Rails architect exploring AI-assisted development.

I'm Mario Alberto Chávez, a software engineer, entrepreneur, and visual artist based in Colima, México. For over 15 years, I've been working with Ruby on Rails—from building enterprise-scale systems to crafting developer tools that make our work more intuitive.

As CTO and co-founder of Aoorora, I architected a core banking platform in Ruby on Rails that enabled lending startups to build fintech products without creating infrastructure from scratch. While the startup didn't survive, building a compliant banking platform taught me invaluable lessons about security, regulatory requirements, and architectural decisions at scale.

Before Aoorora, I co-founded michelada.io, a Rails consultancy serving clients from early-stage startups to companies like Levi's and US healthcare providers. Leading a 70-person engineering team taught me that the best technology solutions come from understanding both the code and the people who write it.

These days, I'm exploring the convergence of Rails and AI. I created the Rails MCP Server to integrate AI assistants directly into Rails workflows, and continue building tools like my Rails upgrade assistant skill while documenting "vibecoding"—my approach to iterative development with AI.

I'm also passionate about education. My Spanish-language course "Aprendiendo Ruby on Rails" (railsenespanol.co) teaches developers to build modern applications using Rails' no-build philosophy with Hotwire, Turbo, and StimulusJS—no complex JavaScript pipelines needed.

Outside of software, I'm a contemporary photographer working on projects about territory, popular culture, and memory. My first photobook is currently in production.

If you're working on something at the intersection of Rails and AI, I'd love to hear from you.