create-openibm

Scaffold a new IBM i application in seconds — interactive CLI that asks what you need and wires everything up.

npm create openibm@latest
# or
npx create-openibm
# or pass the project name directly
npx create-openibm my-ibmi-app

What it does

◆ create-openibm

◇ Project name
│  my-ibmi-app

◇ Framework
│  Express

◇ IBM i transport
│  HTTP  (SSH tunnel — recommended for development)

◇ Starter examples  (space to toggle, enter to confirm)
│  ◼ Program call
│  ◼ Table query

◇ Package manager
│  npm

◇ Initialize a git repository?
│  Yes

◇ Install dependencies now?
│  Yes

◆ Done! Next steps:

  cd my-ibmi-app
  cp .env.example .env
  # fill in IBMI_SYSTEM, IBMI_USER, IBMI_PASS
  npm run generate
  # if your schema has outbound declarations, deploy to IBM i:
  npm run setup:ibmi
  npm run dev

Options

| Question | Choices | |---|---| | Framework | None (plain Node.js), Express, NestJS | | Transport | HTTP (SSH tunnel), HTTPS, SSH (direct), ODBC (native DB2) | | Starter examples | Program call (XMLSERVICE *PGM), Table query (DB2 query builder) | | Package manager | npm, pnpm, Yarn | | Git init | Yes / No | | Install deps | Yes / No |

Generated structure

None (plain Node.js)

my-ibmi-app/
├── schema.ibmi          ← define your programs and tables here
├── src/
│   ├── index.ts         ← connect, call, query, disconnect
│   └── generated/ibmi/  ← created by: npm run generate
├── .env.example
├── tsconfig.json
└── package.json

Express

my-ibmi-app/
├── schema.ibmi
├── src/
│   ├── index.ts         ← Express server with IBM i routes
│   └── generated/ibmi/
├── .env.example
├── tsconfig.json
└── package.json

NestJS

my-ibmi-app/
├── schema.ibmi
├── src/
│   ├── main.ts
│   ├── app.module.ts
│   ├── ibmi/
│   │   ├── ibmi.module.ts      ← provides IBMiService
│   │   ├── ibmi.service.ts     ← wraps generated client, auto connect/disconnect
│   │   └── ibmi.controller.ts  ← HTTP endpoints
│   └── generated/ibmi/
├── .env.example
├── tsconfig.json
└── package.json

After scaffolding

cp .env.example .env

Fill in your IBM i credentials:

IBMI_TRANSPORT=http
IBMI_SYSTEM=your-ibmi-host
IBMI_USER=your-username
IBMI_PASS=your-password
IBMI_PORT=57700
IBMI_DATABASE=*LOCAL

Then generate the typed client from your schema:

npm run generate

This reads schema.ibmi and writes a fully typed TypeScript client to src/generated/ibmi/.

If your schema contains outbound declarations, run the setup script once per environment to upload RPG sources, compile SRVPGMs, and create DTAQs on IBM i:

npm run setup:ibmi

The script asks for SSH connection details and shows live progress per outbound.

Generated scripts

| Script | Description | |---|---| | generate | Run openibm generate — reads schema.ibmi, writes typed client | | setup:ibmi | Deploy outbound RPG sources and compile on IBM i (only needed if schema has outbound blocks) | | dev | Start the development server | | build | Compile TypeScript |

Transport notes

| Transport | Notes | |---|---| | HTTP | Recommended for development. Requires an SSH tunnel: ssh -L 57700:localhost:57700 user@ibmi-host | | HTTPS | Same as HTTP but TLS. Default port 47700. | | SSH | Direct connection. Install the ssh2 peer dep: npm install ssh2. Also install xmlservice-utils on IBM i. | | ODBC | Native DB2 pool. Best for production. Install odbc and the IBM i Access ODBC Driver. |

License

MIT