The best way to lookup Go Modules is using Go proxies.

## GOPROXY settings

This datasource will use default `GOPROXY` settings of `https://proxy.golang.org,direct` if the environment variable is unset.

To override this default and use a different proxy in self-hosted environments, configure `GOPROXY` to an alternative setting in env.

To override this default and stop using any proxy at all, set `GOPROXY` to the value `direct`.

## Pseudo versions

Go proxies return an empty list of versions when queried (`@v/list`) for a package which uses pseudo versions, but return the latest pseudo-version when queried for `@latest`.

If the `@latest` endpoint returns a pseudo-version, and the release list is empty, then this datasource will return the latest pseudo-version as the only release/version for the package.

## Checking for new major releases

When a Go proxy is queried for `@v/list` it returns only versions for v0 or v1 of a package.
Therefore Renovate will also query `@v2/list` just in case there also exists a v2 of the package.
Similarly, if the dependency is already on a higher version such as `v5`, Renovate will check in case higher major versions exist.
You do not need to be worried about any 403/404 responses which result from such checks - they are the only way for Renovate to know if newer major releases exist.

## Release timestamps

A Go proxy reports the commit time of the tagged commit as a version's `Time`, which can be different to when the release first existed.
This inconsistency can lead to `minimumReleaseAge` being applied incorrectly to the Go module's updates.

!!! note
  For modules hosted on GitHub, Renovate will look up if there is a GitHub Release on the repository, and if so, use the Release's publication time, if it's later than the timestamp reported by the Go proxy.
  <br><br>
  This lookup needs a GitHub token to be configured, and is skipped if the lookup fails, leaving the timestamp reported by the Go proxy in place.

For example, this happens when:

- an infrequently updated repository prepares a GitHub Release by creating a draft release
- some time passes, and the maintainers publish the Release
- no new commits are pushed to the release branch (i.e. `main`) in that time

## Fallback to direct lookups

If no result is found from Go proxy lookups then Renovate will fall back to direct lookups.