AUTOMATION

Autonomous COBOL Mainframe Debugging with Hopper

Use AI agents to autonomously debug COBOL programs, inspect JES output, and fix compilation errors on mainframes

Updated: 5/13/2026
Difficulty
hard
Time
5-30m per debug cycle
Use Case
Debugging COBOL programs by autonomously navigating TN3270 terminals, finding source members, checking copybooks, locating compile JCL, submitting jobs, reading JES/SYSPRINT output, interpreting condition codes, patching fixed-width source, and resubmitting
Popularity
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About this automation

Hopper enables AI agents to operate autonomously within mainframe environments by combining a real TN3270 terminal, mainframe-aware panels for datasets/members/jobs/spool output, and agent logic. Instead of manually submitting jobs and inspecting output, agents can handle the entire debug loop.

How to implement

1

Describe the COBOL program issue or desired change in natural language to Hopper

2

Agent navigates ISPF panels to locate the relevant source member and copybooks

3

Agent identifies and reads the compile JCL

4

Agent submits the job through JES

5

Agent inspects SYSPRINT output and interprets condition codes

6

Agent identifies the bug (e.g., typo in variable name like CUSTOMER-BALNCE vs CUSTOMER-BALANCE)

7

Agent patches the fixed-width source code

8

Agent resubmits the job for compilation

9

Agent verifies successful compilation and reports results