Transactions in Go

Go does not have a built-in Transaction type; you must use the database/sql package's Tx object returned by BeginTx to manage database transactions.

import (
	"context"
	"database/sql"
)

func runTransaction(ctx context.Context, db *sql.DB) error {
	tx, err := db.BeginTx(ctx, nil)
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}
	defer func() {
		if p := recover(); p != nil {
			tx.Rollback()
		}
	}()

	_, err = tx.ExecContext(ctx, "INSERT INTO users (name) VALUES (?)", "Alice")
	if err != nil {
		return tx.Rollback()
	}

	_, err = tx.ExecContext(ctx, "UPDATE accounts SET balance = balance - 100 WHERE id = 1")
	if err != nil {
		return tx.Rollback()
	}

	return tx.Commit()
}

If any step fails, call tx.Rollback() to undo changes; if all succeed, call tx.Commit() to save them.

A transaction groups multiple database actions into a single unit that either all succeed or all fail together. Think of it like a bank transfer: money leaves one account and enters another, but if the second step fails, the first step is automatically reversed so no money is lost. You use this whenever data consistency is critical and you cannot afford partial updates.