Settings
Use extension settings to configure IBM i tool behavior.
IBM Bob Premium Package for i includes extension settings that control certain tool behavior. You can find and edit these settings by navigating to the command palette, using the Preferences: Open Settings (UI) command, and navigating to the extension's settings using the filters on the left-hand side: Extensions > IBM Bob Premium Package for i.
General settings
General settings control the overall data retrieval behavior of the extension.
Max rows to fetch
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Setting ID | vscode-ibmi-bob.general.maxRowsToFetch |
| Default | 100 |
| Minimum | 1 |
Controls the maximum number of rows that the execute_sql_statement tool will fetch from Db2 for i query result sets. When a query has more rows to return, Bob will restrict itself to this limit to avoid overloading the context window. Bob will fetch more rows later if needed.
Increase this value if you regularly work with larger result sets and want Bob to access more data at once. Be aware that larger values may increase response time and cause context poisoning due to providing Bob too much data.
Guardrails settings
Guardrails settings add safety controls to prevent unintended or destructive operations on IBM i.
Enforce qualified CL commands
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Setting ID | vscode-ibmi-bob.guardrails.enforceQualifiedCLCommands |
| Default | true |
When enabled, Bob requires CL commands passed to the execute_cl_command tool to be library-qualified (e.g., QSYS/...). If an unqualified command is provided, Bob returns an error with the correctly qualified alternatives found using QSYS2.COMMAND_INFO and will re-attempt to call the tool correctly.
Enforcing qualified commands reduces the risk of library-list-dependent command resolution and is recommended as a security best practice. Even if this setting is set to false to allow unqualified commands, Bob will still suggest qualified alternatives as a tip.
Denied SQL statement types
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Setting ID | vscode-ibmi-bob.guardrails.deniedSQLStatementTypes |
| Default | ["ALLOCATE", "CALL", "COMMIT", "CONNECT", "DISCONNECT", "DROP", "EXECUTE", "GRANT", "LOCK", "MERGE", "PREPARE", "RENAME", "REVOKE", "ROLLBACK", "SAVEPOINT", "TRUNCATE", "UPDATE"] |
A list of SQL statement types that always require explicit user approval before the execute_sql_statement tool will execute them. When Bob attempts to run a statement whose type matches an entry in this list, the user is prompted to approve or deny execution even if they have granted execute auto-approve permission for the task.
Adjust this list to match your team's risk tolerance. For example, you may want to remove CALL or COMMIT from the denied list if your tasks regularly require Bob to invoke stored procedures or manage transactions.