Re: VSCode and Bob -- MIDRANGE-L

@Jon Paris <Jon.Paris@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> - "Why reinvent the wheel? "

Well - in some cases you need a bigger og different weel.

We have created our own MCP to be more specific for our use cases - and
added some skills to it that aggregate functions so Bob doesn't have to do
all the work. The result is not only much faster but also much more
accurate. We are dealing with huge data under the covers that not need to
be exposed for bob. The combination of classical logic and exposing that to
the LLM via the MCP is IMHO the road to sucess.

I can give you a demo so you can see the difference and be surprised.

On Wed, Apr 8, 2026 at 5:59 PM Jon Paris <jon.paris@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Why reinvent the wheel? There is already an IBM i MCP server
https://github.com/IBM/ibmi-mcp-server

Jon Paris
Jon.Paris@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

On Apr 8, 2026, at 10:42 AM, Daniel Gross <daniel@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

You can of course create a MCP server for IBM i, so Bob can retrieve the

source members from the machine.

I haven't done that until now, as we are also waiting for the premium

package to arrive. But I'm planing to create one.

Regards,
Daniel

Am 08.04.2026 um 16:30 schrieb Jim Oberholtzer <

midrangel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:

If you are requesting IBM to integrate the BOB functions into RDi, you

might be waiting a very long time for that. IBM chooses to put that
functionality in VSCode and that is the direction they are going. That was
telegraphed loud and clear on several occasions, for instance Merlin (like
it or not) was delivered in VSCode. Now BOB. Clue phone is ringing
folks. I know that reading IBM tea leaves is sometimes an art, but in this
case it’s somewhat obvious.

Forta may choose to put that functionality into RDi but I would

seriously doubt that it will, even if contractually they can.

Jim Oberholtzer
Agile Technology Architects
From: MIDRANGE-L <midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> on behalf of

cesco via MIDRANGE-L <midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

Date: Wednesday, April 8, 2026 at 9:21 AM
To: cesco via MIDRANGE-L <midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: cesco <emaxt6@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: VSCode and Bob

Hello Daniel, thanks for the update.

I have some copies at closing day time in git to just track changes and

query, but the live development is on members.

I'll wait till the premium package is announced.

I would personally also like to have something in RDi (like an "AI

outline" that query one of the LLM) right there instead that reinventing
the wheel.

For the time being I'm experimenting with the IBMi MCP server , and I

query it via a known payed LLM with a well knoen good reasoning model that
also integrate all the various online knowledge.

To let the LLM retrieve the source directly in a conversation while

avoiding it to let create things to avoid risk (ie. allow just SQL
select...) I published a UDTF to return a source member via SQL (I don't
know if there is something already stock) to let the LLM pick the sources
it wants to analyze.

I share here in case somebody find it useful or are there

alternatives/comments

CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION MYLIB.GET_SOURCE_MEMBER_T (

P_LIBRARY VARCHAR(10),

P_FILE VARCHAR(10),

P_MEMBER VARCHAR(10)

)

RETURNS TABLE (

SRCSEQ DECIMAL(6, 2),

SRCDAT DECIMAL(6, 0),

SRCDTA VARCHAR(240)

)

LANGUAGE SQL

SPECIFIC MYLIB/GETSRCMBRT

MODIFIES SQL DATA

NOT DETERMINISTIC

NO EXTERNAL ACTION

DISALLOW PARALLEL

SET OPTION COMMIT = *NONE, USRPRF = *USER, DYNUSRPRF = *USER

BEGIN

DECLARE V_ALIAS VARCHAR(100);

DECLARE V_STMT VARCHAR(500);

DECLARE V_SEQ DECIMAL(6, 2);

DECLARE V_DAT DECIMAL(6, 0);

DECLARE V_DTA VARCHAR(240);

DECLARE V_AT_END INT DEFAULT 0;

DECLARE C1 CURSOR FOR S1;

DECLARE CONTINUE HANDLER FOR SQLSTATE '02000' SET V_AT_END = 1;

-- unique alias name to access the member

SET V_ALIAS = 'GETSRCMBRT' || GENERATE_UUID();

-- Point the alias at the requested source member

SET V_STMT = 'CREATE ALIAS QTEMP."' || V_ALIAS || '" FOR "' ||

P_LIBRARY || '"."' || P_FILE || '"("' || P_MEMBER || '")';

EXECUTE IMMEDIATE V_STMT;

-- Prepare a dynamic SELECT against that alias

SET V_STMT = 'SELECT SRCSEQ, SRCDAT, CAST(SRCDTA AS VARCHAR(240)) ' ||

'FROM QTEMP."' || V_ALIAS || '"';

PREPARE S1 FROM V_STMT;

OPEN C1;

FETCH FROM C1 INTO V_SEQ, V_DAT, V_DTA;

WHILE V_AT_END = 0 DO

PIPE (V_SEQ, V_DAT, V_DTA);

FETCH FROM C1 INTO V_SEQ, V_DAT, V_DTA;

END WHILE;

CLOSE C1;

-- Clean up QTEMP

SET V_STMT = 'DROP ALIAS QTEMP."' || V_ALIAS || '"';

EXECUTE IMMEDIATE V_STMT;

RETURN;

END

On Tuesday, April 7, 2026 at 03:26:38 PM GMT+2, cesco via MIDRANGE-L <

midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I have still to try Bob, do you confirm that at the present release

cannot work directly with classical source members directly (like i.e.
RDi), in order to quickly introduce it directly on the on system dev
(compile from source member, generate member DSPF directly etc.)?

by the way, I started using the IBMi MCP from IBM to integrate the

tooling into my LLM to query the IBMi system, works fine, maybe some
tooling should be better parametrized, but it is still version < 1 so not
much to complain, and it is good to have a stock MCP without reinventing
the wheel.

https://github.com/IBM/ibmi-mcp-server

Do anybody know if there is a commitment from IBM for this MCP or is

considered experimental?

thx

On Tuesday, April 7, 2026 at 01:32:53 AM GMT+2, Vern Hamberg via

MIDRANGE-L <midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

To amplify what Justin posted a bit, you can get all the VS Code
extensions in Bob as you do now with VS Code. So you can do things with
other AI tools as you do now, with the plus (we hope) of IBM-tailored
functionality.

*Regards*

*Vern Hamberg*

IBM Champion 2025 <cid:part1.uYM0Dee4.bQcfQTNi@centurylink.net> CAAC
(COMMON Americas Advisory Council) IBM Influencer 2023

On 4/6/2026 8:13 AM, eric bothes wrote:
i've been doing this for a while and have seen ibm push a product than
its does away. i am not a big fan of the way BOB is being presented. I
would have preferred a true VSC addon rather than a replacement. I
have many other projects i use VSC for and having "another" IDE does
not work well.

In addition, not a big fan of BOB COINS. The get used up rather
quickly even if the code generated was "incorrect" and BOB says "oh,
yeah. i will fix that". I found better results using other AI engines.

I had big hope for BOB, but the ibm history of products leaves we

weary.

On 4/6/2026 8:47 AM, Rob Berendt wrote:
Is this the list for such discussions? Or the WDSC list? Or is WDSC
pretty much just for RDi?

What I am wondering about is if IBM Bob is not an add on to VSCode but
basically an integrated package including VSCode is if the VSCode may
lag
behind. Compare this to RDi and how current it stays with levels of
Eclipse.

Not an original thought on my part. Someone else asked me, so

inquiring

minds want to know.

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