Neovim for Go Backend Development: Monorepo, Microservices, Infrastructure

Managing Complex Go Systems: From Monorepos to Distributed Infrastructure

---

🎯 Introduction: The Complexity of Modern Go Development

Let me start with an honest observation: Most Go developers are building more complex systems than they realize.

They’re not just writing Go services. They’re orchestrating:

• Multiple services (authentication, payments, notifications, worker queues)
• Multiple languages (Go for services, Bash for scripts, Python for utilities, YAML for configs)
• Infrastructure-as-code (Terraform, Kubernetes manifests, Docker configs)
• Multiple repositories or monorepo structure (dependencies, shared packages, service boundaries)
• Complex workflows (local development, CI/CD, staging, production deployment)

Traditional IDEs (GoLand, VS Code) struggle here because:

❌ Monorepo navigation becomes sluggish
❌ Multiple language support requires 20+ extensions
❌ LSP coordination across Go, YAML, Terraform, Bash is messy
❌ Context switching between services kills focus
❌ GUI overhead becomes noticeable in large projects
❌ Resource usage balloons with multiple services running

Neovim, designed for exactly this scenario, excels.

What This Guide Is About

This is not “learn Go in Neovim” or “basic Neovim setup.”

This is: How to use Neovim as your central hub for complex Go backend systems, from monorepo navigation to infrastructure orchestration.

We will cover:

✅ Monorepo organization - Navigate 50+ services efficiently
✅ Multi-module workspaces - Go workspaces in Neovim
✅ LSP coordination - gopls + terraform-ls + yamlls + bashls
✅ Service navigation - Jump between services instantly
✅ Integrated workflows - Edit code → run tests → deploy
✅ Mixed-language projects - Go + Terraform + YAML + Bash
✅ Debugging distributed systems - Delve across multiple services
✅ Profiling at scale - Performance analysis on complex systems
✅ Team workflows - Sharing Neovim configs across teams

The perspective: How a senior Go engineer thinks about editor infrastructure for complex systems.

---

🏗️ Part 1: Understanding Monorepo Architecture in Neovim

Before configuring Neovim, understand what you’re building.

Monorepo Structure

A typical Go backend monorepo looks like:

backend-platform/
├── go.work                  # Go workspace file
├── services/
│   ├── auth-service/
│   │   ├── go.mod
│   │   ├── main.go
│   │   ├── handlers/
│   │   ├── models/
│   │   ├── tests/
│   │   └── Dockerfile
│   ├── api-gateway/
│   │   ├── go.mod
│   │   ├── main.go
│   │   └── ...
│   ├── payment-service/
│   ├── notification-service/
│   └── worker-service/
├── shared/
│   ├── go.mod
│   ├── models/
│   ├── database/
│   ├── auth/
│   └── utils/
├── infrastructure/
│   ├── terraform/
│   │   ├── main.tf
│   │   ├── aws/
│   │   ├── kubernetes/
│   │   └── modules/
│   ├── kubernetes/
│   │   ├── base/
│   │   ├── overlays/
│   │   └── manifests/
│   └── docker/
├── scripts/
│   ├── deploy.sh
│   ├── setup-local.sh
│   ├── run-tests.sh
│   └── migrate-db.sh
├── docs/
└── Makefile

The Challenge

Traditional IDE approach:
- Open GoLand project at root
- Try to navigate to auth-service
- IDE indexes entire monorepo
- Takes 30+ seconds to load
- Every file change triggers full re-index
- Opening second service requires new IDE window
- Context switching is painful

Neovim approach:
- Start Neovim at root
- Neovim knows go.work structure
- gopls understands module boundaries
- Navigate between services instantly
- Edit code, run tests, deploy all in terminal
- All in one cohesive workflow

---

📂 Part 2: Go Workspace Management in Neovim

Go 1.18 introduced workspaces. This is how you leverage them in Neovim.

