Most AI coding tools live inside the IDE. But a lot of real development work happens in the terminal.
That's where IBM Bob Shell becomes interesting.
Bob Shell brings agentic workflows directly to the command line, allowing developers to work interactively, automate repetitive tasks, and integrate AI-assisted workflows into existing engineering processes.
Instead of switching between multiple tools, you can interact with Bob from the terminal while staying close to your code, scripts, and infrastructure.
Some examples include:
- Investigating codebases
- Analyzing logs and errors
- Automating repetitive development tasks
- Running guided modernization workflows
- Assisting with testing and validation
- Supporting CI/CD processes
What I find particularly interesting is that Bob Shell isn't limited to interactive use. Teams can also incorporate it into automated workflows and development pipelines, helping bring agentic capabilities beyond the IDE and into broader software delivery processes.
As projects grow, developers often spend more time navigating systems, reviewing outputs, and coordinating workflows than writing code itself. Having AI assistance available directly from the terminal can help reduce friction and keep developers in flow.
The future of developer tooling may not be IDE-only.
It may be available wherever developers work, whether that's the editor, the terminal, automation scripts, or CI/CD pipelines.
Code where you want. Build where you want. Let agents help across the entire workflow.
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