The happy path should at least have a value that we oft categorize as error to branch on meaningfully. If the code has no purpose it wouldn’t need to be called.

The happy path should at least have a value that we oft categorize as error to branch on meaningfully. If the code has no purpose it wouldn’t need to be called. panic is certainly appropriate if programmer error left the application in an inconsistent state (an exceptional state, or exception for short as it is often referred to). I've never seen a Go developer, or developer in any other language for that matter, try to deal with these cases by hand.