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server.go

Lesson 18 — HTTP Servers

Build a REST API

Go's net/http package makes building web servers simple. No frameworks needed.

Your task:

Create a health check endpoint that returns JSON status.

+30 XP for completing this lesson

package main
import "net/http"
func healthHandler(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
w.Write([]byte(`{"status":"ok"}`))
}
func main() {
http.HandleFunc("/health", healthHandler)
http.ListenAndServe(":8080", nil)
}

Output Passed

$ curl localhost:8080/health

{"status":"ok"}

✓ Health check passed · 200 OK

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Exercise HTTP Servers

Add a JSON Health Endpoint

Your Task

Add a /health endpoint that returns JSON with status and timestamp.

Requirements

Returns HTTP 200 status
Content-Type is application/json
Response includes "status": "ok"
Response includes timestamp field

Write production-ready code

Learn the patterns and practices that companies actually ship to production. No toy examples.

health.go

func handleHealth(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
json.NewEncoder(w).Encode(map[string]any{
"status":    "ok",
"timestamp": time.Now().Unix(),
})
}

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