The Go Memory Model

Defines happens-before, synchronization, and what concurrent Go programs may safely assume.

• Author: Go Team
• Authority: primary
• Kind: reference
• URL: https://go.dev/ref/mem

What it covers

• happens-before rules
• goroutine communication guarantees
• safe publication and synchronization

Why authoritative

Official reference for memory visibility and synchronization guarantees in Go.

Use when

• how does the Go memory model apply here
• is this concurrent access safe in Go
• what establishes happens-before in Go

Keywords

• memory model, happens-before, synchronization, concurrency, visibility

Used by

• atomics
• memory-model
• sync-map
• sync-mutex
• sync-once