Go Workspace Configuration

# backend-platform/go.work

go 1.21

use (
  ./services/auth-service
  ./services/api-gateway
  ./services/payment-service
  ./services/notification-service
  ./services/worker-service
  ./shared
)

This tells go that all these modules are part of the same workspace. Neovim’s gopls understands this:

When editing: services/auth-service/handlers/auth.go
gopls can:
  - Find definition in shared/ package
  - Refactor shared code atomically
  - Run tests across all modules
  - Update imports across modules

Neovim Configuration for Workspaces

-- ~/.config/nvim/lua/go-workspace.lua

local lspconfig = require('lspconfig')

lspconfig.gopls.setup({
  cmd = { 'gopls', 'serve' },
  filetypes = { 'go', 'gomod', 'gowork', 'gotmpl' },

  -- Find workspace root
  root_dir = function(fname)
    local go_root = lspconfig.util.root_pattern(
      'go.work',  -- Check for go.work first (workspace)
      'go.mod',   -- Fall back to go.mod (single module)
      '.git'      -- Fall back to git root
    )(fname)
    return go_root
  end,

  on_attach = function(client, bufnr)
    local opts = { noremap = true, silent = true, buffer = bufnr }

    -- Workspace-aware keybindings
    vim.keymap.set('n', 'gd', vim.lsp.buf.definition, opts)          -- Definition
    vim.keymap.set('n', 'gi', vim.lsp.buf.implementation, opts)      -- Implementation
    vim.keymap.set('n', 'gr', vim.lsp.buf.references, opts)          -- All references
    vim.keymap.set('n', 'K', vim.lsp.buf.hover, opts)                -- Documentation
    vim.keymap.set('n', '<leader>rn', vim.lsp.buf.rename, opts)      -- Rename atomically
    vim.keymap.set('n', '<leader>ca', vim.lsp.buf.code_action, opts) -- Code actions
  end,

  capabilities = require('cmp_nvim_lsp').default_capabilities(),

  settings = {
    gopls = {
      -- Enable workspace-wide analysis
      analysisProgressReporting = true,
      staticcheck = true,
      usePlaceholders = true,
      completeUnimported = true,

      -- Code lenses (show test coverage, benchmarks)
      codelens = {
        generate = true,
        test = true,
        gc_details = true,
      },

      -- Inlay hints for types
      hints = {
        assignVariableTypes = true,
        compositeLiteralFields = true,
        compositeLiteralTypes = true,
        constantValues = true,
        functionTypeParameters = true,
        parameterNames = true,
        rangeVariableTypes = true,
      },

      -- Diagnostic settings
      diagnosticsDelay = '100ms',
      analysisDelay = '500ms',
    },
  },
})

Navigating Between Services

-- ~/.config/nvim/lua/go-monorepo-nav.lua

-- List all services in workspace
vim.api.nvim_create_user_command('GoServices', function()
  vim.cmd(':Telescope find_files cwd=services')
end, { desc = 'Find files in services/' })

-- Quick jump to service
vim.api.nvim_create_user_command('GoService', function(opts)
  local service = opts.args
  vim.cmd(':edit services/' .. service .. '/main.go')
end, {
  nargs = 1,
  complete = function()
    -- Auto-complete service names
    local services = vim.fn.glob('services/*/main.go', false, true)
    local names = {}
    for _, path in ipairs(services) do
      local service_name = path:match('services/([^/]+)/')
      table.insert(names, service_name)
    end
    return names
  end,
  desc = 'Jump to service main.go',
})

-- Jump to shared package
vim.api.nvim_create_user_command('GoShared', function(opts)
  local package = opts.args or ''
  vim.cmd(':edit shared/' .. package)
end, { nargs = '?', desc = 'Jump to shared package' })

-- List all packages in workspace
vim.api.nvim_create_user_command('GoPackages', function()
  vim.cmd(':Telescope live_grep cwd=.')
end, { desc = 'Search packages in workspace' })

Usage:

:GoService auth-service         → Open auth-service/main.go
:GoService payment-service      → Open payment-service/main.go
:GoShared models                → Open shared/models
:GoServices                     → Find files in all services
:GoPackages                     → Search across entire workspace

---

🔗 Part 3: Cross-Service Refactoring and Navigation

The real power of Neovim + Go workspaces is atomic cross-service refactoring.

