watsonx Code Assistant for i
IBM's November 2025 preview announcement of an AI code assistant purpose-built for RPG on IBM i. The preview track was superseded by IBM Bob, which reached general availability in March 2026.
This is a historical term. It was a preview that never shipped on its own. For IBM's current IBM i coding agent, see IBM Bob.
What it was meant to do
- Convert fixed-format RPG to free-format RPG
- Explain existing code
IBM said it was built on a Granite code model fine-tuned for RPG and IBM i, trained on more than 10 million lines of RPG code plus IBM Redbooks and community material.
What happened to it
- Nov 19, 2025IBM announces it as an upcoming IBM i member of the watsonx Code Assistant family.
- Mar 24, 2026IBM Bob reaches general availability 1.0.0 and takes over the RPG coding assistant work from IBM's Rochester lab.
Related Terms
watsonx
IBM's platform for AI and data, spanning watsonx.ai (foundation models and generative AI), watsonx.data (data store), and watsonx.governance (AI governance), with watsonx Assistant and watsonx Orchestrate built on top.
IBM Bob (Project Bob)
IBM's generally available AI coding agent for IBM i, built as a fork of Visual Studio Code and tuned for RPG, CL, DDS, and SQL. Reached GA on March 24, 2026; Bob 2.0 and the IBM i-specific Bob Premium Package for i shipped June 24, 2026.
RPG
Report Program Generator, the primary business application programming language on IBM i and its AS/400 predecessors, still running the majority of production logic in most IBM i shops.
Free-Format RPG
A modern RPG coding style that drops the rigid column-based syntax of traditional fixed-format RPG in favor of freer, more readable statement syntax.
IBM i
IBM's operating system for Power servers running traditional AS/400-lineage business applications, with Db2 for i built directly into the OS.