I built a VS Code extension to bring modern ALM, DevOps, and Agentic AI to IBM i (AS400) development

Hey everyone,

If you develop on IBM i, you probably know the pain: traditional development ties application logic strictly to physical library structures<response-element class="" ng-version="0.0.0-PLACEHOLDER"></response-element><response-element class="" ng-version="0.0.0-PLACEHOLDER"></response-element>. Moving to VS Code (thanks to the amazing Code for IBM i extension) is a huge step forward, but managing logical projects, dependencies, and complex promotion pipelines locally can still be a massive headache.<sources-carousel-inline ng-version="0.0.0-PLACEHOLDER" _nghost-ng-c832496797=""> </sources-carousel-inline>

To solve this, I've built IBM Project4i. It's a VS Code extension that introduces a logical project layer on top of Code for IBM i<response-element class="" ng-version="0.0.0-PLACEHOLDER"></response-element><response-element class="" ng-version="0.0.0-PLACEHOLDER"></response-element>. It essentially allows you to group source members from any library, manage them as a single cohesive project, and promote them through a governed pipeline without leaving the editor<response-element class="" ng-version="0.0.0-PLACEHOLDER"></response-element><response-element class="" ng-version="0.0.0-PLACEHOLDER"></response-element>.<sources-carousel-inline ng-version="0.0.0-PLACEHOLDER" _nghost-ng-c832496797=""> </sources-carousel-inline>

Here are the main technical capabilities:

• Multi-Tier Environments & Pipelines: You can model a full DEV → INT → QA → UAT → STG → PROD → DR pipeline with per-tier library mappings<response-element class="" ng-version="0.0.0-PLACEHOLDER"></response-element><response-element class="" ng-version="0.0.0-PLACEHOLDER"></response-element>.<sources-carousel-inline ng-version="0.0.0-PLACEHOLDER" _nghost-ng-c832496797=""> </sources-carousel-inline>

• Data-Safe Promotion: When deploying, if an object already exists, the extension automatically handles data preservation (e.g., swapping CRTPF to CHGPF and dropping/recreating logical files)<response-element class="" ng-version="0.0.0-PLACEHOLDER"></response-element><response-element class="" ng-version="0.0.0-PLACEHOLDER"></response-element>.<sources-carousel-inline ng-version="0.0.0-PLACEHOLDER" _nghost-ng-c832496797=""> </sources-carousel-inline>

• Deployment Packages & Rollbacks: You can bundle members into a named release, deploy them strictly in build-dependency order, and roll back automatically if a failure occurs<response-element class="" ng-version="0.0.0-PLACEHOLDER"></response-element><response-element class="" ng-version="0.0.0-PLACEHOLDER"></response-element>.<sources-carousel-inline ng-version="0.0.0-PLACEHOLDER" _nghost-ng-c832496797=""> </sources-carousel-inline>

• Team Governance & Locking: It supports shared projects hosted on the IFS, pessimistic member locking (tracks which IBM i user is editing a member), and cross-project conflict detection<response-element class="" ng-version="0.0.0-PLACEHOLDER"></response-element><response-element class="" ng-version="0.0.0-PLACEHOLDER"></response-element>.<sources-carousel-inline ng-version="0.0.0-PLACEHOLDER" _nghost-ng-c832496797=""> </sources-carousel-inline>

The Agentic Engineering & AI Suite:

One of the core focuses of this project was integrating AI not just as a chatbot, but as an active engineering agent.

• Autonomous Build Agent: It includes an agent that drives promotion via a strict, zero-hallucination tool-calling protocol<response-element class="" ng-version="0.0.0-PLACEHOLDER"></response-element><response-element class="" ng-version="0.0.0-PLACEHOLDER"></response-element>. It executes real CL commands and copies members by following structured Markdown runbooks<response-element class="" ng-version="0.0.0-PLACEHOLDER"></response-element><response-element class="" ng-version="0.0.0-PLACEHOLDER"></response-element>.<sources-carousel-inline ng-version="0.0.0-PLACEHOLDER" _nghost-ng-c832496797=""> </sources-carousel-inline>

• Change-Impact Analysis: Before you touch the code, the AI can read the source perimeter, judge which members are impacted, and write a full DevOps impact document<response-element class="" ng-version="0.0.0-PLACEHOLDER"></response-element><response-element class="" ng-version="0.0.0-PLACEHOLDER"></response-element>.<sources-carousel-inline ng-version="0.0.0-PLACEHOLDER" _nghost-ng-c832496797=""> </sources-carousel-inline>

• Living Documentation: It automatically generates Word-compatible technical and functional documentation directly from your source code<response-element class="" ng-version="0.0.0-PLACEHOLDER"></response-element><response-element class="" ng-version="0.0.0-PLACEHOLDER"></response-element>.<sources-carousel-inline ng-version="0.0.0-PLACEHOLDER" _nghost-ng-c832496797=""> </sources-carousel-inline>

It's designed to be a lightweight, IBM i–native ALM for those of us who live inside VS Code<response-element class="" ng-version="0.0.0-PLACEHOLDER"></response-element><response-element class="" ng-version="0.0.0-PLACEHOLDER"></response-element>.<sources-carousel-inline ng-version="0.0.0-PLACEHOLDER" _nghost-ng-c832496797=""> </sources-carousel-inline>

I'd love for anyone working in the AS400/IBM i space to give it a spin and share some honest feedback. How are you currently handling your deployment workflows and member locking?

VS Code Marketplace: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=G-DiBari.ibmi-project4i