Refactoring Shared Code

Scenario:

You have a shared payment model used by multiple services:

shared/models/payment.go         → Defines Payment type
services/payment-service/...     → Uses Payment
services/api-gateway/...         → Uses Payment
services/billing-service/...     → Uses Payment

You need to rename Payment.Amount → Payment.AmountCents:

Workflow:

1. Open shared/models/payment.go
   vim shared/models/payment.go

2. Position cursor on 'Amount' field

3. Rename across entire workspace
   <leader>rn

4. gopls finds ALL references across all services
   - Updates payment-service
   - Updates api-gateway
   - Updates billing-service
   - Updates all tests
   - All atomically

5. No manual search/replace needed

Finding Implementations

Scenario:

You have an interface PaymentProcessor:

shared/payments/processor.go     → Defines interface
services/payment-service/...     → Implements via Stripe
services/billing-service/...     → Implements via PayPal

Find all implementations:

vim shared/payments/processor.go
# Cursor on 'PaymentProcessor' interface

:Telescope lsp_implementations
# Shows:
#   - StripeProcessor (payment-service)
#   - PayPalProcessor (billing-service)
#   - MockProcessor (tests)

Dependency Analysis

-- ~/.config/nvim/lua/go-dependencies.lua

-- Show who imports this package
vim.api.nvim_create_user_command('GoImporters', function()
  vim.lsp.buf.references(nil, { on_list = function(options)
    vim.fn.setloclist(0, options.items)
    vim.cmd('lopen')
  end })
end, { desc = 'Show all packages importing this' })

-- Show what this package imports
vim.api.nvim_create_user_command('GoImports', function()
  vim.cmd(':terminal go list -f "{{join .Imports \\\"\\n\\\"}}" ./...')
end, { desc = 'Show imports for current package' })

-- Visualize module dependency graph
vim.api.nvim_create_user_command('GoDependencyGraph', function()
  vim.cmd(':terminal go mod graph | head -20')
end, { desc = 'Show dependency graph' })

---

🔀 Part 4: LSP Coordination Across Multiple Languages

Real backend systems use multiple languages. Neovim handles this elegantly.

Multi-Language LSP Setup

-- ~/.config/nvim/after/plugin/lspconfig-multi.lua

local lspconfig = require('lspconfig')

-- Go
lspconfig.gopls.setup({
  -- ... go config from earlier
})

-- Terraform (infrastructure code)
lspconfig.terraformls.setup({
  cmd = { 'terraform-ls', 'serve' },
  filetypes = { 'terraform', 'tf' },
  root_dir = lspconfig.util.root_pattern('.terraform', '.git'),
  single_file_support = true,
})

-- YAML (Kubernetes manifests, Docker compose)
lspconfig.yamlls.setup({
  settings = {
    yaml = {
      schemas = {
        kubernetes = 'infrastructure/kubernetes/**/*.yaml',
        docker = 'docker-compose.yaml',
        github = '.github/workflows/*.yaml',
      },
      format = { enable = true },
      validate = true,
    },
  },
})

-- Bash/Shell (deployment scripts)
lspconfig.bashls.setup({
  filetypes = { 'sh', 'bash' },
})

-- JSON (configs, manifests)
lspconfig.jsonls.setup({
  settings = {
    json = {
      schemas = {
        {
          fileMatch = { 'go.mod' },
          url = 'schema://go.mod',
        },
      },
    },
  },
})

-- Lua (Neovim config)
lspconfig.lua_ls.setup({
  settings = {
    Lua = {
      runtime = { version = 'LuaJIT' },
      diagnostics = { globals = { 'vim' } },
      workspace = {
        library = vim.api.nvim_get_runtime_file('', true),
      },
    },
  },
})

Language-Aware Keybindings

-- ~/.config/nvim/lua/go-mixed-languages.lua

-- Detect file type and run appropriate tools
local function smart_format()
  local filetype = vim.bo.filetype
  local opts = { noremap = true, silent = true }

  if filetype == 'go' then
    vim.lsp.buf.format({ async = false })
  elseif filetype == 'terraform' or filetype == 'tf' then
    vim.cmd(':terminal terraform fmt %')
  elseif filetype == 'yaml' then
    vim.cmd(':terminal prettier --write %')
  elseif filetype == 'json' then
    vim.cmd(':terminal jq . % > %.tmp && mv %.tmp %')
  elseif filetype == 'sh' or filetype == 'bash' then
    vim.cmd(':terminal shfmt -i 2 -w %')
  end
end

-- Smart validation
local function smart_validate()
  local filetype = vim.bo.filetype

  if filetype == 'go' then
    vim.cmd(':terminal go vet ./...')
  elseif filetype == 'terraform' then
    vim.cmd(':terminal terraform validate')
  elseif filetype == 'sh' then
    vim.cmd(':terminal shellcheck %')
  elseif filetype == 'yaml' then
    vim.cmd(':terminal yamllint %')
  end
end

