How to Make an HTTP GET Request in Go

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2026-04-17T16:48:02+00:00
Use the standard `net/http` package's `http.Get()` function for simple requests or `http.Client` with `http.NewRequest()` when you need to customize headers, timeouts, or handle errors more granularly.

Use the standard net/http package's http.Get() function for simple requests or http.Client with http.NewRequest() when you need to customize headers, timeouts, or handle errors more granularly. For production code, always create a dedicated http.Client instance with a configured timeout to prevent hanging connections.

Here is the simplest approach using the convenience function:

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"io"
	"net/http"
)

func main() {
	// Simple GET request
	resp, err := http.Get("https://api.github.com")
	if err != nil {
		panic(err)
	}
	defer resp.Body.Close()

	// Check status code before reading
	if resp.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {
		panic(fmt.Sprintf("unexpected status: %s", resp.Status))
	}

	body, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
	if err != nil {
		panic(err)
	}

	fmt.Println(string(body))
}

For production scenarios, you should define a client with a timeout and handle the request manually to ensure robustness:

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"io"
	"net/http"
	"time"
)

func main() {
	// Create a client with a timeout to avoid hanging
	client := &http.Client{
		Timeout: 10 * time.Second,
	}

	req, err := http.NewRequest("GET", "https://api.github.com", nil)
	if err != nil {
		panic(err)
	}

	// Add custom headers if needed
	req.Header.Set("User-Agent", "MyGoApp/1.0")

	resp, err := client.Do(req)
	if err != nil {
		panic(err)
	}
	defer resp.Body.Close()

	if resp.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {
		panic(fmt.Sprintf("request failed with status: %s", resp.Status))
	}

	body, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
	if err != nil {
		panic(err)
	}

	fmt.Println(string(body))
}

Key takeaways: always check resp.StatusCode before processing the body, ensure you defer resp.Body.Close() to prevent resource leaks, and prefer http.Client over http.Get() in production to enforce timeouts and reuse connections efficiently.