Maxon

You Aren't Going To Write It.

Maxon makes a bet: the AI writes the code, and you read it.

Maxon is a statically-typed, compiled programming language with a from-scratch native x86-64 backend — written by AI, for AI. The compiler, standard library, and documentation were all authored by AI coding agents.

Because the AI writes the code and a human reads it, Maxon optimizes for the reader, not the typist. Where another language is terse, Maxon is explicit: every constraint is stated, every block is named, nothing is implicit to puzzle out later. The same explicitness that makes it easy to read makes it hard to get wrong — exactly the property you want when a model is generating the code.

maxon.dev  ·  Documentation  ·  Examples  ·  Discussions

function main() returns ExitCode
    let port = Port{8080}
    print("listening on {port}")
    return 0
end 'main'

What makes it legible for AI

Constraints live in the type system. Domain bounds are part of the type, not a comment — so an agent can't silently construct an invalid value.

typealias Port = int(0 to 65535)
let port = Port{8080}      // Port{70000} is a compile error

No null to forget. Fallible reads must be resolved explicitly with try … otherwise. There's no value to forget to check, so "missing null check" bugs can't occur.

let value = try inputVector.get(col) otherwise 0.0

Unambiguous structure. Every block names what it closes, so structure reads back clearly — for a human or a model.

while iteration < 10 'iterate'
    applyAtA(previous, inputVector: current, dimension: size)
end 'iterate'

A serious language underneath

The AI story only holds up because the compiler does. Maxon is a real, fast, statically-typed, compiled language:

• Native x86-64 backend — compiles straight to PE and ELF executables. No LLVM, no VM, no external runtime.
• Reference-counted memory — deterministic cleanup the moment a value is no longer referenced. No garbage collector, no pauses.
• Strong inference + ranged types — static typing that stays terse, with ranged type aliases that encode real domain bounds into the types themselves.
• Structured diagnostics — stable error codes; the signal an agent uses to read a failure and correct itself.
• Self-hosting — Maxon compiles Maxon, continuously tested for parity against the bootstrap compiler (work in progress).
• First-class tooling — a Language Server and VS Code extension ship with the language.

See docs/COMPILER_ARCHITECTURE.md for the full pipeline.

Project components

• Compiler (maxon-sharp) — the C# bootstrap compiler, which builds to bin/maxon.exe. It has a native x86-64 backend and emits standalone PE/ELF executables with no external runtime. This is the compiler the toolchain currently ships with.
• Self-hosted compiler (maxon-selfhosted) — the Maxon compiler written in Maxon, built by the C# compiler and continuously tested for parity against it. Work in progress.
• Language Server (LSP) — part of the C# implementation, for IDE integration.
• VS Code extension — syntax highlighting and language features.

Building from source

Prerequisites

• .NET 10 SDK (the C# compiler targets net10.0)
• Git
• Node.js 20+ (only needed to build the VS Code extension)

Build and run

dotnet build maxon-sharp               # build the compiler -> bin/maxon.exe
bin/maxon build examples/basic.maxon   # compile and run an example
bin/maxon spec-test                    # run the spec-test suite

On Windows, buildall.bat builds and tests the full toolchain end to end — the C# compiler, the self-hosted compiler, the dev MCP server, and their spec tests.

See docs/CLI_REFERENCE.md for every command and flag, or the installation guide for a step-by-step walkthrough.

Tests

Tests are organized as spec files in specs/: each language feature has a single source of truth holding its documentation and its executable test cases together (see docs/SPECS.md). Run them with:

bin/maxon spec-test

When you change behavior, update or add the relevant spec and make sure the suite passes.

Contributing

Maxon is written by AI and built in the open. Bug reports, patches, clearer docs, and real programs written in Maxon are all welcome. Start with CONTRIBUTING.md, join the discussions, or read the contributing guide on the site.

License

Licensed under either of

• Apache License, Version 2.0 (LICENSE-APACHE or http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0)
• MIT license (LICENSE-MIT or http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)

at your option.

Unless you explicitly state otherwise, any contribution intentionally submitted for inclusion in the work by you, as defined in the Apache-2.0 license, shall be dual licensed as above, without any additional terms or conditions.