The action will first check the local cache for a version match. If a version is not found locally, it will pull it from the `main` branch of the [go-versions](https://github.com/actions/go-versions/blob/main/versions-manifest.json) repository. On miss or failure, it will fall back to downloading directly from [go dist](https://storage.googleapis.com/golang). To change the default behavior, please use the [check-latest input](#check-latest-version).
The `check-latest` flag defaults to `false`. Use the default or set `check-latest` to `false` if you prefer stability and if you want to ensure a specific Go version is always used.
If `check-latest` is set to `true`, the action first checks if the cached version is the latest one. If the locally cached version is not the most up-to-date, a Go version will then be downloaded. Set `check-latest` to `true` if you want the most up-to-date Go version to always be used.
> Setting `check-latest` to `true` has performance implications as downloading Go versions is slower than using cached versions.
The action has a built-in functionality for caching and restoring go modules and build outputs. It uses [actions/cache](https://github.com/actions/cache) under the hood but requires less configuration settings. The `cache` input is optional, and caching is turned off by default.
The action defaults to search for the dependency file - go.sum in the repository root, and uses its hash as a part of the cache key. Use `cache-dependency-path` input for cases when multiple dependency files are used, or they are located in different subdirectories.
**Caching without specifying dependency file path**
If the file contains only major and minor (e.g. 1.18) tags, the action will search for the latest available patch version sequentially in the runner's directory with the cached tools, in the [version-manifest.json](https://github.com/actions/go-versions/blob/main/versions-manifest.json) file or at the go servers.
### If the go.mod file
The `go-version-file` input accepts a path to a `go.mod` file or a `go.work` file that contains the version of Go to be used by a project. As the `go.mod` file contains only major and minor (e.g. 1.18) tags, the action will follow the above-mentioned approach.
The `go-version-file` input accepts a path to a file file that contains the version of Go to be used by a project. It supports either major and minor (e.g 1.18) or major, minor and patch (e.g 1.18.7) tags
> The action will search for the `.go-version` file relative to the repository root
`setup-go` comes pre-installed on the appliance with GHES if Actions is enabled. When dynamically downloading Go distributions, `setup-go` downloads distributions from [`actions/go-versions`](https://github.com/actions/go-versions) on github.com (outside of the appliance). These calls to `actions/go-versions` are made via unauthenticated requests, which are limited to [60 requests per hour per IP](https://docs.github.com/en/rest/overview/resources-in-the-rest-api#rate-limiting). If more requests are made within the time frame, then you will start to see rate-limit errors during downloading that looks like: `##[error]API rate limit exceeded for...`. After that error the action will try to download versions directly from https://storage.googleapis.com/golang, but it also can have rate limit so it's better to put token.
To get a higher rate limit, you can [generate a personal access token on github.com](https://github.com/settings/tokens/new) and pass it as the `token` input for the action:
```yaml
uses: actions/setup-go@v3
with:
token: ${{ secrets.GH_DOTCOM_TOKEN }}
go-version: 1.18
```
If the runner is not able to access github.com, any Go versions requested during a workflow run must come from the runner's tool cache. See "[Setting up the tool cache on self-hosted runners without internet access](https://docs.github.com/en/enterprise-server@3.2/admin/github-actions/managing-access-to-actions-from-githubcom/setting-up-the-tool-cache-on-self-hosted-runners-without-internet-access)" for more information.