-- Smart test runner
local function smart_test()
  local filetype = vim.bo.filetype

  if filetype == 'go' then
    vim.cmd(':terminal go test -v ./...')
  elseif filetype == 'terraform' then
    vim.cmd(':terminal terraform plan')
  elseif filetype == 'sh' then
    vim.cmd(':terminal bash -n %')
  end
end

vim.keymap.set('n', '<leader>f', smart_format, { noremap = true })
vim.keymap.set('n', '<leader>v', smart_validate, { noremap = true })
vim.keymap.set('n', '<leader>t', smart_test, { noremap = true })

---

🔄 Part 5: Integrated Development Workflow (Local → CI/CD → Production)

A senior Go developer thinks in terms of workflows, not individual commands.

The Complete Development Cycle

-- ~/.config/nvim/lua/go-workflow.lua

local M = {}

-- Phase 1: Local Development
function M.local_dev()
  print("Starting local development...")
  vim.cmd(':terminal docker-compose up -d')  -- Start services
  vim.cmd(':terminal go run ./services/api-gateway/main.go')
end

-- Phase 2: Testing
function M.test_all()
  print("Running full test suite...")
  vim.cmd(':terminal go test -v -race -coverprofile=coverage.out ./...')
  vim.cmd(':terminal go tool cover -html=coverage.out')
end

function M.test_current()
  local file = vim.fn.expand('%')
  vim.cmd(':terminal go test -v ' .. vim.fn.fnamemodify(file, ':h'))
end

-- Phase 3: Linting and Quality
function M.quality_check()
  print("Running quality checks...")
  vim.cmd(':terminal ' ..
    'golangci-lint run ./... && ' ..
    'go mod tidy && ' ..
    'go vet ./...'
  )
end

-- Phase 4: Build
function M.build_service()
  local service = vim.fn.input('Service to build: ')
  vim.cmd(':terminal go build -o bin/' .. service .. ' ./services/' .. service)
end

function M.build_docker()
  local service = vim.fn.input('Service to docker: ')
  vim.cmd(':terminal docker build -f docker/Dockerfile.' .. service .. ' -t ' .. service .. ':latest .')
end

-- Phase 5: Deploy
function M.deploy_staging()
  print("Deploying to staging...")
  vim.cmd(':terminal ' ..
    'kubectl apply -f infrastructure/kubernetes/overlays/staging && ' ..
    'kubectl rollout status deployment/api-gateway'
  )
end

function M.deploy_production()
  print("Deploying to production...")
  vim.cmd(':terminal ' ..
    'kubectl apply -f infrastructure/kubernetes/overlays/production && ' ..
    'kubectl rollout status deployment/api-gateway'
  )
end

-- Setup keybindings
vim.keymap.set('n', '<leader>wd', M.local_dev, { noremap = true, silent = true })
vim.keymap.set('n', '<leader>ta', M.test_all, { noremap = true, silent = true })
vim.keymap.set('n', '<leader>tc', M.test_current, { noremap = true, silent = true })
vim.keymap.set('n', '<leader>qc', M.quality_check, { noremap = true, silent = true })
vim.keymap.set('n', '<leader>bs', M.build_service, { noremap = true, silent = true })
vim.keymap.set('n', '<leader>bd', M.build_docker, { noremap = true, silent = true })
vim.keymap.set('n', '<leader>ds', M.deploy_staging, { noremap = true, silent = true })
vim.keymap.set('n', '<leader>dp', M.deploy_production, { noremap = true, silent = true })

return M

Complete Workflow:

Monday morning:
nvim backend-platform/

<leader>wd          → Start all services locally
Edit code...
<leader>ta          → Run full test suite
<leader>qc          → Quality checks (lint, vet, tidy)
<leader>bs api-gateway  → Build specific service
<leader>bd api-gateway  → Build Docker image
<leader>ds          → Deploy to staging
<leader>dp          → Deploy to production

All without leaving Neovim
All with consistent keybindings
All integrated into one workflow

---

🔍 Part 6: Debugging Distributed Systems

Debugging multi-service systems requires orchestrating Delve across services.

