How to Detect Memory Leaks in Go

Detect Go memory leaks using the runtime memory profiler with pprof or by compiling with AddressSanitizer (asan) to identify unreleased memory allocations.

Use the Go runtime's built-in memory profiler to detect leaks by enabling it, triggering a garbage collection, and comparing heap snapshots before and after your workload.

export GODEBUG=gctrace=1
go test -memprofile=mem.out -run=YourLeakyTest
pprof -top ./your_binary mem.out

Alternatively, compile with the AddressSanitizer to catch leaks at runtime:

go build -asan -o your_binary your_package
./your_binary

If using CGO, ensure GODEBUG=asan=1 is set or use go build -asan to enable the LeakSanitizer (LSAN) which reports leaks like detected memory leaks.

Memory leaks happen when your program forgets to release memory it no longer needs, eventually causing it to slow down or crash. You can find these by taking a snapshot of your program's memory usage, running your code, and then checking what memory is still being held onto. It's like checking your bank account before and after a shopping trip to see if you accidentally left money in a store's cart.