AI IDE List

Mario Zechner

@badlogicgames · Open-source builder · Former indie developer

Creator of the libGDX game framework and the Pi coding agent, which he took to Earendil in April 2026.

Website X GitHub Last verified Oct 8, 2026 · 6 sources

Mario Zechner Overview

Mario Zechner describes himself as an independent software developer, coach and angel investor based in Graz, Austria.[1] His first "success story" was libGDX, a cross-platform game framework that in 2011 was the most used game development framework on Android.[2] In 2025 he built Pi, a coding agent designed around a small, predictable core,[3] and in April 2026 he joined Earendil, the company co-founded by Armin Ronacher, bringing Pi with him.[4]

What Mario Built

Pi

AcquiredOpen source

Creator · Coding agent

A minimal, extensible agent harness: unified LLM API, agent loop, terminal UI and a coding-agent CLI. Maintained by Earendil since April 2026.

Pi in the AI IDE List directorySource code

libGDX

ActiveOpen source

Creator · Game framework

Cross-platform game development framework, used by Niantic's Ingress and the team behind Slay the Spire. Maintained by core contributors since 2016.

Source code

How Mario Builds

Before Pi he used Cursor for a year and a half, then Claude Code from April 2025.[3] He left Claude Code because, in his words, it had "turned into a spaceship with 80% of functionality I have no use for."[3]

Pi is the opposite: four tools (read, write, edit and bash) and a system prompt plus tool definitions under 1,000 tokens.[3] He wrote that Pi "does not and will not support MCP" and has no dedicated sub-agent tool.[3] Version 1.0, released in October 2026, added MCP support after all.[5]

My philosophy in all of this was: if I don't need it, it won't be built.

[3] mariozechner.at

Business Model

Mario never commercialized libGDX directly; it powers Spine, a commercial game development tool he has been involved in for almost 10 years.[2] Pi is MIT-licensed and will stay that way. Earendil plans paid tiers on top of that core: Fair Source features and proprietary enterprise infrastructure.[2] No revenue figures have been published.

Timeline

  • libGDX is the most used game development framework on Android.[2]
  • Hands libGDX to a team of core contributors.[2]
  • Switches from Cursor to Claude Code.[3]
  • Publishes the design notes behind Pi.[3]
  • Joins Earendil as a shareholder; Pi moves to earendil-works.[2]
  • Pi 1.0 ships with MCP support.[5]

Lessons

Further Reading

Sources

  1. [1]Mario Zechner · mariozechner.at
  2. [2]I've sold out · mariozechner.at · Apr 8, 2026
  3. [3]What I learned building an opinionated and minimal coding agent · mariozechner.at · Nov 30, 2025
  4. [4]Mario and Earendil · Armin Ronacher · Apr 8, 2026
  5. [5]Pi coding agent pulls a 180 and adds MCP support · The Register · Oct 2, 2026
  6. [6]earendil-works/pi · GitHub