Setup Delve for Microservices

-- ~/.config/nvim/lua/go-debug-distributed.lua

local dap = require('dap')
local dapui = require('dapui')

-- Configure Delve
dap.adapters.go = {
  type = 'executable',
  command = 'dlv',
  args = { 'dap' },
}

dap.configurations.go = {
  -- Debug current service
  {
    type = 'go',
    name = 'Debug Current Service',
    mode = 'debug',
    request = 'launch',
    program = '${fileDirname}',
    env = {},
    args = {},
    showLog = false,
  },

  -- Debug specific service
  {
    type = 'go',
    name = 'Debug auth-service',
    mode = 'debug',
    request = 'launch',
    program = '${workspaceFolder}/services/auth-service',
    showLog = false,
  },

  {
    type = 'go',
    name = 'Debug api-gateway',
    mode = 'debug',
    request = 'launch',
    program = '${workspaceFolder}/services/api-gateway',
    showLog = false,
  },

  {
    type = 'go',
    name = 'Debug payment-service',
    mode = 'debug',
    request = 'launch',
    program = '${workspaceFolder}/services/payment-service',
    showLog = false,
  },

  -- Debug tests
  {
    type = 'go',
    name = 'Debug Test',
    mode = 'test',
    request = 'launch',
    program = '${fileDirname}',
    args = { '-test.run', 'TestMyFunction' },
    showLog = false,
  },

  -- Attach to running service
  {
    type = 'go',
    name = 'Attach to Service',
    mode = 'local',
    request = 'attach',
    processId = require('dap.utils').pick_process,
    showLog = false,
  },
}

-- DAP UI
dapui.setup()

dap.listeners.after.event_initialized['dapui_config'] = function()
  dapui.open()
end

dap.listeners.before.event_terminated['dapui_config'] = function()
  dapui.close()
end

-- Keybindings
vim.keymap.set('n', '<leader>db', dap.toggle_breakpoint, { noremap = true })
vim.keymap.set('n', '<leader>dc', dap.continue, { noremap = true })
vim.keymap.set('n', '<leader>dn', dap.step_over, { noremap = true })
vim.keymap.set('n', '<leader>di', dap.step_into, { noremap = true })
vim.keymap.set('n', '<leader>do', dap.step_out, { noremap = true })
vim.keymap.set('n', '<leader>dr', dap.repl.open, { noremap = true })
vim.keymap.set('n', '<leader>de', dapui.eval, { noremap = true })

Multi-Service Debugging Scenario

Scenario: API call from api-gateway → payment-service → shared/models

Setup:
1. Terminal 1: Neovim in api-gateway service
   <leader>db    → Set breakpoint in handler
   <leader>dc    → Start debugging

2. Terminal 2: Neovim in payment-service
   <leader>db    → Set breakpoint in processor
   Open split terminal to watch logs

3. Make request:
   curl http://localhost:8080/payments/process

4. Hit breakpoint in api-gateway
   <leader>di    → Step into payment-service
   Hit breakpoint in payment-service
   Inspect goroutine state, database queries, etc.
   <leader>dr    → Open REPL to inspect variables

All in Neovim, all coordinated

---

📊 Part 7: Performance Profiling at Scale

Go’s pprof is powerful. Neovim makes it accessible.

Profiling Integration

-- ~/.config/nvim/lua/go-profiling.lua

-- CPU Profiling
vim.api.nvim_create_user_command('GoProfile', function()
  vim.cmd(':terminal ' ..
    'go test -cpuprofile=cpu.prof ./... && ' ..
    'go tool pprof -http=:8080 cpu.prof'
  )
end, { desc = 'Run CPU profiling' })

-- Memory Profiling
vim.api.nvim_create_user_command('GoMemProfile', function()
  vim.cmd(':terminal ' ..
    'go test -memprofile=mem.prof ./... && ' ..
    'go tool pprof -http=:8080 mem.prof'
  )
end, { desc = 'Run memory profiling' })

-- Goroutine Analysis
vim.api.nvim_create_user_command('GoGoroutineProfile', function()
  vim.cmd(':terminal ' ..
    'go test -goroutineprofile=goroutine.prof ./... && ' ..
    'go tool pprof -http=:8080 goroutine.prof'
  )
end, { desc = 'Analyze goroutines' })

