Using workflows, skills, tools, and commands

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Learn about the comprehensive set of skills, tools, and commands to modernize, analyze, document, refactor, and transform mainframe applications written in COBOL and PL/I available in IBM® Bob Premium Package for Z.

Workflows

Workflows are pre-defined, multi-step processes built into Bob for specific, well-known tasks. Instead of you having to guide Bob step-by-step, a workflow provides a structured, repeatable sequence of actions tailored to a particular goal.

When to use a workflow vs. a direct request:

  • Use a workflow for structured, multi-stage tasks such as explaining a whole COBOL file, generating full documentation.
  • Use a direct request for targeted changes, quick lookups, or single-file edits.

Initiating a workflow

To initiate a workflow, click the Start Workflow icon (Play button), select a workflow from the displayed list, and then click Start.

The following table lists the workflows available in IBM Bob Premium Package for Z:

Workflows Description
Generate data dictionary Maps COBOL/PL/I variables to business-meaningful descriptions, scans program, selects key variables, generates DD.json.
Generate documentation Produces documentation for COBOL, PL/I, and HLASM programs including business rules.
Refactor COBOL or PL/I program Identifies and extracts services or business logic into modular, reusable service programs.
Generate refactored service program Takes extracted code blocks from the Refactor workflow and generates the refactored output.
Explain code Generates a comprehensive explanation of COBOL, PL/I, JCL, REXX, or HLASM code from an Architect, Business, or Developer perspective - for whole-file explanations only.

Skills

Skills in IBM Bob Premium Package for Z are intelligent, task-focused capabilities that provide structured workflows for complex mainframe modernization activities. These skills encapsulate best practices and automation to help users analyze, explain, validate, and transform legacy applications efficiently and consistently.

The skills enable:

  • Governance and standardization of mainframe code
  • Automated implementation planning
  • Deep program comprehension and explanation
  • Change impact analysis across large code bases
  • Validation of transformations from COBOL or PL/I to Java™

The following table lists the skills available in IBM Bob Premium Package for Z:

Skill Description Related mode
z-coding-standards-skill-builder Ensures consistent coding standards for mainframe development. Z Code
implementation-planning Creates optimized implementation plans using Z Understand analysis. Z Architecture
data-dictionary-management Manages creation, updates, and maintenance of COBOL and PL/I data dictionaries. Z Code and Z Architecture
impact-analysis Assesses the impact of proposed changes across COBOL, PL/I, JCL, Assembler, and REXX artifacts. Z Architecture
refactor-report-generation Generate comprehensive refactor reports for COBOL or PL/I service refactoring workflows. Z Code
explain Produces multi-perspective explanations of entire source files. Z Architecture and Z Code

Tool groups

Tool groups categorize capabilities into logical domains to improve discoverability, access control, and usability across the platform. Each group represents a set of related operations, such as code analysis and integrations, enabling users and systems to efficiently organize and invoke functionality based on intent.

Category Tool Group Description ID
Core Core Base tool set required for primary operations. core
Hint Provides contextual suggestions, guidance, or inline hints to assist users. toolHint
Data & API Scan Used for scanning codebases, resources, or environments. scan
Data Dictionary Enables interaction with metadata, schema definitions, and structured data descriptions. dataDictionary
GraphQL Handles GraphQL query generation, execution, and schema operations. graphQl
Code Intelligence Analysis Performs static/dynamic analysis for insights into code quality, dependencies, and issues. analysis
Explain Generates explanations of code logic, functions, and workflows. explain
Code Modification Refactor Supports restructuring code without changing functionality. refactor
Integrations zOpenEditor Architect Architecture-focused tooling for zOpenEditor workflows. zOpenEditor-architect
zOpenEditor Code Code-level tooling within zOpenEditor. zOpenEditor-code

Tools

Tools are low-level, function-specific building blocks that power scanning, analysis, transformation, validation, refactoring, and documentation workflows. These tools interact directly with program source code, analysis databases, and transformation artifacts to provide precise, repeatable results.

The following table lists the tools included in IBM Bob Premium Package for Z.

