Premium Package for i is now available

As of June 24th, Bob connects directly to your IBM i, with skills, modes, and a knowledge base built for the platform. Here is what that means in practice, and how to get started.

If you've read the earlier post on IBM i and Bob, you know the setup: the local-file workflow, the export step, the friction it's designed around. The Premium Package for i removes the friction at the source, and provides more.

What changes & what's new with the Premium Package for i

Native connection. Bob reads source members directly from QSYS. You edit them in the same VS Code-family surface, and compile and test against the IBM i from inside the session. No export-edit-import loop. Compile errors and test results surface back into the conversation you're already in — no switching windows to find out whether the change built.
Built-in IBM i skills. Fixed-to-free conversion, refactoring, RPGUnit test generation, and document generation ship as skills tuned to IBM i conventions. A starting prompt on an RPG codebase lands on those conventions out of the box, rather than being coached toward them one prompt at a time. The same skills cover RPG II/III/ILE, CL, DDS, SQL, and COBOL.
Agentic workflows. The multi-step sequence of deterministic and agentic steps, including user interactions — convert a program, generate tests against it, document the result — runs as workflows Bob carries end to end, against the system, in a single session.
Custom-built modes. Custom-built modes covering database and development tasks. Write RPG, optimize Db2 queries, manage the ILE compilation chain, migrate DDS to DDL — the mode you pick already knows the domain. No generic assistant warm-up required.
Knowledge base with IBM i Documentation. A RAG-backed knowledge base covering IBM i documentation gives Bob version-aware context — OS release differences, CL command specifics, MI-level details — so the output it produces is grounded in the actual system behaviour you're running against, not generic assumptions.

Three things you can do on day one

Understand the application database

Select the IBM i Database mode
Type /ERD and then the name of the schema on the IBM i

Since Bob has a live connection to the IBM i, it can read the tables, constraints, foreign keys, and relationships directly from the catalog. Bob then builds an Entity Relationship Diagram that makes the schema's structure explicit — insight that was only guessed at in the past.

Create a detailed design document

Select the IBM i Developer mode
Open the program you want to create a design doc for
In the Bob prompt enter: Create a detailed design doc, include diagrams, write the file to the following directory /home/doc

When complete, open the doc to review and understand the program.

Modernize a fixed RPG program to Modern RPG

Select the IBM i Developer mode
Click on the workflow button
Select the QSYS workspace
Select the RPG Modernization workflow

Answer the questions along the way as Bob and the Premium Package for i walk through step by step modernizing your RPG from Fixed format to Free, Modern RPG.

How to get access

The Premium Package for i is an add-on to a paid Bob base plan, not a separate download. How you try it depends on who you are:

Individual plans (Pro, Pro+, Ultra). Go to bob.ibm.com and add the i package to your plan. If you already have a paid base plan, you can run the package free for one month; if you don't, pick up a paid base plan first, then start the free month on the package. Trial base plans can't use add-ons.
Enterprise plans. Get a demo or start a PoC today by reaching out to your IBM or Business Partner reps.

Get started

Get entitled through the path above for your plan.
Connect your Bob to your IBM i.
Pick one program — ideally one nobody on the team fully understands — and run the RPG Modernization workflow on it.

That session — one program, one conversation, now running directly against the system — is the shortest path to a real answer about whether the Premium Package fits the way your team works.