website/www/site/content/en/get-started/quickstart-go.md

---
title: "Beam Quickstart for Go"
---
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# WordCount quickstart for Go

This Quickstart will walk you through executing your first Beam pipeline to run [WordCount](/get-started/wordcount-example), written using Beam's [Go SDK](/documentation/sdks/go), on a [runner](/documentation#runners) of your choice.

If you're interested in contributing to the Apache Beam Go codebase, see the [Contribution Guide](/contribute).

{{< toc >}}

## Set up your environment

The Beam SDK for Go requires `go` version 1.20 or newer. It can be downloaded [here](https://golang.org/). Check what go version you have by running:

{{< highlight >}}
$ go version
{{< /highlight >}}

If you are unfamiliar with Go, see the [Get Started With Go Tutorial](https://go.dev/doc/tutorial/getting-started).

## Run wordcount

The Apache Beam
[examples](https://github.com/apache/beam/tree/master/sdks/go/examples)
directory has many examples. All examples can be run by passing the
required arguments described in the examples.

For example, to run `wordcount`, run:

{{< runner direct >}}
$ go run github.com/apache/beam/sdks/v2/go/examples/wordcount@latest --input "gs://apache-beam-samples/shakespeare/kinglear.txt" --output counts
$ less counts
{{< /runner >}}

{{< runner dataflow >}}
$ go run github.com/apache/beam/sdks/v2/go/examples/wordcount@latest --input gs://dataflow-samples/shakespeare/kinglear.txt \
            --output gs://<your-gcs-bucket>/counts \
            --runner dataflow \
            --project your-gcp-project \
            --region your-gcp-region \
            --temp_location gs://<your-gcs-bucket>/tmp/ \
            --staging_location gs://<your-gcs-bucket>/binaries/
{{< /runner >}}

{{< runner spark >}}
# Build and run the Spark job server from Beam source.
# -PsparkMasterUrl is optional. If it is unset the job will be run inside an embedded Spark cluster.
$ ./gradlew :runners:spark:3:job-server:runShadow -PsparkMasterUrl=spark://localhost:7077

# In a separate terminal, run:
$ go run github.com/apache/beam/sdks/v2/go/examples/wordcount@latest --input <PATH_TO_INPUT_FILE> \
            --output counts \
            --runner spark \
            --endpoint localhost:8099
{{< /runner >}}

## Next Steps

* Learn more about the [Beam SDK for Go](/documentation/sdks/go/)
  and look through the [godoc](https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/apache/beam/sdks/v2/go/pkg/beam).
* Walk through these WordCount examples in the [WordCount Example Walkthrough](/get-started/wordcount-example).
* Clone the [Beam Go starter project](https://github.com/apache/beam-starter-go).
* Take a self-paced tour through our [Learning Resources](/documentation/resources/learning-resources).
* Dive in to some of our favorite [Videos and Podcasts](/get-started/resources/videos-and-podcasts).
* Join the Beam [users@](/community/contact-us) mailing list.

Please don't hesitate to [reach out](/community/contact-us) if you encounter any issues!