroutines.

While you can evaluate features directly using the main client instance, it’s recommended to create child client instances that include session- or query-specific data. To create a child client with local attributes, call client.WithAttributes:

attrs := gb.Attributes{"id": 100, "user": "Bob"}
child, err := client.WithAttributes(attrs)

Now, you can evaluate features using the child client:

res := child.EvalFeature(context.Background(), "main-button-color")

Additional options, such as WithLogger, WithUrl, and WithAttributesOverrides, can also be used to customize child clients. Since child clients share data with the main client instance, they will automatically receive feature updates.

To stop background updates, call client.Close() on the main client instance when it is no longer needed.

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Tracking

You can set up two callbacks to track experiment results and feature usage in your analytics or event tracking system:

1. ExperimentCallback: Triggered when a user is included in an experiment.
2. FeatureUsageCallback: Triggered on each feature evaluation.

You can also attach extra data that will be sent with each callback. These callbacks can be set globally via the NewClient function using the WithExperimentCallback and WithFeatureUsageCallback options. Alternatively, you can set them locally when creating child clients using similar methods like client.WithExperimentCallback. Extra data is set via the WithExtraData option.

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Documentation

• Usage Guide
• GoDoc

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