How to Implement Graceful Shutdown in Go Microservices

Implement graceful shutdown by listening for OS signals, canceling a context, and waiting for active goroutines to finish.

package main

import (
	"context"
	"log"
	"net/http"
	"os"
	"os/signal"
	"syscall"
	"time"
)

func main() {
	mux := http.NewServeMux()
	mux.HandleFunc("/", func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
		w.Write([]byte("Hello, World"))
	})

	server := &http.Server{
		Addr:    ":8080",
		Handler: mux,
	}

	go func() {
		if err := server.ListenAndServe(); err != nil && err != http.ErrServerClosed {
			log.Fatalf("listen: %s\n", err)
		}
	}()

	quit := make(chan os.Signal, 1)
	signal.Notify(quit, syscall.SIGINT, syscall.SIGTERM)
	<-quit
	log.Println("Shutting down server...")

	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), 5*time.Second)
	defer cancel()

	if err := server.Shutdown(ctx); err != nil {
		log.Fatalf("Could not stop server: %v", err)
	}
	log.Println("Server exited")
}

Graceful shutdown ensures your service stops cleanly instead of crashing abruptly. It works like closing a restaurant: you stop taking new orders, finish serving current customers, and then turn off the lights. This prevents data loss and ensures all active tasks complete before the program exits.