github.com/go-gorm/gorm

GORM significantly reduces boilerplate for typical database operations in Go. The initial setup is straightforward - define structs with tags, call AutoMigrate, and you're querying. The chainable API feels natural and common CRUD operations are genuinely simple. Documentation has improved dramatically with GORM v2, featuring practical examples for most scenarios you'll encounter.

The real learning happens when you hit edge cases. GORM's "magic" can bite you - soft deletes are enabled by default if you include gorm.DeletedAt, associations preload differently than you'd expect, and zero values in updates get silently ignored unless you use Select or Updates with a map. Error messages have gotten better but sometimes fail silently in ways that require reading the source code to understand.

Debugging is manageable with the built-in logger that shows SQL queries, which is invaluable when behavior surprises you. The community is active on GitHub, though you'll often find issues closed with "working as intended" for behaviors that feel unintuitive. Once you internalize GORM's conventions, productivity is high, but budget time for the learning curve around implicit behaviors.

GORM significantly reduces boilerplate for database operations in Go. The fluent API feels natural once you learn the patterns, and features like auto-migrations, preloading, and hooks work smoothly for typical CRUD operations. The chainable query builder with methods like `Where()`, `Joins()`, and `Preload()` creates readable code, and struct tags provide clear column mapping.

The main friction comes from GORM's implicit behaviors. Silent failures are common - forgetting `db.Error` checks means bugs slip through. The distinction between `Find()` returning empty results versus errors requires vigilance. Complex queries sometimes generate unexpected SQL, and debugging requires enabling statement logging. Migration from v1 to v2 was painful due to breaking API changes, though v2 is much more stable.

Type safety is decent with generics in recent versions, but you lose compile-time guarantees compared to type-safe query builders. Error messages can be cryptic, especially with association loading failures. Despite these quirks, GORM remains highly productive for applications where the 80% use case aligns with its conventions.

GORM strikes an excellent balance between simplicity and power. The AutoMigrate feature gets you productive immediately, and the chainable query API feels natural for Go developers. Common CRUD operations are intuitive - `db.Create(&user)`, `db.First(&user, id)` - exactly what you'd expect. The documentation has significantly improved with v2, offering clear examples for most scenarios including preloading, transactions, and associations.

Where GORM shines is handling relationships. Belongs-to, has-many, and many-to-many associations work smoothly once you understand the tag syntax. Preloading related data with `Preload()` prevents N+1 queries effectively. Error handling follows Go conventions with `db.Error`, though you need to remember to check it after every operation.

The main gotcha is lifecycle hooks (BeforeCreate, AfterSave, etc.) which can execute unexpectedly and are hard to debug when they interfere with your logic. Raw SQL support is solid for when you need to drop down from the ORM layer. Stack Overflow has decent coverage for common issues, and the GitHub maintainers are reasonably responsive to bug reports.