Error message "go: go.mod file not found in current directory or any parent directory; see 'go help modules'"

Question

I just updated to the new version of Go - Go version 1.16.2 Linux/amd64 and am getting an error when I build a Hello, World! example:

go: go.mod file not found in current directory or any parent directory; see 'go help modules'

Even when I follow the fix from that post it isn't working. I set these variables and then build again:

GO111MODULE=on
GOPROXY=https://proxy.golang.org,direct

And the same problem unfortunately.

Did you run `go mod init` as shown in [How to Write Go Code](https://golang.org/doc/code), [Getting Started](https://golang.org/doc/tutorial/getting-started), or [Creating a Module](https://golang.org/doc/tutorial/create-module)? — JimB, Mar 31 '21 at 19:35
Read and stick to https://golang.org/doc/#getting-started. You must use modules in Go 1.16. — Volker, Mar 31 '21 at 19:36
In what context are *GO111MODULE* and *GOPROXY* set? Inside file *go.mod*? Or somewhere else? — Peter Mortensen, Feb 02 '22 at 22:57
@PeterMortensen It should be set in your shell. It could be in a shells script too. — Alexis Wilke, Apr 27 '22 at 17:51

score 267 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 28 '21 at 14:18

267

Change this:

go env -w GO111MODULE=auto

to this:

go env -w GO111MODULE=off

edited Jun 28 '21 at 14:18

Vlad Havriuk

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answered May 19 '21 at 06:44

Chris Byron

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it worked man thanks but can you explain why it works ? – Bhumit 070 Jul 21 '21 at 17:12
this worked. thanks.. should be included in the documentation on github – Parv Sharma Jul 23 '21 at 18:35
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GO111MODULE=off forces Go to behave the GOPATH way, even outside of GOPATH – Ankit Gupta Oct 13 '21 at 11:28
Read more about it here : https://maelvls.dev/go111module-everywhere/ – Ankit Gupta Oct 13 '21 at 11:28
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this really works – junnyea Nov 03 '21 at 03:03
This should be the answer, it is a one-liner, works, and is very clear on what it says to do. – Sandeep Anand Dec 29 '21 at 04:25
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Why does this work? What is it supposed to do? Are there some security implications of this change? What is the theory of operation? – Peter Mortensen Feb 02 '22 at 21:56
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First make sure that your GO111MODULE value is set to "auto". You can check it from: ```bash go env ``` if it is not set to "auto", run: ```bash go env -w GO111MODULE=auto ``` go to your work directory in terminal and run: ```bash go mod init 'project_name' go mod tidy ``` set to "off" again, or else your code won't run, to do so, run: ```bash go env -w GO111MODULE=off ``` You are good to Go! – ZamaaN May 29 '22 at 09:28

score 141 · Accepted Answer · edited Feb 02 '22 at 21:55

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Yes, just follow the tutorial and for me that was doing go mod init test3 to create a module. No one else has been upgrading from the old version or everyone else just understood it properly I guess.

edited Feb 02 '22 at 21:55

Peter Mortensen

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answered Apr 01 '21 at 11:17

shwick

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Thank you! This works as building a docker image too - `RUN go mod init` in a `Dockerfile` :) – Derick Alangi Jun 08 '21 at 22:10
Thanks, this was counterintuitive to me. – Sridhar Sarnobat Jan 31 '22 at 08:55

score 82 · Answer 3 · edited Feb 02 '22 at 23:16

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First make sure that your GO111MODULE value is set to "auto". You can check it from:

go env

If it is not set to "auto", then run:

go env -w GO111MODULE=auto

Go to your work directory in terminal and run:

go mod init
go mod tidy

You are good to go!

edited Feb 02 '22 at 23:16

Peter Mortensen

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answered Aug 15 '21 at 09:28

ch9xy

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`go mod init` leads to `go: cannot determine module path for source directory d:\TMSU (outside GOPATH, module path must be specified)`. – pmor Feb 01 '22 at 21:43
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@pmor you need to specify the file path with the command , use `go mod init ~/path_to_file.go` – Proton Feb 04 '22 at 11:49
this gives me $GOPATH/go.mod exists but should not – crash springfield Jan 03 '23 at 20:44

score 20 · Answer 4 · edited Feb 02 '22 at 22:48

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From your project directory, add this line of code in your Dockerfile file if you are building a Docker image:

RUN go mod init

Or this in your directory:

go mod init

edited Feb 02 '22 at 22:48

Peter Mortensen

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answered Jun 16 '21 at 17:17

Walexhino

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score 12 · Answer 5 · edited Feb 02 '22 at 21:59

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Go builds packages in module-aware mode by default starting from 1.16. See here.

Navigate to the folder containing the Go file and run:

go mod init <modulename>.

