flow-go — Flow Network Reference Implementation in Go

Reference implementation of the Flow network in Go. Flow is a Layer 1 proof-of-stake blockchain built for consumer apps, AI Agents, and DeFi at scale. This repo hosts the node software — consensus, execution, verification, access, and collection roles — and the Cadence VM integration used on mainnet, testnet, and local networks.

TL;DR

• What: flow-go is the Go reference implementation of the Flow network, a Layer 1 proof-of-stake blockchain.
• Who it's for: protocol contributors, node operators, and teams building infrastructure on or adjacent to Flow.
• Why use it: canonical source of truth for Flow consensus (HotStuff), multi-role architecture, Cadence VM integration, and Flow EVM.
• Status: see Releases for the latest version. Live on mainnet.
• License: AGPL-3.0
• Related repos: cadence (language) · flow-cli (CLI) · fcl-js (JS client) · flow-go-sdk (Go client)
• The reference Go implementation for the Flow network, open-sourced since 2019.

Table of Contents

• Getting started
• Documentation
• Installation
  • Clone Repository
  • Install Dependencies
• Development Workflow
  • Testing
  • Building
  • Local Network
  • Code Generation

Getting started

• To install all dependencies and tools, see the project setup guide
• To dig into more documentation about Flow, see the documentation
• To learn how to contribute, see the contributing guide
• To see information on developing Flow, see the development workflow

Documentation

You can find an overview of the Flow architecture on the documentation website.

Development on Flow is divided into work streams. Each work stream has a home directory containing high-level documentation for the stream, as well as links to documentation for relevant components used by that work stream.

The following table lists all work streams and links to their home directory and documentation:

Installation

• Clone this repository

• Install Go (Flow requires Go 1.26 and later)

• Install Docker, which is used for running a local network and integration tests

• Make sure the GOPATH and GOBIN environment variables are set, and GOBIN is added to your path:

  export GOPATH=$(go env GOPATH)
  export GOBIN=$GOPATH/bin
  export PATH=$PATH:$GOBIN
  

  Add these to your shell profile to persist them for future runs.

• Then, run the following command:

  make install-tools
  

At this point, you should be ready to build, test, and run Flow! 🎉

Development Workflow

Testing

Flow has a unit test suite and an integration test suite. Unit tests for a module live within the module they are testing. Integration tests live in integration/tests.

Run the unit test suite:

make test

Run the integration test suite:

make integration-test

Building

The recommended way to build and run Flow for local development is using Docker.

Build a Docker image for all nodes:

make docker-native-build-flow

Build a Docker image for a particular node role (replace $ROLE with collection, consensus, etc.):

make docker-native-build-$ROLE

Building a binary for the access node

Build the binary for an access node that can be run directly on the machine without using Docker.

make docker-native-build-access-binary

this builds a binary for Linux/x86_64 machine.

The make command will generate a binary called flow_access_node

Importing the module

When importing the github.com/onflow/flow-go module in your Go project, testing or building your project may require setting extra Go flags because the module requires cgo. In particular, CGO_ENABLED must be set to 1 if cgo isn't enabled by default. This constraint comes from the underlying cryptography library. Refer to the crypto repository build for more details.

Local Network

A local version of the network can be run for manual testing and integration. See the Local Network Guide for instructions.

Code Generation

Generated code is kept up to date in the repository, so should be committed whenever it changes.

Run all code generators:

make generate

Generate protobuf stubs:

make generate-proto

Generate OpenAPI schema models:

make generate-openapi

Generate mocks used for unit tests:

make generate-mocks

Mocks

We use github.com/vektra/mockery for mocking interfaces within tests. The configuration is in .mockery.yaml.

Adding and updating packages

You can add new packages by their fully qualified name. e.g.

github.com/onflow/flow-go/module/execution:

This will add all interfaces within the module/execution/ (non-recursive).

Mocking functions

Mockery dropped support for generating function mocks. Instead, you can use this pattern:

1. Create a mock_interfaces directory in the package where the function mock exists.
2. Add a file that mocks the function. for example, this mocks the `StateMachineEventsTelemetryFactory(candidateView uint64) protocol_state.StateMachineTelemetryConsumer

package mockinterfaces

import "github.com/onflow/flow-go/state/protocol/protocol_state"

// ExecForkActor allows to create a mock for the ExecForkActor callback
type StateMachineEventsTelemetryFactory interface {
	Execute(candidateView uint64) protocol_state.StateMachineTelemetryConsumer
}

3. Add the package to .mockery.yaml. Note: specify the directory where you want the mock to be placed.

  github.com/onflow/flow-go/state/protocol/protocol_state/mock_interfaces:
    config:
      dir: "state/protocol/protocol_state/mock"

FAQ

What is flow-go?

flow-go is the Go reference implementation of the Flow network — a Layer 1 proof-of-stake blockchain. It implements the node software (Access, Collection, Consensus, Execution, Verification roles), the HotStuff consensus algorithm, ledger, storage, networking, and cryptography subsystems.

How does flow-go differ from the Cadence repo?

flow-go is the protocol / node implementation. onflow/cadence is the Cadence smart contract language (compiler, interpreter, type system). flow-go embeds the Cadence VM to execute transactions, but the language itself is developed in the Cadence repo.

What are the five node roles in Flow?

Access, Collection, Consensus, Execution, and Verification. Each has its own entry point under /cmd/. There is also an Observer service for staking-free read-only access.

Which Go version does flow-go require?

Go 1.26 or later. See the Installation section for the full environment setup.

Where is the consensus algorithm implemented?

Under /consensus/hotstuff. HotStuff is the BFT consensus family used by Flow.

How do I run a local Flow network?

See the Local Network Guide for a full local multi-role network suitable for integration testing.

Where do I report a security issue?

See SECURITY.md for the responsible disclosure policy.

About Flow

This repo is the Go reference implementation of the Flow network, a Layer 1 blockchain built for consumer applications, AI Agents, and DeFi at scale.

• Developer docs: https://developers.flow.com
• Cadence language: https://cadence-lang.org
• Community: Flow Discord · Flow Forum
• Governance: Flow Improvement Proposals