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This page gets a Go program talking to Hedera testnet: SDK install, operator credentials, balance query, and an HBAR transfer.

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Prerequisites

  • Go 1.21 or later
  • A Hedera testnet account with ECDSA keys from the developer portal

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Step 1: Initialize the module and install the SDK

mkdir hedera-quickstart && cd hedera-quickstart
go mod init hedera-quickstart
go get github.com/hiero-ledger/hiero-sdk-go/v2@latest
go get github.com/joho/godotenv

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Step 2: Credentials

Create a .env file (and add it to .gitignore): 
OPERATOR_ID=0.0.1234
OPERATOR_KEY=302d300706052b8104000a032200033456...
OPERATOR_ID is your Hedera account ID. OPERATOR_KEY is the DER-encoded ECDSA private key; use the HEX Encoded Private Key value from the developer portal.

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Step 3: Connect, query, transfer

Create main.go: 
package main

import (
    "fmt"
    "log"
    "os"

    hedera "github.com/hiero-ledger/hiero-sdk-go/v2/sdk"
    "github.com/joho/godotenv"
)

func main() {
    if err := godotenv.Load(); err != nil {
        log.Fatalf("failed to load .env: %v", err)
    }

    operatorID, err := hedera.AccountIDFromString(os.Getenv("OPERATOR_ID"))
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatalf("bad OPERATOR_ID: %v", err)
    }

    operatorKey, err := hedera.PrivateKeyFromString(os.Getenv("OPERATOR_KEY"))
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatalf("bad OPERATOR_KEY: %v", err)
    }

    // Connect to testnet with the operator as the default payer.
    client := hedera.ClientForTestnet()
    client.SetOperator(operatorID, operatorKey)

    // 1. Query the operator's balance.
    balance, err := hedera.NewAccountBalanceQuery().
        SetAccountID(operatorID).
        Execute(client)
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatalf("balance query failed: %v", err)
    }
    fmt.Printf("Operator balance: %v\n", balance.Hbars)

    // 2. Transfer 1 HBAR to account 0.0.3.
    recipient, _ := hedera.AccountIDFromString("0.0.3")
    response, err := hedera.NewTransferTransaction().
        AddHbarTransfer(operatorID, hedera.HbarFrom(-1, hedera.HbarUnits.Hbar)).
        AddHbarTransfer(recipient, hedera.HbarFrom(1, hedera.HbarUnits.Hbar)).
        Execute(client)
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatalf("transfer failed: %v", err)
    }

    receipt, err := response.GetReceipt(client)
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatalf("receipt failed: %v", err)
    }

    fmt.Printf("Transfer status: %s\n", receipt.Status)
    fmt.Printf("Transaction ID: %s\n", response.TransactionID)
}

​
Step 4: Run it

go run main.go
Expected output: 
Operator balance: 10000 ℏ
Transfer status: SUCCESS
Transaction ID: 0.0.1234@1700000000.123456789
Look up the transaction on HashScan: 
https://hashscan.io/testnet/transaction/<transactionId>

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What’s next

Create an Account

Generate a new account programmatically and fund it from your operator.

Create a Token

Mint a native HTS token with custom supply and decimals.

Submit to a Topic

Publish a message to HCS for verifiable, ordered audit logs.

SDK Reference

Full API reference on GitHub.
The four Hiero SDKs (JavaScript, Java, Go, Python) share the same API surface, so code translates almost line-for-line between them. Differences are mostly language-idiomatic.