---
title: "Install"
---

## CI installation

Most installations of `golangci-lint` are performed for CI.

### GitHub Actions

We recommend using [our GitHub Action](https://github.com/golangci/golangci-lint-action) for running `golangci-lint` in CI for GitHub projects.
It's [fast and uses smart caching](https://github.com/golangci/golangci-lint-action#performance) inside
and it can be much faster than the simple binary installation.

Also, the action creates GitHub annotations for found issues: you don't need to dig into build log to see found by `golangci-lint` issues:

![GitHub annotations of the action](./annotations.png)

### Other CI

It's important to have reproducible CI:
don't start to fail all builds at the same time. With golangci-lint this can happen if you
use deprecated option `--enable-all` and a new linter is added or even without `--enable-all`: when one upstream linter is upgraded.

It's highly recommended to install a specific version of golangci-lint available on the [releases page](https://github.com/golangci/golangci-lint/releases).

Here is the recommended way to install golangci-lint {.LatestVersion}:

```sh
# binary will be $(go env GOPATH)/bin/golangci-lint
curl -sSfL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/golangci/golangci-lint/master/install.sh | sh -s -- -b $(go env GOPATH)/bin {.LatestVersion}

# or install it into ./bin/
curl -sSfL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/golangci/golangci-lint/master/install.sh | sh -s {.LatestVersion}

# In alpine linux (as it does not come with curl by default)
wget -O- -nv https://raw.githubusercontent.com/golangci/golangci-lint/master/install.sh | sh -s {.LatestVersion}

golangci-lint --version
```

It is advised that you periodically update the version of `golangci-lint` as the project is under active development
and is constantly being improved. For any problems with `golangci-lint`, check out recent [GitHub issues](https://github.com/golangci/golangci-lint/issues) and update if needed.

## Local Installation

### macOS

You can install a binary release on macOS using [brew](https://brew.sh/):

```sh
brew install golangci/tap/golangci-lint
brew upgrade golangci/tap/golangci-lint
```

### Docker

```sh
docker run --rm -v $(pwd):/app -w /app golangci/golangci-lint:{.LatestVersion} golangci-lint run -v
```

### Linux and Windows

```sh
# binary will be $(go env GOPATH)/bin/golangci-lint
curl -sSfL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/golangci/golangci-lint/master/install.sh | sh -s -- -b $(go env GOPATH)/bin {.LatestVersion}

golangci-lint --version
```

On Windows, you can run the above commands with Git Bash, which comes with [Git for Windows](https://git-scm.com/download/win).

### Install from Source

Note: such `go get` installation aren't guaranteed to work. We recommend using binary installation.
<details>
<summary>Why?</summary>

`go get` installation isn't recommended because of the following points:

1. some users use `-u` flag for `go get`, which upgrades our dependencies. Resulting configuration wasn't tested and isn't guaranteed to work.
2. [`go.mod`](https://github.com/golangci/golangci-lint/blob/master/go.mod) replacement directive doesn't apply. It means a user will be using patched version of `golangci-lint` if we use such replacements.
3. it's stability depends on a user's Go version (e.g. on [this compiler Go <= 1.12 bug](https://github.com/golang/go/issues/29612)).
4. we've encountered a lot of issues with Go modules hashes.
5. it allows installation from `master` branch which can't be considered stable.
6. it's slower than binary installation

</details>

<div style="margin-top: 2em;">

```sh
go get github.com/golangci/golangci-lint/cmd/golangci-lint@{.LatestVersion}
```

</div>

## Versioning Policy

`golangci-lint` follows [semantic versioning](https://semver.org). However, due to the nature of `golangci-lint` as a code quality tool,
it's not always clear when a minor or major version bump occurs. To help clarify this for everyone, we've defined the following semantic versioning policy:

- Patch release (intended to not break your lint build)
  - A patch version update in a specific linter that results in `golangci-lint` reporting fewer errors.
  - A bug fix to the CLI or core (packages loading, runner, postprocessors, etc).
  - Improvements to documentation.
  - Non-user-facing changes such as refactoring code, adding, deleting, or modifying tests, and increasing test coverage.
  - Re-releasing after a failed release (i.e., publishing a release that doesn't work for anyone).
- Minor release (might break your lint build because of newly found issues)
  - A major or minor version update of a specific linter that results in `golangci-lint` reporting more errors.
  - A new linter is added.
  - An existing configuration option or linter is deprecated.
  - A new CLI command is created.
  - Backward incompatible change of configuration with extremely low impact, e.g. adding validation of a list of enabled `go-critic` checkers.
- Major release (likely to break your lint build)
  - Backward incompatible change of configuration with huge impact, e.g. removing excluding issues about missed comments from `golint` by default.
  - A linter is removed.

According to our policy, any minor update may report more errors than the previous release (ex: from a bug fix).
As such, we recommend using the fixed minor version and fixed or the latest patch version to guarantee the results of your builds.

For example, in our [GitHub Action](https://github.com/golangci/golangci-lint-action) we require users to explicitly set the minor version of `golangci-lint`
and we always use the latest patch version.

## Next

[Quick Start: how to use `golangci-lint`](/usage/quick-start).
