VS Code for IBM i: A Resource Guide

April 22, 2022/26 Comments/in RPG, VS Code for i /by Amy Lantz

UPDATED 3/22/2025

VS Code for IBM i offers an alternative to RDi, the fee-based graphical IDE for IBM i, and SEU, the native green-screen IDE. It’s faster than RDi and easier to learn than either RDi or SEU. It supports development in RPGLE, COBOL, JavaScript, PHP, Python, Node.js, etc. Liam Allan’s Code for IBM i 2024 review updates us on the state of the open source project.

Official Resources

Visit the Code for IBM i page on the Visual Studio Marketplace. From there you can install the Code for i extension, read the official documentation, or get a list of keyboard shortcuts for Windows, macOS, or Linux.

Code for i Fridays

Join Seiden Group and other Code for i users online to share discoveries, discuss problems, and address open issues. Sign up here to receive invitations.

Training & Support

For the most efficient way to get your entire team up and running with VS Code for IBM i, talk to us about RDi migration, training, and Code for i SmartSupport.

Getting Started Videos

Don’t know where to start? These video shorts walk you through how to install VS Code for IBM i, connect to your server, and start working with IBM i objects.

Code for IBM i Articles by Seiden Group

These articles are listed by publication date, from June 2021 to present. Jump to the most recent articles here.

Future Resources

We will do our best to keep this list up to date, so if we miss something good, let us know!

About Amy Lantz

As the marketing lead for Seiden Group, Amy helps connect IT professionals with the resources they ...Read More

26 replies

Vladimír Župka says:
April 7, 2025 at 11:09 am

I am trying Python on IBM i using VS CODE on Windows through NTFS remote disk. It works without SSH well but encoding. Creating stream files with

out = open(“basnicka.txt”, “w”, encoding=”utf-8″)
out.write(“””Byl jeden domeček,
v tom domečku stoleček,”””)
out.write(“””na stolečku mistička,
v té mističce rybička.”””)
out.close()

This produces a file basnicka.txt of CCSID 1250 instead of 1208 with contents

Byl jeden domeÄŤek,
v tom domeÄŤku stoleÄŤek,
na stoleÄŤku mistiÄŤka,
v tĂ© mistiÄŤce rybiÄŤka.

I can only repair it by CHGATR on the file.
CHGATR OBJ(‘/home/vzupka/python/zaklady/basnicka.txt’) ATR(*CCSID) VALUE(1208)

Then, contents are

Byl jeden domeček,
v tom domečku stoleček,
na stolečku mistička,
v té mističce rybička.

What can I do for remedy?
Thanks for an answer,

Vladimír Župka
Reply
- Amy Lantz says:
  April 7, 2025 at 11:40 am
  
  Hi Vladimir,
  
  Thanks for the very detailed description of the issue. This is one that is best reported to the Code for i team: https://www.seidengroup.com/2023/07/10/how-to-report-an-issue-with-vs-code-for-ibm-i/.
  
  You’re also welcome to join the next Code for i Fridays meeting, online on Friday, April 18. This is the type of issue that Code for i developers might address in these working meetings. You can get more info and a meeting invitation here: https://www.seidengroup.com/2024/05/13/code-for-ibm-i-fridays-a-free-seiden-community-event/
  Reply
Sean Pedersen says:
June 26, 2024 at 10:17 am

I’m pretty pleased with the Code for IBM i extension so far, but have two questions for which I was unable to locate answers in your documentation:
1. How do we reset source dates? When we promote a new program to production, it is our policy to reset source date for each line of the source member to 000000. I don’t seen any way to do that through the extension.
2. We have source files with thousands of members. So, scrolling for a specific source in the browser list can be quite tedious. A search in the browser list is useless, as it is a text search within each member, rather than a search of member names (and takes forever). Is there a shortcut to load a target source member directly like we have in RDi? (In RDi, you can press Ctrl-Shft-A to display a screen that allows you to enter library, file, and member, and get that member displayed in the editor; apologies if you already knew that).
Reply
- Amy Lantz says:
  July 11, 2024 at 1:38 pm
  
  Hi Sean,
  Apologies for the delay in responding. Your best bet would be to join tomorrow’s Code for i Fridays meeting (Friday, July 12 from 2:30-3:30pm Eastern.) These are exactly the types of issues/ideas for enhancement that Code for i developers cover in these working meetings.
  
  You can get a meeting invitation and more info here: https://www.seidengroup.com/2024/05/13/code-for-ibm-i-fridays-a-free-seiden-community-event/
  
  If the timing doesn’t work for you or one of your colleagues, this post explains how to report your issues or requests for enhancement: https://www.seidengroup.com/2023/07/10/how-to-report-an-issue-with-vs-code-for-ibm-i/.
  Reply
Jack says:
March 4, 2024 at 1:47 pm

Hi,
Learning my way through the swamp. Lucky me is the designated trainer/installer. I am doing ok except for this notification:
“Unable to install GETNEWLIBL. See Code for IBM i output for details.”
Everything else is going well, connected OK, directories set up etc. Any ideas?
Reply
- Amy Lantz says:
  March 4, 2024 at 1:58 pm
  
  Hi Jack, the first thing to do when you get an error message that you can’t figure out is to update your version of Code for i. It’s fast and easy, and issues get fixed so quickly that updates often solve the problem. The instructions are here: https://www.seidengroup.com/2023/07/10/how-to-report-an-issue-with-vs-code-for-ibm-i/.
  
  If updating doesn’t resolve your issue, the article above also gives instructions for reporting your issue to the Code for i team.
  