-- Benchmark with profiling
vim.api.nvim_create_user_command('GoBenchProfile', function(opts)
  local pkg = opts.args or './...'
  vim.cmd(':terminal ' ..
    'go test -bench=. -benchmem -cpuprofile=bench_cpu.prof -memprofile=bench_mem.prof ' .. pkg
  )
end, { nargs = '?', desc = 'Benchmark with profiling' })

-- Generate Flame Graph
vim.api.nvim_create_user_command('GoFlameGraph', function()
  vim.cmd(':terminal ' ..
    'go test -cpuprofile=cpu.prof ./... && ' ..
    'go tool pprof -proto cpu.prof > cpu.pb.gz && ' ..
    'go-torch --file=flame.svg cpu.prof'
  )
end, { desc = 'Generate flame graph' })

---

🤝 Part 8: Team Workflows and Shared Configuration

Large teams need consistent Neovim setups.

Distributing Neovim Config

# backend-platform/.nvim-config/init.lua
# Shared configuration in repository

# Team members clone and link:
# ln -s /path/to/backend-platform/.nvim-config ~/.config/nvim/projects/backend

-- ~/.config/nvim/init.lua
-- Personal config

-- Load project-specific config if exists
local project_config = vim.fn.expand('~/.config/nvim/projects/' ..
  vim.fn.fnamemodify(vim.fn.getcwd(), ':t'))

if vim.fn.filereadable(project_config .. '/init.lua') == 1 then
  dofile(project_config .. '/init.lua')
end

-- Load common team config
local team_config = vim.fn.findfile('.nvim-config/init.lua', '.;')
if team_config ~= '' then
  dofile(team_config)
end

Team Conventions

-- backend-platform/.nvim-config/team-conventions.lua

-- All team members get same:
-- - LSP configurations
-- - Keybindings
-- - Go-specific settings
-- - Service navigation

local conventions = {
  leader = ' ',  -- Space bar

  -- Go development
  test_command = 'go test -v -race ./...',
  lint_command = 'golangci-lint run ./...',
  fmt_command = 'gofmt -w',

  -- Service ports (documented)
  services = {
    ['api-gateway'] = 8080,
    ['auth-service'] = 8081,
    ['payment-service'] = 8082,
  },

  -- Docker compose file location
  docker_compose = 'docker-compose.yaml',

  -- Kubernetes context for staging/prod
  k8s_staging = 'staging-cluster',
  k8s_prod = 'production-cluster',
}

return conventions

Makefile Integration

# backend-platform/Makefile

.PHONY: dev setup lint test build deploy-staging deploy-prod

# Development setup
dev:
	@nvim

# Install dependencies
setup:
	@go mod download
	@cd services/auth-service && go mod download
	@cd services/payment-service && go mod download

# Linting
lint:
	@golangci-lint run ./...

# Testing
test:
	@go test -v -race -coverprofile=coverage.out ./...

# Build all services
build:
	@for service in auth payment api-gateway notification worker; do \
		go build -o bin/$$service ./services/$$service-service; \
	done

# Deploy to staging
deploy-staging:
	@kubectl apply -f infrastructure/kubernetes/overlays/staging

# Deploy to production
deploy-prod:
	@kubectl apply -f infrastructure/kubernetes/overlays/production

Usage from Neovim:

:terminal make test
:terminal make lint
:terminal make build
:terminal make deploy-staging

---

🎯 Part 9: Real-World Scenario: Building a Payment System

Let’s walk through a realistic complex system.

Project Structure

payment-platform/
├── services/
│   ├── api-gateway/          # HTTP entry point
│   ├── payment-processor/     # Core payment logic
│   ├── notification-service/  # Send confirmations
│   └── webhook-handler/       # External webhooks
├── shared/
│   ├── models/
│   ├── database/
│   └── errors/
├── infrastructure/
│   ├── terraform/             # AWS infrastructure
│   ├── kubernetes/            # K8s manifests
│   └── docker/                # Docker configs
└── scripts/                   # Deployment scripts

Development Workflow

Day 1: Adding Payment Method Support

Time: 09:00
Task: Add Apple Pay support

Step 1: Open Neovim
nvim payment-platform/

Step 2: Navigate to payment processor
:GoService payment-processor

Step 3: Examine PaymentMethod interface
shared/models/payment.go
<leader>rn    → Find all implementations
# Shows: StripeProcessor, PayPalProcessor, ApplePayProcessor

Step 4: Create Apple Pay processor
services/payment-processor/applepay.go

gopls auto-completes interface methods:
  - Process()
  - Refund()
  - Validate()

Step 5: Add to factory
services/payment-processor/factory.go
<leader>ca    → Code action to add missing methods

Step 6: Write tests
services/payment-processor/applepay_test.go

Step 7: Run tests
<leader>ta    → All tests pass

Step 8: Quality check
<leader>qc    → Lint, vet, format

Step 9: Commit and push
<leader>gc    → Git commit

11:30 - Done. Apple Pay support added.

