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mikestefanello/pagoda
Rapid, easy full-stack web development starter kit and admin panel in Go
Pagoda is a Go full-stack starter kit that wires together Echo, Ent ORM, HTMX, Alpine.js, and DaisyUI into a working web app you clone and own. It targets developers who want server-rendered Go without assembling the stack themselves. The admin panel auto-generates CRUD UI from Ent schemas, which is the most interesting part.
The Ent-powered admin panel with code generation is genuinely useful — you define a schema, run `make ent-gen`, and get list/edit/delete pages for free. Using Gomponents instead of Go templates eliminates a whole class of runtime template bugs and makes components feel like real code. SQLite with in-memory test database makes the zero-infrastructure local dev story actually work. The test setup wires a real HTTP server against a real container, so route tests aren't mocking their way to false confidence.
SQLite as the default is a trap for anyone building something with concurrent writes or planning to run multiple instances — the Postgres branch exists but is unmaintained, so you're on your own if you need it. The admin panel is explicitly in beta and the roadmap lists missing basics: no sorting, no filters, no JSON field support. Gomponents is a real commitment; if you hate writing nested Go function calls for HTML, there is no escape hatch. Session state lives in cookies with a shared encryption key, which means you can't rotate the key without logging everyone out.