Chi
Lightweight, idiomatic Go router — composable middleware, 100% net/http compatibility, zero external dependencies.
Chi is built entirely on Go’s standard net/http interface — any existing http.Handler works without modification. Its composable middleware groups, context-based routing, and zero external dependencies make it the choice of developers who want Go’s stdlib performance with cleaner routing ergonomics. Chi is particularly popular for building APIs that need to stay close to the standard library while scaling to larger codebases.
Quick start
go mod init my-api
go get github.com/go-chi/chi/v5
// main.go
package main
import (
"encoding/json"
"net/http"
"github.com/go-chi/chi/v5"
"github.com/go-chi/chi/v5/middleware"
)
type Post struct {
ID int `json:"id"`
Title string `json:"title"`
Body string `json:"body"`
}
var posts []Post
func main() {
r := chi.NewRouter()
r.Use(middleware.Logger)
r.Use(middleware.Recoverer)
r.Get("/posts", func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
json.NewEncoder(w).Encode(posts)
})
r.Route("/posts/{id}", func(r chi.Router) {
r.Get("/", func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
id := chi.URLParam(r, "id")
w.Write([]byte("post: " + id))
})
})
r.Post("/posts", func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
var p Post
json.NewDecoder(r.Body).Decode(&p)
p.ID = len(posts) + 1
posts = append(posts, p)
w.WriteHeader(http.StatusCreated)
json.NewEncoder(w).Encode(p)
})
http.ListenAndServe(":3000", r)
}
When to use
Chi is ideal when you want cleaner routing than bare net/http without pulling in a full framework. Its zero-dependency philosophy and stdlib compatibility mean you can swap it out or mix it with other http.Handler-compatible code effortlessly. Gin offers more batteries (binding, validation, rendering) at the cost of slightly more overhead. For maximum performance, Fiber (fasthttp-based) is faster but not net/http compatible.
// features
- 100% compatible with `net/http` — any `http.Handler` or `http.HandlerFunc` works
- Zero external dependencies — only uses Go standard library
- Composable middleware groups via `r.Use()` and `r.Group()`
- Context-based URL parameters via `chi.URLParam(r, "id")`
- Route subrouters for modular application structure
- Built-in middleware: Logger, Recoverer, RealIP, Timeout, Compress
- Treemux-based router for fast URL matching
- Named and wildcard routes with full RESTful routing support
// installation
go get github.com/go-chi/chi/v5