---
title: "Go 1.26 brings Green Tea GC, SIMD operations, and secret mode"
publication: "Go Weekly"
issue: 589
published_at: "2026-02-13"
canonical_url: "https://golangweekly.com/issues/589"
---

Plus embedding scripting languages into Go apps, a neat TUI for viewing diffs, and a gopher gets burned.       

#​589 — February 13, 2026 

[Read the Web Version](https://golangweekly.com/issues/589)  

Together with [![Tiger Data logo\](https://res.cloudinary.com/cpress/image/upload/c_fill,g_auto,w_1280,h_282/e_make_transparent/co_white,e_outline:30/px1u7kjyvz7xnbm6ytir.png)](https://www.tigerdata.com/timescaledb?utm_source=cooperpress&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=golang-weekly-newsletter-masthead)   

Go Weekly   

Go 1.26 Released   

Finally, the day we've all been waiting for! [Go 1.26 has been released.](https://go.dev/blog/go1.26) It packs in a variety of syntax, runtime, and performance changes and improvements, with these being the ones that stood out to us: 

- [The Green Tea garbage collector](https://go.dev/blog/greenteagc) is now enabled by default. You can revert to the old one with `GOEXPERIMENT=nogreenteagc` for now, however.
- [`new` can now accept an expression](https://go.dev/doc/go1.26#language), specifying the initial value.
- Be aware that `go mod init` now defaults to a lower Go version in new `go.mod` files in an attempt to encourage the creation of modules compatible with currently supported versions of Go.
- The runtime overhead of cgo calls has been reduced by ~30%. [Ebitengine](https://ebitengine.org/) users, in particular, are excited by this.
- An [experimental `simd/archsimd` package](https://go.dev/doc/go1.26#simd) providing access to SIMD operations – more on this in some links below.
- 🤫 [Secret mode](https://antonz.org/accepted/runtime-secret/) as a way to securely erase temporary data used by code that manipulates sensitive information.
- [`go fix` has been rewritten](https://go.dev/doc/go1.26#go-command) as a _"push-button way to update Go code bases to the latest idioms and core library APIs."_
- [`errors.AsType`](https://pkg.go.dev/errors#AsType) is a handy generic version of `errors.As`.
- [`io.ReadAll`](https://go.dev/doc/go1.26#iopkgio) is much faster and more efficient.
- [The full release notes are here](https://go.dev/doc/go1.26) to get the complete picture.   

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Tiger Data sponsor   

**IN BRIEF:** 

- 📈 [go-scan.dev](https://go-scan.dev/) is a new site that measures package popularity by scanning `go.mod` files of popular Go repos. [grank.dev](https://www.grank.dev/) offers a similar feature, but also has a [trending modules](https://www.grank.dev/trending.html) ranking.
- 📊 The [SQLite Drivers Benchmarks Game](https://pkg.go.dev/modernc.org/sqlite-bench@v1.1.10#section-readme) has been updated for February 2026, comparing the performance of `mattn/go-sqlite3`, `modernc/sqlite`, and `ncruces/go-sqlite3` on Go 1.26.
- Jesús Espino has been working on a series of articles digging into Go runtime internals, like [how Go bootstraps its runtime](https://internals-for-interns.com/posts/understanding-go-runtime/), [how Go's linker works](https://internals-for-interns.com/posts/the-go-linker/), and [Go's parser.](https://internals-for-interns.com/posts/the-go-parser/)
- JetBrains is hosting [a livestreamed Go 1.26 'release party'](https://blog.jetbrains.com/go/2026/02/10/new-livestream-go-1-26-release-party/) on February 19, featuring a feature deep dive by Anton Zhiyanov and Alex Rios showing off GoLand's support for 1.26.   

[Redefining Go Functions](https://pboyd.io/posts/redefining-go-functions/) — Explores how to rewrite functions at runtime by modifying executable memory. Can you monkey-patch using `unsafe`, `reflect`, and `mprotect`? Yes. Should you? _"Expect bugs,"_ says Paul! 

Paul Boyd   

**OTHER GO 1.26 GOODIES:** 

⭐ [The Go 1.26 interactive tour](https://antonz.org/go-1-26/) by Anton Zhiyanov remains a must-see if you haven't got to it already. 

📄 [Detecting Goroutine Leaks with `synctest/pprof`](https://antonz.org/detecting-goroutine-leaks/) – There's [more on this](https://go.dev/doc/go1.26#goroutineleak-profiles) in the official release notes. Anton Zhiyanov 

⚙️ [go-simdcsv](https://github.com/nnnkkk7/go-simdcsv) is a high performance CSV parser that uses Go 1.26's experimental `simd/archsimd` package. 

⚙️ [go-highway](https://github.com/ajroetker/go-highway) is a portable SIMD abstraction library supporting multiple architectures, with a fallback to pure Go. 

