A lightweight mechanism to provide an instant kickstart to a Go web server instance, upon the modification of a Go source file within a particular project directory (including any subdirectories).

An instant kickstart consists of a recompilation of the Go code and a restart of the web server instance.

Kick comes with the ability to take both the go and gopherjs commands into consideration when performing the instant kickstart.

Kick works on Windows and Unix-like operating systems (e.g., BSD, Linux, Mac OS).

Before installing Kick, it is recommended, to install the barebones isogoapp first – since it will provide you with an example of how to use kick.

go get -u go.isomorphicgo.org/go/kick

Issue the help flag to get help on using the kick command:

kick --help

Example (using GopherJS):

kick --appPath=$ISOGO_APP_ROOT --mainSourceFile=isogoapp.go --gopherjsAppPath=$ISOGO_APP_ROOT/client

The appPath flag specifies the project directory where the Go application resides.

The mainSourceFile flag specifies the Go source file that implements the main function.

The gopherjsAppPath flag specifies the directory to the GopherJS client-side application. This flag is optional.

If your Go project is not using GopherJS, you can feel free to omit the gopherjsAppPath flag.

Assuming that you've installed the isogoapp, and you have issued the kick command to run the web server instance:

Access the test page for the isogoapp using your web browser.

Open up the client.go source file in the $ISOGO_APP_ROOT/client directory. Change the message that is passed to the SetInnerHTML() function call.

Refresh your web browser. You should see your change reflected.

In the command line prompt where you issued the kick command, take note of the "Recompiling and Restarting" message. This is kick's way of telling you that an instant kickstart was performed.

More information on the benefits of Isomorphic Go applications can be found at the Isomorphic Go Website.

Kick is licensed under the BSD License. Read the LICENSE file for more information.