raft
A stable, widely-used Go library implementing the core Raft consensus algorithm for maintaining a replicated state machine.
What is raft?
etcd-io/raft is a Go implementation of the Raft consensus algorithm, which enables a cluster of nodes to maintain a replicated state machine through a replicated log. It is the most widely used Raft library in production, powering major distributed systems like etcd, Kubernetes, and CockroachDB. The library follows a minimalistic design, focusing solely on the core algorithm to provide flexibility, determinism, and high performance.
Go developers building distributed systems that require strong consistency, such as databases, key-value stores, orchestration toolkits, and blockchain networks. It is also suitable for those who need a production-proven, embeddable consensus layer.
Developers choose this library because it is the most widely used and production-tested Raft implementation, offering a minimalistic design that decouples the core algorithm from network and storage layers for maximum flexibility and deterministic testing. Its optional performance enhancements, like pipelining and batching, provide high throughput and low latency.
Overview
Raft library for maintaining a replicated state machine
Use Cases
Best For
- Building a new distributed database or key-value store that requires a reliable consensus layer.
- Adding strong consistency to an existing Go-based distributed system or orchestration toolkit.
- Implementing a custom replicated state machine where control over network transport and storage is required.
- Educational purposes or prototyping to understand the Raft algorithm with a production-grade, well-documented Go library.
- Systems requiring dynamic cluster membership changes and leadership transfer capabilities.
- Applications needing efficient, linearizable read-only queries from both leaders and followers.
Not Ideal For
- Teams needing an out-of-the-box distributed consensus solution without implementing network transport and disk I/O
- Projects prioritizing rapid prototyping with higher-level abstractions over fine-grained control
- Environments requiring consensus in non-Go programming languages
- Small deployments where the complexity of handling two-node cluster edge cases (as warned in the README) is prohibitive
Pros & Cons
Pros
It is the most widely used Raft library, serving tens of thousands of clusters daily in systems like Kubernetes and CockroachDB, ensuring battle-tested robustness.
Implements only the core Raft algorithm, leaving network and storage to users, which enables customization and deterministic testing for various use cases.
Includes all Raft protocol features like leader election, log replication, compaction, membership changes, and extensions such as leadership transfer and linearizable reads.
Offers optional enhancements like pipelining, flow control, and batching to reduce latency and improve throughput, as detailed in the README.
Cons
Users must implement their own network transport and storage layers, which adds significant development complexity compared to monolithic Raft implementations.
The library requires careful handling of message persistence and ordering in the Ready loop, increasing the risk of bugs in custom integrations.
As a Go-specific library, it cannot be directly used in projects written in other languages, limiting its cross-ecosystem applicability.
The README cautions against two-node clusters due to potential unrecoverable states during membership changes, necessitating at least three nodes for safety.
Frequently Asked Questions
Related Projects
Go-zeroA cloud-native Go microservices framework with cli tool for productivity.
go-kitA standard library for microservices.
KratosYour ultimate Go microservices framework for the cloud-native era.
grpc-goThe Go language implementation of gRPC. HTTP/2 based RPC
Found a gem we're missing?
Open-Awesome is built by the community, for the community. Submit a project, suggest an awesome list, or help improve the catalog on GitHub.