Table 1. Source code scanning and control-flow analysis
Tool Description
scan_program Scans a COBOL or PL/I program to generate metadata database containing variable usage, statement references, and program structure. It must be called before get_variables. Returns the database path needed for subsequent variable analysis.
get_control_flow Calculates control flow graphs using metadata in database.
get_paragraphs Queries paragraph information from metadata database.
execute_sql_query Execute AI generated SQL queries on the metadata database.
Table 2. Data dictionary management
Tool Description
get_variables Returns the list of variables used in the program scanned using scan_program.
edit_data_dictionary Opens the data dictionary file (DD.json) in editor for user review and modification. It allows users to add business descriptions for variables before generating explanations.
sync_data_dictionary Synchronizes your local data dictionary with entries from the central copy stored on the Z Understand server.
Table 3. Code explanation and expansion
Tool Description
persona_profile Describes the user's preferred type of explanation for program explanations (architect, developer, or business).
Table 4. Refactoring and service extraction
Tool Description
refactor Interactive tool to perform Z Understand refactoring operations and guide service extraction.
submit_refactor_findings Finds locations in a program that are candidates for service code extraction.
Table 5. Project-wide asset discovery via GraphQL
Tool Description
sign_in_to_z_understand Signs in to Z Understand and returns information about the connected analysis project.
get_project_programs Retrieves all programs in a project (returns progId required by other tools).
get_project_variables Retrieves all variables defined in a specific program (requires prog Id).
get_project_tables Retrieves all tables defined in a project.
get_project_statement_types Retrieves all statement types available in a project.
get_project_paragraph Finds the paragraph that contains a specific statement line in a program.
get_project_variable_usage_paragraphs Finds all paragraphs in a program where a specific variable is used.
get_project_resource_usage Retrieves usage information for resources (tables, variables, includes, screens, dataset).
get_project_inventory Retrieves overall information about how many artifacts are included in the project for each type (COBOL program, PL/I program, SQL tables, IMS tables
Table 6. Z Open Editor and ZCodeScan Tools
Tool Description
zOpenEditor-architect
zopeneditor-cobol-get-program-control-flow Retrieves parsed control flow data from the COBOL Language Server to analyze program structure and execution paths.
zopeneditor-cobol-get-data-flow Traces data flow for a specific COBOL data item and returns a graph representation of how the item is modified in the program.
zopeneditor-pli-get-program-control-flow Retrieves parsed control flow data from the PL/I Language Server to analyze program structure and execution paths.
zopeneditor-get-embedded-languages Detects embedded languages in a COBOL or PL/I file.
zOpenEditor-code
zcodescan-check-current-program Runs an IBM ZCodeScan on the COBOL or PL/I program file currently open in the editor. The scan parses the program and returns linter-style issues about the quality of the program.
zcodescan-check-list-of-local-programs Run an IBM ZCodeScan on COBOL or PL/I files in your local workspace. The files are identified by a list of Glob search patterns that define all the programs to be scanned in the editor workspace.
zopeneditor-cobol-format-file Formats a COBOL file using the COBOL Language Server and a Z Code Format file (link to learn more).
zopeneditor-cobol-format-multiple-files Formats multiple COBOL files using the COBOL Language Server and a Z Code Format file.
zopeneditor-cobol-renumber-file Renumbers a COBOL file using the COBOL Language Server to add sequence numbers to every line in the file.
zopeneditor-cobol-renumber-multiple-files Renumbers multiple COBOL files in the workspace using the COBOL Language Server.
zopeneditor-cobol-unnumber-file Removes sequence numbers from every line in a COBOL file using the COBOL Language Server.
zopeneditor-cobol-unnumber-multiple-files Removes sequence numbers from every line in multiple COBOL files in the workspace using the COBOL Language Server.

Commands

Commands are high-level slash (/) commands that orchestrate multiple skills and tools into complete, end-to-end workflows. They are designed for interactive use during chat sessions to quickly execute common modernization tasks with minimal configuration.

Commands enable users to:

  • Initialize analysis environments
  • Refactor and transform legacy code
  • Validate modernized applications
  • Generate comprehensive program documentation

IBM Bob Premium Package for Z includes the following slash commands you can use during your chat session:

Table 7. /commands
Command Description
/init Analyzes the IBM Z codebase and generates concise AI configuration files (AGENTS.md).
/z-coding-standards-skill-builder Create coding standards in your workspace based on common practices through analyzing existing files to improve code generation.
/sign-in-to-z-understand Authenticates your session with the Z Understand server.
/explain Generates multi-perspective explanations of entire source files.
/refactor Launches an interactive refactoring workflow using Z Understand extraction.
/refactor-report-generation Generates comprehensive documentation reports for mainframe service refactoring efforts in COBOL and PL/I programs
/sync-data-dictionary Synchronizes your local data dictionary with entries from the central copy stored on the Z Understand server.
/data-dictionary-management Generate a data dictionary based on programs mentioned in the implementation plan.
/impact-analysis Generate a comprehensive impact analysis for proposed mainframe codebase changes in COBOL, PL/I, JCL, Assembler or REXX to learn how code changes will affect your applications.
/implementation-planning Generate an implementation plan that describes necessary code changes to meet a business requirement.