Unexported return type of the exported function

Reports exported functions with unexported return types.

Unexported types can be difficult to use when viewing documentation under go doc.

Example:

type hidden struct{}

func Exported() hidden { // Exported function with the `hidden` unexported return type
 return hidden{}
}

You can apply Export quick-fix to export the type. After the quick-fix is applied, type name will be capitalized:

type Hidden struct{}

func Exported() Hidden { // Fixed
 return Hidden{}
}

Locating this inspection

By ID

Can be used to locate inspection in e.g. Qodana configuration files, where you can quickly enable or disable it, or adjust its settings.

GoExportedFuncWithUnexportedType

Via Settings dialog

Path to the inspection settings via IntelliJ Platform IDE Settings dialog, when you need to adjust inspection settings directly from your IDE.

Settings or Preferences | Editor | Inspections | Go | General

Inspection ID: GoExportedFuncWithUnexportedType

Suppressing Inspection

You can suppress this inspection by placing the following comment marker before the code fragment where you no longer want messages from this inspection to appear:

//noinspection GoExportedFuncWithUnexportedType

More detailed instructions as well as other ways and options that you have can be found in the product documentation:

GoLand 2025.2

Inspection Details
By default bundled with:	GoLand 2025.2, Qodana for Go 2025.2,
Can be installed with plugin:	Go, 252.26654.0

Last modified: 18 September 2025