IBM recently unveiled Project Bob, the next evolution of AI-assisted development built to transform how teams write, refactor, and understand code. Read the full announcement on IBM’s website here.

By Steve Will and Amy Blea

The way developers build, understand, and modernize enterprise applications is changing fast, and IBM’s Project Bob is right at the center of that shift. While the market is crowded with AI-driven code assistants, Bob takes a fundamentally different approach. It’s not just another assistant that autocompletes code; it’s an AI software development partner, purpose-built to work alongside humans across the full software development lifecycle.

From Prompts to Partnership

At its core, Bob is about intent-aware development. It understands context, learns your patterns, and helps you move from idea to implementation faster and more confidently. With agentic workflows, enterprise-grade security, and deep integration with modern DevOps pipelines, Bob is poised to become a trusted teammate across design, build, and modernization activities.

For IBM i developers, that means something powerful: the ability to bridge decades of business logic with the agility needed for the next generation of workloads.

Why Bob Matters for IBM i Developers and Architects

Application development and modernization on IBM i has always been a balancing act between protecting the platform's reliability and unlocking new value from existing applications. Many organizations run mission-critical applications built in RPG, CL, DDS, and SQL that have evolved over years, sometimes decades.

Bob enters this space as a catalyst for modernization and an accelerator for development. It integrates directly into IBM i development workflows to help teams:

• Understand: Analyze and visualize complex RPG, CL, DDS, and SQL codebases, surfacing relationships and logic flows.
• Explain: Produce clear, contextual explanations of code functionality and data usage, helping new developers onboard faster.
• Refactor: Identify reusable logic, rename cryptic variables, and modularize long-running programs.
• Generate: Create new RPG procedures and modules based on developer intent, improving consistency and productivity.
• Transform: Convert RPG II/III to modern ILE RPG, move fixed-format code to free-format, and replace record-level data access with embedded SQL.
• Test: Build and run unit tests using IBM i–centric frameworks like RPGUNIT to verify functionality as applications evolve.

In internal IBM testing, including a multi-million-line application dating back to the 1980s, Bob successfully analyzed and diagrammed massive codebases, producing actionable refactoring plans and modernization steps. This provided a clear, guided path for developers to safely and incrementally evolve existing logic and design new capabilities.

What’s described here represents just part of Bob’s full capability. Alongside its ability to analyze and transform existing code, Bob helps developers test, deploy, optimize, and create new applications. It unites modernization and innovation, enabling IBM i teams to enhance what they have and invent what’s next all within a single intelligent workspace.

Real-World Validation: What Clients Are Saying

We showcased Bob at IBM TechXchange, highlighting early IBM i–specific capabilities, and the response was overwhelmingly positive. Early client feedback confirms what many in the IBM i community already sense: Project Bob is far more than a productivity tool. It’s a strategic accelerator that helps development teams modernize with confidence while maintaining complete control over their most valuable business logic.

How to Get Started

Developers eager to experience Bob and explore the features firsthand can:

1. See it in action - Join one of the upcoming “IBM i and Project Bob” Guided Tours on October 29 or November 19 to watch live demos and learn how Bob integrates with IBM i development workflows. Register here.
2. Try it yourself - Sign up for the Project Bob developer preview waitlist to explore Bob’s early capabilities and share feedback directly with the IBM team to help refine the experience. Those interested in participating can join the Project Bob waitlist at IBM Project Bob.

The Bottom Line

IBM’s vision for Project Bob is to empower every developer on every platform to work smarter, faster, and with a deeper understanding.

For the IBM i community, Bob is a bridge between heritage and innovation, enabling organizations to preserve decades of core business logic while evolving their applications into modern, AI-ready systems. By providing a foundation for both modernization and new application development, Project Bob lets IBM i teams extend the value of their existing investment while driving continuous innovation and growth without disrupting mission-critical operations.

Steve Will is the Chief Technology Officer and Chief Architect for IBM i at IBM, as well as an IBM Distinguished Engineer. Since joining IBM in 1985, he has played a pivotal role in evolving the IBM i platform, leading its modernization through technologies like cloud, AI, and VS Code integration. Appointed Chief Architect in 2007, he succeeded Frank Soltis and has been a key advocate for the platform’s future. Known for his leadership, technical vision, and community engagement, Will actively shares insights through blogs, conferences, and social media.