A go.mod file is created here and this directory will become the root of the newly created module. See here to read about Go modules.

edited Feb 02 '22 at 21:59

Peter Mortensen

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answered Jun 16 '21 at 05:31

SparkZeus

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score 12 · Answer 6 · edited Feb 02 '22 at 22:50

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This worked for me:

FROM golang:alpine

WORKDIR /go/src/app

ADD . .
RUN go mod init

RUN go build  -o /helloworld

EXPOSE 6111

CMD ["./helloworld"]

edited Feb 02 '22 at 22:50

Peter Mortensen

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answered Jun 28 '21 at 06:35

Joseph Mulingwa Kithome

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[Docker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Docker_%28software%29)-related, presumably? How does that answer the question? What is "`EXPOSE 6111`" supposed to do? Why do `GO111MODULE` and `GOPROXY` not appear in this answer? What version of Docker and which host system (incl. version) was this tested on? Can you [elaborate](https://stackoverflow.com/posts/68158579/edit) in your answer? (But ***without*** "Edit:", "Update:", or similar - the answer should appear as if it was written today.) – Peter Mortensen Feb 02 '22 at 23:14

score 5 · Answer 7 · edited Feb 02 '22 at 23:12

I was trying to run the go build command on my Windows local machine and I ran into the go: go.mod file not found in current directory or any parent directory; see 'go help modules' error.

This is how I went about solving it:

First I got the root directory of my application by running $ pwd and got a response like so /c/projects/go-projects/go-server
Then I ran $ go mod init c/projects/go-projects/go-server

This totally took away the error and I was able to run the server with the command $ ./go-web

PS: It is important to note that I was running Linux commands on my machine using the Git Bash Linux terminal for Windows, it comes by default in Windows with the installation of git for windows.

Thank you @Marcel for sharing this solution. I fixed my same error in this way. — mdmostafa, Jul 22 '21 at 09:35

score 3 · Answer 8 · edited Feb 02 '22 at 23:15

3

Try running the below commands

'go mod init example.com/m' to initialize a v0 or v1 module
'go mod init example.com/m/v2' to initialize a v2 module

edited Feb 02 '22 at 23:15

Peter Mortensen

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answered Jul 07 '21 at 13:35

Vineesh P

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score 3 · Answer 9 · edited Feb 02 '22 at 23:22

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Do not install Go in your home folder. E.g. ~/go, because this folder will be used by To in further third party libraries' installation
download and unzip the Go install ZIP file to another place, e.g. /workspace/tools/go and set your PATH=/workspace/tools/go/bin

That's it. There isn't any need to do go mod init.

edited Feb 02 '22 at 23:22

Peter Mortensen

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answered Sep 08 '21 at 23:05

Siwei

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score 2 · Answer 10 · edited Feb 02 '22 at 21:58

I had the same error when I build a Docker image:

docker build . -t ms-c3alert:1.0.6

Error detail:

Step 11/21 : ENV GO111MODULE=on

 ---> Using cache
 ---> 1f1728be0f4a
Step 12/21 : RUN CGO_ENABLED=1 GOOS=linux GOARCH=amd64 go build -a -installsuffix cgo -o c3alert .
 ---> Running in ee4b3d33d1d2
go: go.mod file not found in current directory or any parent directory; see 'go help modules'
The command '/bin/sh -c CGO_ENABLED=1 GOOS=linux GOARCH=amd64 go build -a -installsuffix cgo -o c3alert .' returned a non-zero code: 1

I've resolved it by adding the following lines in my Dockerfile. Previously, it required to have a Go project in modules, according the guide in previous posts:

COPY go.mod .
COPY go.sum .
RUN go mod download

score 2 · Answer 11 · edited Feb 02 '22 at 23:20

I recently discovered that the "no required module" is the error message you get when trying to run/build a Go-file that doesn't exist or has a typo.

My student had named his file 'filename.Go'. The capital 'G' made it an invalid Go file, but Visual Studio Code still recognized it as a Go file, so it took a long time to discover it.

I spent a loooong time figuring this out, trying to understand modules and the relationship to folders, when the problem was a typo.

A confusing error message when it was actually the Go file, and not the .mod file that was "missing".

Farshad · Answer 12 · 2022-07-14T05:20:20.397

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just go to the parent directory and run go mod init "child/project root directory name"

edited Jul 14 '22 at 05:20

answered Jul 01 '22 at 12:04

Farshad

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lechat · Answer 13 · 2022-09-10T12:42:50.890

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I am using go v1.18. My problem was go work init. See here for more detail:
VScode show me the error after I install the proxy in vscode

I had to do:

$ cd /my/parent/dir
$ go work init
$ go work use project-one
$ go work use project-two

Now I can do:

$ cd {root directory of the module where go.mod is}
$ cd ./project-one
$ go build .
$ go run .

edited Sep 10 '22 at 12:42

answered Sep 04 '22 at 15:29

lechat

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score 0 · Answer 14 · answered Jul 07 '23 at 06:28

enter code here FROM golang:1.20.5-alpine

WORKDIR /app

COPY main.go .

RUN go mod init main
RUN go build -o test.go

CMD ["./test.go"]

Change from RUN go mod init to RUN go mod init main else you will get

go: cannot determine module path for source directory /app (outside GOPATH, module path must be specified)

score 0 · Answer 15 · answered Jul 29 '23 at 04:58

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for me it just remove or disable zsh-golang plugin. https://github.com/wintermi/zsh-golang

answered Jul 29 '23 at 04:58

Suhendra

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Error message "go: go.mod file not found in current directory or any parent directory; see 'go help modules'"

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