📄 [Context-Aware `Dialer` Methods](https://antonz.org/accepted/net-dialer-context/) Anton Zhiyanov  

🛠 Code & Tools 

[![\](https://res.cloudinary.com/cpress/image/upload/w_1280,e_sharpen:60,q_auto/ymqfgsuj3h7923aayxp2.jpg)](https://github.com/qmuntal/stateless)  

[Stateless 1.8: A Library to Create Finite State Machines](https://github.com/qmuntal/stateless) — Create state machines and lightweight state machine-based workflows directly in Go. It supports almost the same API as a similar [project in C#](https://github.com/dotnet-state-machine/stateless). Is it bad I wanted to include this if only for its promo image _(above)_? Poor gopher! 

Quim Muntal   

[Golangci-lint 2.9: A Fast Way to Run Multiple Linters](https://golangci-lint.run/) — Runs linters in parallel, uses caching, supports YAML configuration, integrates with major IDEs, and includes over a hundred linters. v2.9 adds Go 1.26 support. ([Changelog.](https://golangci-lint.run/docs/product/changelog/#290)) 

Various Contributors   

[Less Bloat. Lower Cost. Try Go App Observability for Free](https://www.honeybadger.io/tour/logging-observability/?utm_source=goweekly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2026-02-13-goweekly-link) — Learn more from your errors! Honeybadger delivers fast powerful querying with far less data ingest. [Try it FREE!](https://www.honeybadger.io/tour/logging-observability/?utm_source=goweekly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2026-02-13-goweekly-link) 

Honeybadger sponsor   

[Risor 2.0: An Embeddable Scripting Language for Go Apps](https://risor.io/) — The idea is you get a pragmatic language that feels a bit like a Go/Python hybrid you can embed into your Go app without dragging along a big runtime like V8 or Python itself: _“It’s for Go developers who need to evaluate user-provided expressions, rules, or small scripts safely at runtime.”_ [GitHub repo.](https://github.com/deepnoodle-ai/risor) 

Curtis Myzie et al.   

💡 Prefer to embed Scheme in your Go app? [Wile](https://github.com/aalpar/wile) is a new option to try.  

[Dozzle 10.0: Simple Container Monitoring and Logging System](https://dozzle.dev/) — A self-hosted Go app that keeps real-time track of what all your containers are up to. A slick project of seven years’ vintage. [v10 adds an alerts system](https://dozzle.dev/guide/alerts-and-webhooks) and webhooks. 

Amir Raminfar   

- [Bubbles 1.0](https://github.com/charmbracelet/bubbles) – A variety of components for _Bubble Tea_ apps. Described as an _"an honorary release"_, likely because they're already [working on v2.0!](https://github.com/charmbracelet/bubbles/releases/tag/v2.0.0-rc.1)
- 🤖 [Anthropic Go API Library v1.22.0](https://github.com/anthropics/anthropic-sdk-go) – Supports Claude Opus 4.6's [new 'fast mode'](https://code.claude.com/docs/en/fast-mode) if you need to drain your credits as fast as possible.
- 🤖 [Ollama v0.16.0](https://github.com/ollama/ollama) – Tool for running and managing large language models on `llama.cpp`. Now supporting GLM 5 and MiniMax M2.5.
- [Box CLI Maker 3.0](https://github.com/box-cli-maker/box-cli-maker) – Render highly customizable boxes in the terminal, if you don't need a full-on framework like Bubble Tea.
- 🤖 [Crush v0.42.0](https://github.com/charmbracelet/crush/releases/tag/v0.42.0) – Charm's terminal-based agentic development tool adds GLM 5 support.
- 💬 [Telego 1.6](https://github.com/mymmrac/telego) – Telegram bot library supporting the latest [Bot API v9.4.](https://core.telegram.org/bots/api#february-9-2026)
- [Go Micro 5.16](https://github.com/micro/go-micro) – Popular distributed systems/microservices framework.
- [gosec v2.23.0](https://github.com/securego/gosec) – Inspect Go source code for security issues.
- [jub0bs/cors 0.12](https://github.com/jub0bs/cors) – A principled CORS middleware library.
- [k6 1.6](https://github.com/grafana/k6/releases/tag/v1.6.0) – Grafana's modern load testing tool.  

👍 Well I thought it was neat.. 

[![\](https://res.cloudinary.com/cpress/image/upload/w_1280,e_sharpen:60,q_auto/qbfq5ulwjt7wrqcyngvm.jpg)](https://github.com/dlvhdr/diffnav)  

[DiffNav: `git diff` Pager with a File Tree](https://github.com/dlvhdr/diffnav) — Get the GitHub-like diffing experience in your terminal. If you have a [Nerd Font](https://www.nerdfonts.com/) installed, you even get nifty icons in the file view. 

Dolev Hadar         

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Go is a [trademark of Google](https://go.dev/brand).
The [Go gopher](https://go.dev/blog/gopher), whenever used, is an original creation by Renée French. 

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