https://github.com/emicklei/structexplorer

Go struct inspection HTTP handler
https://github.com/emicklei/structexplorer

debug golang-package inspect

Last synced: 2 months ago
JSON representation

Go struct inspection HTTP handler

• Host: GitHub
• URL: https://github.com/emicklei/structexplorer
• Owner: emicklei
• License: mit
• Created: 2024-06-15T20:15:18.000Z (almost 2 years ago)
• Default Branch: main
• Last Pushed: 2025-12-10T12:02:39.000Z (5 months ago)
• Last Synced: 2026-02-19T21:41:49.544Z (3 months ago)
• Topics: debug, golang-package, inspect
• Language: Go
• Homepage:
• Size: 2.98 MB
• Stars: 67
• Watchers: 1
• Forks: 3
• Open Issues: 0
• Metadata Files:
  • Readme: README.md
  • Changelog: CHANGES.md
  • License: LICENSE

Awesome Lists containing this project

README

          
## structexplorer

[![Go](https://github.com/emicklei/structexplorer/actions/workflows/go.yml/badge.svg)](https://github.com/emicklei/structexplorer/actions/workflows/go.yml)

[![GoDoc](https://pkg.go.dev/badge/github.com/emicklei/structexplorer)](https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/emicklei/structexplorer)

[![codecov](https://codecov.io/gh/emicklei/structexplorer/branch/main/graph/badge.svg)](https://codecov.io/gh/emicklei/structexplorer)

A Go Struct Explorer Service (http.Handler) that offers remote inspection of any Go struct and its references.

### example of exploring a [yaegi](https://github.com/traefik/yaegi) program

![program](./doc/explore_yaegi.png "Yaegi explore")

## install

    go get github.com/emicklei/structexplorer

## usage

    go structexplorer.NewService("some structure", yourStruct).Start()

then a HTTP service will be started

    INFO starting go struct explorer at http://localhost:5656

or as root HTTP Handler:

    s := structexplorer.NewService("some structure", yourStruct, "other" , otherStruct)

    http.ListenAndServe(":5656", s)

or as a HTTP Handler function:

    http.HandleFunc("/explore", structexplorer.NewService("game", game).ServeHTTP)

## syntax

- if a value is a pointer to a standard type then the display value has a "*" prefix

- if a value is a reflect.Value then the display value has a "~" prefix

## buttons

- ⇊ : explore one or more selected values from the list and put them on the row below

- ⇉ : explore one or more selected values from the list and put them on the right

- ⇈ : explore one or more selected values from the list and put them on the row up

- z : show or hide fields which currently have zero value ("",0,nil,false)

- x : remove the struct from the page

- c : remove all structs from the page except the onces you started with

Note: if the list contains just one structural value then selecting it can be skipped for ⇊, ⇈ and ⇉.

## explore while debugging

Currently, the standard Go debugger `delve` stops all goroutines while in a debugging session.

This means that if you have started the `structexplorer` service in your program, it will not respond to any HTTP requests during that session.

The explorer can also be asked to dump an HTML page with the current state of values to a file.

    s := structexplorer.NewService()

    s.Explore("yours", yourStruct)

    s.ExplorePath("yours.field") // dotted path of fields starting with an explore label

    s.Dump()

Another method is to use a special test case which starts an explorer at the end of a test and then run it with a longer acceptable timeout.

## examples

See folder `examples` for simple programs demonstrating each feature.