Building Wasm Components with Go

This cookbook guide shows you how to build WebAssembly components using Go and TinyGo that work with Wassette.

Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Go (version 1.19 through 1.23)
• TinyGo (version 0.32 or later)

Install Tools

# Install Go from https://golang.org/dl/

# Install TinyGo from https://tinygo.org/getting-started/install/
# On macOS with Homebrew:
brew tap tinygo-org/tools
brew install tinygo

# On Linux:
wget https://github.com/tinygo-org/tinygo/releases/download/v0.32.0/tinygo_0.32.0_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i tinygo_0.32.0_amd64.deb

Step-by-Step Guide

1. Create Your Project

mkdir my-component
cd my-component
go mod init example.com/my-component

2. Define Your Interface (WIT)

Create wit/world.wit:

package local:my-component;

world my-component {
    export greet: func(name: string) -> string;
    export calculate: func(a: s32, b: s32) -> s32;
}

3. Generate Go Bindings

go run go.bytecodealliance.org/cmd/wit-bindgen-go@v0.6.2 generate ./wit --out gen

This creates Go bindings in the gen/ directory.

4. Implement Your Component

Create main.go:

package main

import (
    "fmt"
    
    "example.com/my-component/gen"
)

// Component implementation
type Component struct{}

func (c Component) Greet(name string) string {
    return fmt.Sprintf("Hello, %s!", name)
}

func (c Component) Calculate(a, b int32) int32 {
    return a + b
}

func init() {
    // Export the component
    gen.SetExports(Component{})
}

func main() {}

5. Build Your Component

tinygo build -o component.wasm -target wasip2 --wit-package ./wit --wit-world my-component main.go

6. Test Your Component

wassette serve --sse --plugin-dir .

Complete Examples

Module Information Service

wit/world.wit:

package local:gomodule-server;

world gomodule-server {
    export get-module-info: func(module-path: string) -> result<string, string>;
}

main.go:

package main

import (
    "encoding/json"
    "fmt"
    "net/http"
    "time"
    
    "example.com/gomodule-server/gen"
)

type ModuleInfo struct {
    Path    string `json:"path"`
    Version string `json:"version"`
    Time    string `json:"time"`
}

type Component struct{}

func (c Component) GetModuleInfo(modulePath string) (string, error) {
    // Fetch module information from pkg.go.dev
    url := fmt.Sprintf("https://proxy.golang.org/%s/@latest", modulePath)
    
    resp, err := http.Get(url)
    if err != nil {
        return "", fmt.Errorf("failed to fetch: %v", err)
    }
    defer resp.Body.Close()
    
    var info ModuleInfo
    if err := json.NewDecoder(resp.Body).Decode(&info); err != nil {
        return "", fmt.Errorf("failed to parse: %v", err)
    }
    
    result, err := json.Marshal(info)
    if err != nil {
        return "", fmt.Errorf("failed to marshal: %v", err)
    }
    
    return string(result), nil
}

func init() {
    gen.SetExports(Component{})
}

func main() {}

Simple Calculator

wit/world.wit:

package local:calculator;

world calculator {
    export add: func(a: s32, b: s32) -> s32;
    export subtract: func(a: s32, b: s32) -> s32;
    export multiply: func(a: s32, b: s32) -> s32;
    export divide: func(a: s32, b: s32) -> result<s32, string>;
}

main.go:

package main

import (
    "fmt"
    
    "example.com/calculator/gen"
)

type Calculator struct{}

func (c Calculator) Add(a, b int32) int32 {
    return a + b
}

func (c Calculator) Subtract(a, b int32) int32 {
    return a - b
}

func (c Calculator) Multiply(a, b int32) int32 {
    return a * b
}

func (c Calculator) Divide(a, b int32) (int32, error) {
    if b == 0 {
        return 0, fmt.Errorf("division by zero")
    }
    return a / b, nil
}

func init() {
    gen.SetExports(Calculator{})
}

func main() {}

Text Processing

wit/world.wit:

package local:text-processor;

world processor {
    export process-text: func(input: string, operation: string) -> result<string, string>;
}

main.go:

package main

import (
    "fmt"
    "strings"
    
    "example.com/text-processor/gen"
)

type Processor struct{}

func (p Processor) ProcessText(input, operation string) (string, error) {
    switch operation {
    case "uppercase":
        return strings.ToUpper(input), nil
    case "lowercase":
        return strings.ToLower(input), nil
    case "reverse":
        runes := []rune(input)
        for i, j := 0, len(runes)-1; i < j; i, j = i+1, j-1 {
            runes[i], runes[j] = runes[j], runes[i]
        }
        return string(runes), nil
    default:
        return "", fmt.Errorf("unknown operation: %s", operation)
    }
}

func init() {
    gen.SetExports(Processor{})
}

func main() {}

Error Handling

Go components use the standard Go error type for WIT’s result:

