How do I find abandoned Go modules?

Three places: (1) the BreakPoint feed filtered to Go; (2) GitHub topic search for adopt-me filtered to language:go; (3) pkg.go.dev — modules with a 'Retracted' notice. The unmaintained.tech label is the GitHub-level signal the community has standardized on. The Go community is on r/golang and the Gophers Slack.

How do I deprecate a Go module I'm stepping away from?

Mark the module Retracted in your go.mod (use the retract directive) and publish a final release. Set the unmaintained.tech label on the GitHub repo. Add the adopt-me GitHub topic and looking-for-maintainer badge. Drop the project on BreakPoint. The retraction is reversible — you can publish a non-retracted release later if you come back.

What about go.sum dependencies and security?

When you adopt a Go module, you're inheriting its dependency tree. Run go mod tidy and check for known CVEs with govulncheck. A clean go.sum with up-to-date dependencies is a much easier adoption than a 200-dependency tree with 5 unpatched CVEs. This is a Go-specific advantage: Go's module system is the cleanest of any major language, so adoption is usually tractable.

By language · Go

Abandoned Go modules looking for a new maintainer

Go modules have a Retracted state on pkg.go.dev. The unmaintained.tech label is the GitHub-level signal the community has standardized on. Adoption is straightforward — Go's stdlib and module system are designed for clarity.

Published July 13, 2026 · ~3 min read

The short version

Go has the cleanest module system of any major language — adoption is usually tractable.
Use the retract directive in go.mod for soft-deprecation. It's reversible.
The unmaintained.tech label is the community-standard GitHub signal.
Watch the dependency tree — run govulncheck before adopting.

How to find abandoned Go modules

The BreakPoint feed filtered to Go, the GitHub adopt-me topic filtered to Go, and pkg.go.dev's "Retracted" filter. A Retracted module is officially end-of-life from the maintainer's perspective — but the code is still on the proxy and still installable.

If you maintain: retract + unmaintained.tech + handoff

Add a retract directive to your go.mod and publish a final release. Set the unmaintained.tech label on the GitHub repo. Add the adopt-me topic, the looking-for-maintainer badge, and a pinned "Seeking new maintainer" issue. Drop the project on BreakPoint. The Go community is on r/golang and the Gophers Slack — a "this is a good Go module looking for a new maintainer" post will get traction if the module is genuinely useful.

How to find abandoned Go modules

If you maintain: retract + unmaintained.tech + handoff

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