Go's error handling fundamentally differs from exception-based languages by using explicit error returns. Errors are values returned from functions, making error handling visible and predictable. This design avoids hidden control flow, keeping code simple and composable. The error interface is minimal, requiring only an `Error() string` method, allowing any type to be an error.

Developers create errors using `errors.New()` for simple cases or `fmt.Errorf()` for formatted messages. Go 1.13 introduced error wrapping with the `%w` verb, adding context while preserving the original error chain. This enables sophisticated error inspection using `errors.Is()` and `errors.As()`, which traverse the chain to check for specific sentinel errors or extract custom error types.

Idiomatic Go emphasizes checking errors immediately after they occur. Common patterns include returning early, logging and continuing, or handling specific error conditions like `os.ErrNotExist`. For structured data, developers create custom error types with additional fields, while sentinel errors (like `ErrNotFound`) represent expected conditions callers should handle. Panic and recover are reserved for truly exceptional, unrecoverable situations.