Pagoda: A Go-Powered Full-Stack Starter Kit That Gets You Coding Fast

Building a full-stack web app from scratch can feel like assembling IKEA furniture without instructions—doable, but frustratingly slow. That’s where Pagoda comes in. This Go-based starter kit gives you a production-ready foundation with batteries included: authentication, database layers, frontend tooling, and even a dynamic admin panel. With 2.6k GitHub stars and MIT-licensed, it’s clearly resonating with developers who want to skip boilerplate and ship faster.

What It Does

Pagoda bundles everything you’d need for a modern web app:

• Backend: Go (chi router, Ent ORM, Redis for caching)
• Frontend: HTMX + Tailwind/DaisyUI (recently swapped from Bulma)
• Extras: User auth, email support, background jobs, and a slick auto-generated admin UI for managing data.
  Think of it as a "create-next-app" for Go, but with more opinionated tooling to keep you moving.

Why It’s Cool

1. Admin Panel Magic: The dynamic admin interface (added in #108) lets you manage database entities without writing CRUD boilerplate.
2. Modern Stack Choices: Uses HTMX for simplicity (no React/Vue tax) and Tailwind for styling.
3. Dev-Friendly: Live reload via Air, Makefile shortcuts, and clear structure—no configuration archaeology required.

How to Try It

1. Clone the repo:

   git clone https://github.com/mikestefanello/pagoda
   

2. Follow the README to set up dependencies (Docker, Go 1.21+).
3. Run make run and visit localhost:8000.

Final Thoughts

Pagoda is ideal for Go devs who want to prototype fast or build internal tools without reinventing wheels. The admin panel alone could save weeks for content-heavy apps. If you’re tired of stitching together auth and ORM layers, this might be your new favorite template.

P.S. Found this useful? Follow @githubprojects for more dev tools like this.