wtf is go-exports?

go-exports is a tool for Go programmers who use plugins, dynamically loaded code modules. It helps solve a specific headache: Go has strict rules about how packages shared between a main application and its plugins must stay in sync. If the exported symbols (the public-facing functions, types, and variables) change between versions, plugins break. This utility snapshots what your code currently exposes and lets you compare future versions against that snapshot to catch breaking changes early. At a high level, the tool does two things. First, it scans a Go codebase and generates a JSON file listing every exported symbol, including types, functions, struct members, and interface methods. This acts as a baseline record of your public API at a given point in time, say a major release. Second, you can run it with a comparison flag, pointing it at that saved JSON file. It checks the current code against the snapshot and reports any differences, so you immediately see what changed. The primary audience is developers maintaining Go applications that load plugins at runtime. For example, if you're building an extensible server application where third parties write plugins, you need to guarantee that the shared package interface stays stable across releases. Rather than manually auditing every change, you'd snapshot your exports at each major release and run the comparison in your testing pipeline to flag any modifications before they ship. The project is narrowly scoped and practical. It doesn't attempt to be a general-purpose API documentation tool or linter, it just captures and compares exported symbols in a straightforward JSON format. The README is minimal, keeping to the essentials: generate a spec, then compare against it.