Comparison - Minimal coding agent

Winy vs Pi

Pi is a small terminal coding agent you shape yourself; Winy is the board where Pi runs as a card beside your notes.

Pi is a minimal, extensible coding agent for the terminal, created by Mario Zechner and now maintained by Earendil under the MIT license.

Winy is a native infinite-canvas notebook for Mac, iPad and iPhone, where any CLI agent, Pi included, runs as a live terminal card on the board next to your notes, ink and images.

They do different jobs: Pi is the agent and you bring the model, while Winy gives your Pi sessions a place on a board you think on.

At a glance

Question	Winy	Pi
What it is	A canvas notebook where agent sessions are cards	A minimal, extensible terminal coding agent
Writes code itself	No, the agents on the board do	Yes - reads, writes, edits files and runs bash
Models	None of its own; runs the agents you use	15+ providers, API keys or OAuth login
Where it runs	Mac, iPad and iPhone; the Mac runs the agents	Terminal on macOS, Linux and Windows
Many agents at once	Many sessions as cards on one board	No built-in sub-agents; add them with an extension
Notes and sketches	Text, notes, ink, arrows and images on the board	Not a notebook; AGENTS.md and skills for context
Open source	No	Yes, MIT license
Price	Early access, join the waitlist	Free; you pay your model provider

Which one is for you

Choose Pi if

You want the agent itself, small enough to read and bend: Pi ships four core tools and grows through extensions you write.
You want to pick any model from many providers, including local ones, and switch freely.
You want an MIT-licensed agent you can embed in your own tools through its SDK.

Choose Winy if

You run Pi next to Claude Code, Codex or other CLI agents and want all of them on one board.
You want your notes, sketches and arrows beside the agent, and visible to it.
You want to zoom out and see which agents are working and which are waiting on you, from your Mac, iPad or iPhone.

Using both

Use both. Pi runs in a terminal card on the Winy canvas, the same Pi with your extensions and models, running on your Mac. Put the plan, a sketch and a screenshot beside it, start a second card with another agent on a different task, and zoom out to see which one needs you.

Questions

Is there a GUI for the Pi coding agent?

Pi itself is a terminal app. Winy gives it a visual home: Pi runs in a live terminal card on an infinite canvas, next to your notes and other agents. Winy does not replace Pi's interface; the card is Pi's own terminal.

Does Winy work with Pi?

Yes. Winy runs any CLI agent as a live terminal card, and Pi is a CLI agent.

Is Pi free?

Pi is free and open source under the MIT license. You pay for the models you connect, through API keys or an OAuth login with a provider.

Can I use Pi on an iPad with Winy?

The Mac runs Pi. The same board, with the Pi card on it, opens on your iPad and iPhone.

Thinking is Winning