  Let us know what happens.
  Reply
- Sebastian says:
  April 17, 2024 at 5:01 pm
  
  Perhaps a little late for OP, but if anyone else stumbles upon the problem and find themselves here. I encountered the same error. Found in IBM i output that I could not access the object. It hade been created by another user before me and authorities were set only for that user. So check t hat you have the authority to create or replace ILEDITOR.GETNEWLIBL
  Reply
  - Amy Lantz says:
    April 17, 2024 at 7:01 pm
    
    Thanks, Sebastian! We appreciate your sharing the solution you discovered.
    Reply
Digvijay Singh says:
October 16, 2023 at 3:06 pm

Hi,

We are trying to evaluate VS code for IBMi development in our CVS IBMi application before rolling the same out for DEV usage.
While performing the evaluation we ran into some issues, reaching out to this group to get feedback for resolving these issues.

Let me know if there is a separate forum that I should use to log these items for feedback, we may have more such items in upcoming weeks. Thanks

1. Unable to add Object Browser Filter once added. Tried Right Click+Delete Filter but created filter is not getting removed. Did refresh and also tried restarting VS code but did not work.

2. Similar issue with Profiles, once a profile is created I am unable to delete/remove it.

3. In few of our machines, we are runing into issues with adding object brower/source filters. Getting error ‘CPC2957: No records copied from file O_RSOHZJBH in TESTLIB. CPF2817: Copy command ended because of error.’
We have validated system temporary setting’s to ensure Temporary library(TESTLIB) and Temporary IFS directory are setup correctly. This is holding many developers to evaluate Code for IBMi.

Regards
Digvijay
Reply
- Amy Lantz says:
  October 16, 2023 at 3:22 pm
  
  Hi Digvijay,
  
  Thanks for reporting these issues. The best way to get fast response is to report them through Code for i itself. This blog post shows you how to do that: https://www.seidengroup.com/2023/07/10/how-to-report-an-issue-with-vs-code-for-ibm-i/.
  
  Let us know how it goes with the Code for i issue tracker.
  Reply
  - Digvijay Singh says:
    October 16, 2023 at 5:28 pm
    
    Thanks you for your prompt feedback, have raised the issue using GitHub issue log. Thanks
    Reply
    - Amy Lantz says:
      October 16, 2023 at 5:39 pm
      
      You’re welcome! Let us know if there’s anything else we can help with.
      Reply
Mario Salgado says:
August 28, 2023 at 3:08 pm

If i have a list of Source Physical members and I want to find a string or a word in any of my programs? How you do that?
Reply
- Amy Lantz says:
  August 28, 2023 at 5:14 pm
  
  Patrick Behr suggests that if you right-click on the source PF name, you’ll see an option “Search Source File.”
  Reply
Peter Tio says:
July 12, 2023 at 12:55 pm

How do I access a library that is an iASP on VS Code?
Reply
- Jack Woehr says:
  July 12, 2023 at 1:06 pm
  
  That’s part of your connection settings.
  See https://halcyon-tech.github.io/docs/#/pages/settings/connection
  Reply
Allen Wollenberg says:
July 7, 2023 at 7:15 am

Hello again – one more question. I am trying to use VS Code debug and it doesn’t work with pub400. The only viable alternative I can find so far is iDevCloud for $100.00 a month. That seems pretty steep for trying to learn and experiment. Can you recommend any other low cost alternatives to PUB400 that will allow using debug with Code for IBMi ?
Reply
- Patrick Behr says:
  July 7, 2023 at 9:23 am
  
  There are a couple of user groups that allow members access to IBM i (MAGiC and OCEAN are the two that I am aware of, maybe others). I think membership is about $100/year.
  Reply
Allen Allen says:
July 7, 2023 at 7:12 am

Hello. I am using VS Code with PUB400 and am finding that when I use a special character such as !, it is converted to a different character when I view the code from the green screen. It is the same problem if I write the code on the green screen and then view it in vs code. Is there something I need to do in the settings of VS CODE to fix this? Or maybe an extension I’m missing?
Reply
- Patrick Behr says:
  July 7, 2023 at 9:25 am
  
  I wonder if it’s a CCSID issue?!? What is the system CCSID?
  DSPSYSVAL SYSVAL(QCCSID)
  Reply
  - Jack Woehr says:
    July 7, 2023 at 11:11 am
    
    ISTR PUB400.COM is on 237, the German EBCDIC page.
    Reply
- Patrick Behr says:
  July 7, 2023 at 12:22 pm
  
  Is this a hard-coded “!” in RPG source? Maybe try converting it into a constant or variable.
  Reply
Davide Galloni says:
April 21, 2023 at 11:34 am

Hi All,
I’m starting to use Visual Studio, I think is a great tool to write RPG program.
I have a problem on connection to iSeries.
I set up my user name and password but, when I try to connect, I receive this error:
Not connected to 10.144.11.165! Handshake failed: no matching client->server cipher

I don’t found information about this error. Someone can help me to solve this issue??
Many thanks
Davide
Reply
- Alan Seiden says:
  May 21, 2023 at 12:37 pm
  
  Hi, Davide, something seems wrong with your SSH connection. I suggest you test your SSH connection from a terminal or the SSH program in Windows. Troubleshoot your connection there. Once it works, then you can use it again with Code for i. From a terminal, you can use ssh -vvv to get verbose logging information.
  Reply
Susan Gantner says:
June 30, 2022 at 1:21 pm

Great compilation of info – just what i needed! Thanks, Amy.
Reply
- Amy Lantz says:
  June 30, 2022 at 1:27 pm
  
  Very glad that you found it useful! If you run across other great resources that would flesh out this list, please let us know.
  Reply