Day 2: Debugging Webhook Failures

Time: 14:00
Issue: Webhooks failing silently

Step 1: Open webhook handler
:GoService webhook-handler

Step 2: Set breakpoint on webhook receiver
<leader>db    → Toggle breakpoint

Step 3: Open second service (payment-processor)
Ctrl+w → :GoService payment-processor
Set breakpoint on processor

Step 4: Run test webhook
<leader>tc    → Run webhook tests
Hit first breakpoint

Step 5: Step through code
<leader>dn    → Step over
<leader>di    → Step into payment-processor

Step 6: Inspect state
<leader>dr    → REPL
> print(webhook.PaymentID)
> print(db.CheckPayment(webhook.PaymentID))

Step 7: Find root cause
Database connection string is old

Step 8: Fix and test
Edit config, <leader>ta
Tests pass

16:00 - Fixed

Day 3: Performance Optimization

Time: 10:00
Goal: Reduce payment processing latency

Step 1: Profile current performance
<leader>t     → Run benchmarks
<leader>gb    → Run with benchmarking

Step 2: Identify slow path
Terraform validation, database queries slow

Step 3: Open database layer
:GoShared database

Set up profiling:
<leader>profile

Step 4: Analyze results
go tool pprof identifies query bottleneck

Step 5: Add index to database
infrastructure/terraform/main.tf
<leader>f     → Format terraform
<leader>v     → Validate

Step 6: Re-benchmark
<leader>gb    → 40% faster

Step 7: Deploy to staging
<leader>ds    → Deploy changes
<leader>te    → Test in staging

Step 8: Deploy to production
<leader>dp    → Production deployment
Monitor metrics in split window

---

🚀 Conclusion: Why Neovim Wins for Complex Go Systems

The Core Advantage

Traditional approach:
- Multiple IDE windows (one per service)
- Context switching between services
- LSP conflicts (which Go version? which module?)
- Manual coordination
- Resource heavy

Neovim approach:
- Single editor, entire workspace
- Atomic cross-service refactoring
- gopls understands workspace boundaries
- Coordinated LSPs
- Lightweight

The Scaling Argument

For 5-service monorepo:
GoLand/VS Code: Manageable but sluggish

For 20-service monorepo:
GoLand/VS Code: Slow, IDE overhead noticeable

For 50+ service monorepo:
GoLand/VS Code: Becomes liability
Neovim: Scales perfectly

The Integration Advantage

When you’re managing:

- Go services (50 files)
- Terraform infrastructure (20 files)
- Kubernetes manifests (30 files)
- Deployment scripts (10 files)
- Configuration (YAML, JSON)

Traditional IDEs need:

✗ Go extension
✗ Terraform extension
✗ Kubernetes extension
✗ YAML extension
✗ JSON extension
✗ Bash extension

6+ extensions, all trying to be main language

Conflicts between LSPs
Extension performance issues
Configuration fragmented

Neovim provides:

✓ gopls (Go)
✓ terraform-ls (Terraform)
✓ yamlls (YAML/Kubernetes)
✓ bashls (Shell scripts)
✓ jsonls (JSON configs)

All coordinated
All in one config file
All with same keybindings

The Senior Developer Perspective

A senior Go engineer working on complex systems asks:

"Can I refactor across all services atomically?"
Neovim: Yes (with go.work)

"Can I navigate 50 services without context switching?"
Neovim: Yes (with service commands)

"Can I debug across services?"
Neovim: Yes (Delve coordination)

"Can I mix Go, Terraform, YAML, Shell in one workflow?"
Neovim: Yes (LSP coordination)

"Does it scale to massive monorepos?"
Neovim: Yes (no GUI overhead)

"Can my team share configuration?"
Neovim: Yes (simple Lua, versioned in repo)

For complex Go systems, Neovim isn’t just an option.

It’s the rational choice.