Go API

Go bindings for the C API. Live in tensorflow/go/.

Purpose

• Use TensorFlow from Go programs without bringing in Python or C++.
• Provide idiomatic Go wrappers around tensorflow/c/c_api.h.
• Support graph execution, eager execution, and SavedModel loading.

Directory layout

tensorflow/go/
├── README.md
├── doc.go              # Package overview
├── tensor.go           # Tensor type + conversions to Go slices/values
├── graph.go            # Graph type, Operation type
├── session.go          # Session: Run + RunWithMetadata
├── saved_model.go      # SavedModel loading
├── operation.go
├── status.go
├── op/                 # Generated op wrappers (genop.go produces this)
├── genop/              # Generator program (run by go generate)
└── ...

How it works

The Go bindings compile via cgo against libtensorflow.so. tensor.go and friends embed // #include "tensorflow/c/c_api.h" and call C functions directly, marshalling Go values to/from C buffers.

package main

import (
    "fmt"
    tf "github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/tensorflow/go"
    "github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/tensorflow/go/op"
)

func main() {
    s := op.NewScope()
    a := op.Const(s, [][]float32{{1, 2}, {3, 4}})
    b := op.Const(s, [][]float32{{1, 0}, {0, 1}})
    m := op.MatMul(s, a, b)

    g, err := s.Finalize()
    if err != nil { panic(err) }

    sess, err := tf.NewSession(g, nil)
    if err != nil { panic(err) }
    defer sess.Close()

    out, err := sess.Run(nil, []tf.Output{m}, nil)
    if err != nil { panic(err) }
    fmt.Println(out[0].Value())
}

Generated op wrappers

tensorflow/go/op/wrappers.go is generated from the C++ OpDef registrations by the program in tensorflow/go/genop/. Running go generate against the Go package (after building the C library) regenerates wrappers.go.

Build / install

The Go bindings require:

1. A built libtensorflow.so (and headers) reachable from cgo.
2. CGO_CFLAGS=-I<path-to-include> and CGO_LDFLAGS=-L<path-to-lib> -ltensorflow.

The tensorflow/go/README.md has the canonical build instructions; in practice many Go users install pre-built libtensorflow from https://www.tensorflow.org/install/lang_c and let go get build the wrappers.

Stability

The Go API piggybacks on the stable C API, so it inherits the same backwards-compatibility guarantees. The op wrappers in tensorflow/go/op/wrappers.go are regenerated against each release, so signatures may pick up new attributes.

Integration points

• Backed by: tensorflow/c/c_api.h and tensorflow/c/eager/c_api.h.
• Used by: Go-based serving systems, TFX-style services, and standalone CLI tools that need to load SavedModels.

Entry points for modification

• New idiomatic helper — add to tensorflow/go/.
• Updates to wrappers — change happens automatically when an OpDef changes; running go generate updates wrappers.go.

Related

• c-api — the underlying ABI.
• features/saved-model — SavedModel format used by tf.SavedModel in Go.