Guru: A First Look at Bob, The IBM i Assistant That’s Closer Than You Think

December 8, 2025 Gregory Simmons

I recently was granted early access to IBM’s new Project Bob, and I have been putting the Bob-IDE through its paces to understand what IBM is aiming for and what IBM i developers should expect as the offering matures. Bob is IBM’s emerging AI-powered development assistant and IDE ecosystem designed to modernize how developers work on the IBM i.

One of the first things that stands out is that the Bob-IDE is not an extension like the older WCA4i project, which was in extension form. IBM learned a lot from that experience, and those lessons led them to take a different approach this time. Bob-IDE is a full fork of VS Code, which gives IBM complete control over the environment and avoids the limitations that come with maintaining a complex extension on top of another editor. The upside for developers is that it still feels completely natural, especially since it offers to import your existing VS Code settings and extensions right out of the gate. It also includes import options for Cursor and Windsurf users, which shows that IBM is paying attention to where developers have been experimenting.

Another early capability that caught my attention is Bob’s use of Markdown files to store preferences, conventions and development guidelines. It works like a linter on steroids. Instead of simply warning you about spacing or syntax issues, the MD file can describe how your shop expects things to be done. Naming standards, database conventions, error-handling habits and even examples can live in this single file. Over time, Bob will use it as a living style guide. It is easy to imagine each team or department building and sharing its own MD file so that expectations stay consistent across the group and new developers can get up to speed quickly.

One eye-opening test was in how Bob handles missing artifacts. If you loaded an RPG program and its related CL, but forgot to include the display file. Bob noticed that the DSPF was missing and will ask if it should create one. The DSPF it generated compiled, the program ran and all the fields were placed correctly. It wasn’t pretty, and it wasn’t meant to be, but it worked. That alone hints at some interesting possibilities, especially in maintenance environments where missing or damaged objects can stall progress.

Another area worth noting is that the IDE can integrate with MCP servers today. The much-anticipated iMode, which has not yet been released, is expected to allow Bob to analyze, navigate and assist with RPG directly on the IBM i. That future capability is what many developers, including myself, are genuinely excited to see. True native assistance is the real milestone.

There is still a lot we do not know. Bob cannot yet work directly with your IBM i, whether that source lives in traditional source physical files or in the IFS. I have learned that this functionality will be switching Bob into iMode; no release date as of yet, but I hear the team is working on it. And until we see how deeply Bob understands real IBM i development practices, we are still looking at the beginning rather than the full picture.

What is clear is that the IBM i community is not waiting for AI in general. Many shops, including mine, are already using tools like GitHub Copilot with strong results, especially for code completion. The gap is not AI. The gap is AI that understands RPG, COBOL, SQL and CL and the workflows that come with building applications on this platform. Developers want code completion that recognizes fixed-form and free-form RPG. They want assistance that respects external file definitions, library lists and call stacks that behave the way IBM i developers expect. If iMode delivers that level of native awareness, Bob could shift quickly from an early preview to an everyday tool.

I personally cannot wait for iMode. Just think of the possibilities. For example, what if you start to write a new procedure to calculate the sales tax on an item and Bob is there to help, but then suggests that there’s already a module it found in your production library that does that? From there, it could potentially offer modifications to that procedure to receive in new parameters to make the tax calculation fit your needs. Analyze enterprise-wide impacts for you. Make use of your 3rd party source promotion MCP server, checkout the sources you need, etc. The potential here is truly mind blowing.

Bob is still early, but the foundation is promising. Early adopters can test the IDE, explore MCP integration and give IBM the real-world feedback it needs to shape where this technology goes next. If iMode brings the features many of us are hoping for, Bob has a real chance to become one of the most important tools IBM has introduced for this platform in years.

Until next time, happy coding.

Gregory Simmons is a Project Manager with PC Richard & Son. He started on the IBM i platform in 1994, graduated with a degree in Computer Information Systems in 1997 and has been working on the OS/400 and IBM i platform ever since. He has been a registered instructor with the IBM Academic Initiative since 2007, an IBM Champion and holds a COMMON Application Developer certification. When he’s not trying to figure out how to speed up legacy programs, he enjoys speaking at technical conferences, running, backpacking, hunting, and fishing.

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