// Success
return result, nil

// Error
return "", fmt.Errorf("error message: %v", err)

// Or with a zero value for the result
return 0, fmt.Errorf("calculation failed")

Working with WIT Types

Type Mappings

// WIT type -> Go type
// s32, s64 -> int32, int64
// u32, u64 -> uint32, uint64
// f32, f64 -> float32, float64
// string -> string
// bool -> bool
// list<T> -> []T
// option<T> -> *T
// result<T, E> -> (T, error)
// record -> struct

Complex Types

// WIT record
// record person {
//     name: string,
//     age: u32,
// }

type Person struct {
    Name string
    Age  uint32
}

func processPerson(p Person) string {
    return fmt.Sprintf("%s is %d years old", p.Name, p.Age)
}

Best Practices

1. Use proper error handling - Always check and return errors appropriately
2. Keep components small - TinyGo produces smaller binaries with focused code
3. Avoid unsupported features - Some Go standard library features may not work with TinyGo
4. Test thoroughly - Validate your component works with Wassette before deployment
5. Document interfaces - Use WIT comments to document your API

Common Patterns

JSON Processing

import (
    "encoding/json"
    "fmt"
)

type Data struct {
    Name  string `json:"name"`
    Value int    `json:"value"`
}

func processJSON(jsonStr string) (string, error) {
    var data Data
    if err := json.Unmarshal([]byte(jsonStr), &data); err != nil {
        return "", fmt.Errorf("invalid JSON: %v", err)
    }
    
    // Process data
    data.Value *= 2
    
    result, err := json.Marshal(data)
    if err != nil {
        return "", fmt.Errorf("marshal error: %v", err)
    }
    
    return string(result), nil
}

HTTP Client

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

func fetchURL(url string) (string, error) {
    resp, err := http.Get(url)
    if err != nil {
        return "", fmt.Errorf("request failed: %v", err)
    }
    defer resp.Body.Close()
    
    if resp.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {
        return "", fmt.Errorf("bad status: %s", resp.Status)
    }
    
    body, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
    if err != nil {
        return "", fmt.Errorf("read failed: %v", err)
    }
    
    return string(body), nil
}

String Validation

import (
    "fmt"
    "strings"
)

func validateInput(input string) (string, error) {
    if strings.TrimSpace(input) == "" {
        return "", fmt.Errorf("input cannot be empty")
    }
    
    if len(input) > 1000 {
        return "", fmt.Errorf("input too long (max 1000 chars)")
    }
    
    return strings.TrimSpace(input), nil
}

Build Configuration

Using Justfile

Create Justfile for build automation:

# Generate Go bindings from WIT files
generate:
    go run go.bytecodealliance.org/cmd/wit-bindgen-go@v0.6.2 generate ./wit --out gen

# Build the component
build: generate
    tinygo build -o component.wasm -target wasip2 --wit-package ./wit --wit-world my-component main.go

# Build with optimizations
build-release: generate
    tinygo build -o component.wasm -target wasip2 --wit-package ./wit --wit-world my-component -opt=2 main.go

# Clean build artifacts
clean:
    rm -rf gen/
    rm -f component.wasm

# Test the component
test: build
    wassette serve --sse --plugin-dir .

Usage:

just build          # Build component
just build-release  # Build with optimizations
just clean         # Clean artifacts

Troubleshooting

Build Errors

TinyGo version issues:

• Ensure TinyGo supports your Go version (currently 1.19-1.23)
• Update TinyGo to the latest version

WIT binding errors:

• Regenerate bindings after WIT changes
• Check that wit-bindgen-go version is compatible

Import errors:

• Some Go packages may not work with TinyGo
• Use TinyGo-compatible alternatives or implement manually

Runtime Errors

Component not loading:

• Verify WIT interface matches implementation
• Check that all exported functions are implemented
• Review Wassette logs for details

Performance issues:

• Use -opt=2 flag for optimized builds
• Profile your code to find bottlenecks
• Consider using Rust for performance-critical components

TinyGo Limitations

Some Go features are not available in TinyGo:

• Some reflection features
• Full goroutine support (limited)
• Some standard library packages
• CGO

See TinyGo language support for details.

Full Documentation

For complete details, including advanced topics and more examples, see the Go Development Guide.

Working Examples

See this complete working example in the repository:

• gomodule-go - Go module information service

Next Steps

• Review the complete Go guide
• Check out working examples
• Learn about TinyGo
• Read the FAQ

Additional Resources

• TinyGo Documentation
• wit-bindgen-go
• WebAssembly Component Model
• WIT Specification