devtools

testcontainers-go: Easy Integration Testing

Name: testcontainers-go: Easy Integration Testing
Author: testcontainers

Simplify automated testing with testcontainers-go, ideal for founders and developers using Go.

4,909 stars612 forksGoQuality 8/10Updated 7/2/2026100% free · open source

What it does

Testcontainers-go simplifies automated testing by programmatically creating and cleaning up container-based dependencies for integration and smoke tests in Go applications.

Install / run

go get github.com/testcontainers/testcontainers-go

When to use it

•When you need to test database integrations without affecting the main database
•When you want to ensure your application works with different versions of a dependency
•When you need to test your application in a isolated, ephemeral environment

Quick start

1Import the testcontainers-go package in your test file with `import ("github.com/testcontainers/testcontainers-go")`
2Create a new container using `ctx := context.Background()` and `container, err := generic.Container(ctx, generic.ContainerRequest{...})`
3Start the container with `err = container.Start(ctx)`
4Stop and remove the container after the test with `err = container.Terminate(ctx)` and `err = container.Remove(ctx)`
5Check the example test in the README for a complete example of a test using testcontainers-go

Ready-to-paste prompt

Run `go test -v ./examples/mysql` to see an example of testing a MySQL database integration

Heads up: Make sure you have Docker installed and running on your machine, as testcontainers-go relies on Docker to create and manage containers

Saves to your device

Topics

automation

docker

golang

hacktoberfest

testcontainers

testcontainers-go

testing

What's inside — free to inspect

No purchase needed

Read the entire source before you build — unlike paid marketplaces that hide it behind a buy button.

top-level files

folders

24.0M

repo size

MIT

license

Key files

config.go

README.md

requirements.txt

File tree

.devcontainer/

.github/

.vscode/

docs/

examples/

exec/

internal/

log/

modulegen/

modules/

network/

scripts/

testdata/

usage-metrics/

wait/

.gitignore

.golangci.yml

.mockery.yaml

AI.md

cleanup.go

commons-test.mk

config.go

container_file_test.go

container_ignore_test.go

Quick Actions

Details

Creator

testcontainers

Language

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