Skip to main content
The Info() function returns detailed information about the host system including hostname, OS, platform, kernel version, virtualization details, and more.

​
Function Signature

func Info() (*InfoStat, error)
func InfoWithContext(ctx context.Context) (*InfoStat, error)

​
Return Value

Returns a pointer to InfoStat struct containing:
​
Hostname
string
System hostname
​
Uptime
uint64
System uptime in seconds
​
BootTime
uint64
System boot time in seconds since Unix epoch
​
Procs
uint64
Number of currently running processes
​
OS
string
Operating system (e.g., “linux”, “freebsd”, “darwin”, “windows”)
​
Platform
string
Platform distribution (e.g., “ubuntu”, “centos”, “debian”)
​
PlatformFamily
string
Platform family (e.g., “debian”, “rhel”, “arch”)
​
PlatformVersion
string
Version of the complete operating system
​
KernelVersion
string
Kernel version string
​
KernelArch
string
Native CPU architecture (equivalent to uname -m)
​
VirtualizationSystem
string
Virtualization system if running in a VM (e.g., “kvm”, “xen”, “vmware”)
​
VirtualizationRole
string
Either “guest” or “host” indicating virtualization role
​
HostID
string
Unique host identifier (usually UUID)

​
Usage Examples

​
Basic Usage

package main

import (
    "fmt"
    "github.com/shirou/gopsutil/v4/host"
)

func main() {
    info, err := host.Info()
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }
    
    fmt.Printf("Hostname: %s\n", info.Hostname)
    fmt.Printf("OS: %s\n", info.OS)
    fmt.Printf("Platform: %s %s\n", info.Platform, info.PlatformVersion)
    fmt.Printf("Kernel: %s\n", info.KernelVersion)
    fmt.Printf("Architecture: %s\n", info.KernelArch)
    fmt.Printf("Uptime: %d seconds\n", info.Uptime)
}

​
With Context and Timeout

package main

import (
    "context"
    "fmt"
    "time"
    "github.com/shirou/gopsutil/v4/host"
)

func main() {
    ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), 5*time.Second)
    defer cancel()
    
    info, err := host.InfoWithContext(ctx)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }
    
    fmt.Printf("Host ID: %s\n", info.HostID)
    fmt.Printf("Running processes: %d\n", info.Procs)
}

​
Checking Virtualization

package main

import (
    "fmt"
    "github.com/shirou/gopsutil/v4/host"
)

func main() {
    info, err := host.Info()
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }
    
    if info.VirtualizationSystem != "" {
        fmt.Printf("Running in %s as %s\n", 
            info.VirtualizationSystem, 
            info.VirtualizationRole)
    } else {
        fmt.Println("Running on bare metal")
    }
}

​
JSON Output

package main

import (
    "encoding/json"
    "fmt"
    "github.com/shirou/gopsutil/v4/host"
)

func main() {
    info, err := host.Info()
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }
    
    // InfoStat has a String() method that returns JSON
    fmt.Println(info.String())
    
    // Or use json.Marshal for pretty printing
    data, _ := json.MarshalIndent(info, "", "  ")
    fmt.Println(string(data))
}

​
Error Handling

The function may return errors when:
  • Unable to access system information files (permission issues)
  • Platform-specific system calls fail
  • Context deadline is exceeded (when using InfoWithContext)
Some fields may be empty on certain platforms if the information is not available or not implemented for that OS.

​
Platform Notes

Reads from /proc/sys/kernel, /etc/os-release, and other system files. Requires read access to these locations.

BootTime()

Get only the boot time

Users()

Get logged-in users

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Get started for freeTalk to us