RESTful API with Go and Gin is a practical course in building backend APIs with Go and the Gin framework, using GORM with PostgreSQL, validation, middleware, JWT authentication, testing and Docker. It suits developers with basic Go and system administrators who write services in Go, and you leave able to build a tested RESTful API backed by a database.
Gin is a Go web framework widely used by backend teams to build RESTful APIs because it is fast, simple to write and comes with middleware and binding built in. GORM lets you work with a database without writing every line of SQL yourself. Yet many examples are still written the old way, using AutoMigrate instead of versioned migrations, with no validation, no tests and unsafe token handling, so the resulting API works on the developer's machine but is not ready for production.
This course takes learners who know basic Go through building RESTful APIs with Go 1.27 and Gin. It covers tooling, route design, binding and validation, middleware and CORS, then connects to PostgreSQL 18 with GORM, including the new generics API, relationships, transactions and migrations. Learners structure the project in layers, build sign-up and sign-in, protect the API with JWT and roles, document it with OpenAPI, test it with unit and integration tests and package it with Docker. The course closes with a capstone that builds a complete API. (3 days, 6 hours per day, 18 hours in total, Intermediate level.)
Course Details
This course is the 2026 edition that replaces the previous RESTful API with Go and Gin course. It has been rewritten for Go 1.27, the current Gin release, GORM and PostgreSQL 18. It runs for 3 days, 6 hours per day (18 hours in total, 09:00-16:00), as lectures with labs built on a single sample store API that grows throughout the course. Intermediate level. It uses the new GORM generics API and versioned migrations, and adds validation, a layered project structure, refresh tokens, OpenAPI documentation, integration tests and Docker. Every lab runs on the learner's own machine with open source tools. Learners take home a lab guide, source code for every lab and docker-compose files.
Section 1: Lab: Setting Up Tools for Go 1.27
Section 2: Go Review for API Work
Section 3: Lab: Starting a RESTful API with Gin
Section 4: Binding and Validation
Section 5: Lab: Middleware, CORS and Uploads
Section 6: Lab: PostgreSQL 18 and the ORM Concept
Section 7: Models, Schemas and Migrations
Section 8: Lab: CRUD with the GORM Generics API
Section 9: Relationships, Joins and Transactions
Section 10: Lab: A Testable Project Structure
Section 11: Lab: Sign-Up and Sign-In
Section 12: Lab: JWT and Authorisation Middleware
Section 13: API Documentation and Security
Section 14: Lab: Unit Tests and Integration Tests
Section 15: Workshop: Docker and Capstone
Gin is a Go web framework with a fast, memory-efficient router. It supports middleware for work repeated on every request, such as logging, CORS or access checks, binds and validates JSON into structs with ShouldBindJSON and validation rules, and lets you group routes. That makes APIs shorter to write than with net/http alone, while still working with Go's standard http.Server, for example for graceful shutdown.
Run go mod init and install Gin, GORM and the PostgreSQL driver. Open a connection with gorm.Open and configure the connection pool, define structs as models and create tables with versioned migrations (AutoMigrate suits experiments). Write repositories with the gorm.G generics API and context, and have handlers read input with c.ShouldBindJSON, validate it and call a service, attached to a route group. Then test with Postman or Bruno and add automated tests.
Write a function returning gin.HandlerFunc that reads the Authorization header and strips the Bearer prefix. Verify the token's signature, algorithm and expiry with golang-jwt v5. If it is invalid, call c.AbortWithStatusJSON with 401; otherwise store the user details with c.Set and call c.Next. Attach it to the route group that requires login, add role-checking middleware for restricted routes, and use refresh tokens instead of long-lived access tokens.
It suits developers with basic Go who want to build RESTful APIs backed by a database, backend developers from other languages who are starting with Go, and system administrators or DevOps engineers who write services in Go. You should be able to write basic Go, understand HTTP and JSON, and know basic SQL.
You will be able to build RESTful APIs with Gin using binding, validation and middleware, configure CORS and file uploads, run CRUD, relationships and transactions in PostgreSQL through GORM with migrations, structure a testable project, build sign-up and login with bcrypt, JWT and roles, write OpenAPI documentation, write unit and integration tests and build Docker images. Participants who complete the training receive a Certificate of Completion with its own number, which can be verified online.
You use Go 1.27 and VS Code with the Go extension, Air for hot reload so the project restarts automatically when code changes, Postman or Bruno to test APIs, and PostgreSQL 18 running in Docker Desktop. All the tools are free and are installed together during the training, so bring a laptop on which you can install software.
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