github.com/AdguardTeam/AdGuardHome

AdGuardHome is fundamentally a complete DNS filtering application, not a library designed for embedding. While the codebase is available as a Go module, actually using it as a dependency in production projects reveals significant architectural challenges. The package structure assumes you're running the entire AdGuardHome server, with deeply coupled components that make it extremely difficult to extract just DNS filtering or specific subsystems.

The internal APIs lack stability guarantees and change frequently between versions with no clear deprecation policy. Configuration is primarily file-based (YAML) rather than programmatic, making it awkward to integrate into existing services. Resource management is opaque - connection pools, goroutine lifecycles, and memory usage are hardcoded for the standalone application use case. There's minimal support for structured logging integration; most logging goes through their internal logger which is challenging to pipe into your observability stack.

Timeout behaviors and retry logic are scattered throughout the codebase without clear documentation. When embedding, you'll find yourself fighting the framework rather than composing with it. If you need DNS filtering capabilities in your Go application, consider using lower-level libraries like miekg/dns or coredns plugins instead.

AdGuardHome is fundamentally a standalone application, not a library designed for import into other Go projects. While the codebase is well-structured internally, using it as a dependency presents significant challenges. The package lacks a clear public API surface - most functionality is deeply embedded in the application's lifecycle and configuration structures. Documentation focuses entirely on running AdGuardHome as a service rather than integrating its components programmatically.

Attempting to import specific modules like filtering or DNS proxy functionality requires navigating internal packages with no stability guarantees. Type definitions exist but aren't organized for external consumption, making IDE autocomplete less helpful than typical Go libraries. Error handling follows application patterns rather than library patterns, often logging directly rather than returning structured errors you can handle programmatically.

If you need DNS filtering in your Go application, you're better off using the underlying libraries AdGuardHome depends on (like dnsproxy) or implementing your own filtering logic. AdGuardHome excels as a deployable service but struggles as an embeddable component.

AdGuardHome is fundamentally a complete DNS filtering application, not a library designed for integration. If you're expecting reusable packages with clean APIs for DNS filtering or ad-blocking in your Go projects, you'll be disappointed. The codebase is tightly coupled to the full application lifecycle, making it extremely difficult to extract and use individual components.

The internal packages aren't designed with external consumption in mind - there's minimal godoc documentation, no clear entry points for library usage, and the dependency graph is complex. Error messages are oriented toward end-users running the binary, not developers integrating the code. When things go wrong during integration attempts, you're essentially debugging application internals without adequate visibility.

If you need DNS filtering capabilities in your Go project, you'll likely need to either run AdGuardHome as a separate service and interact via its API, or look for purpose-built libraries like miekg/dns with custom filtering logic. The project excels as a standalone application but falls short as a dependency.