Agent Development Overview

Build specialized AI agents for IBM i systems using the MCP server and custom toolsets.

AI agents provide intelligent automation and assistance for IBM i system administration through natural language interfaces. The IBM i MCP server enables you to build specialized agents that focus on specific domains (performance monitoring, system discovery, security auditing) rather than monolithic agents attempting all tasks.

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Architecture Overview

The IBM i MCP server provides the foundation for building specialized agents. Agents connect to the MCP server, which exposes IBM i capabilities through SQL-based tools organized into toolsets. This architecture enables you to build focused agents that only see the tools they need.

Three-Layer Design

AI Agent Layer

Your specialized agent with natural language understanding, persistent memory, and domain-specific knowledge

Toolset Filtering

FilteredMCPTools provides selective tool access based on annotations (toolsets, read-only, etc.)

IBM i MCP Server

SQL tools as MCP tools registered from YAML, validated, and formatted for AI consumption

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Building Specialized Agents with Toolsets

Toolsets are collections of related SQL tools that enable focused agent capabilities. Instead of giving an agent access to all 50+ tools, you configure it to use only the toolset(s) it needs.

Example Toolsets

Toolset	Purpose	When to Use
performance	System performance monitoring	Agents that track CPU, memory, active jobs, and resource utilization
sysadmin_discovery	High-level service discovery	Agents that explore available QSYS2 services and capabilities
sysadmin_browse	Detailed service exploration	Agents that dive deep into specific schemas and service categories
sysadmin_search	Targeted service search	Agents that find specific services by name or keyword

Why Toolsets? Specialized agents are more reliable, performant, and secure than monolithic agents. A performance monitoring agent doesn’t need access to security audit tools. A discovery agent doesn’t need write operations. Toolsets enforce this separation.

Creating Custom Toolsets

You define toolsets in your YAML tool configuration:

# tools/custom-tools.yaml
toolsets:
  security_audit:
    tools:
      - get_failed_logins
      - list_object_authorities
      - check_password_expiry

  database_health:
    tools:
      - table_sizes
      - index_status
      - query_performance

Your agent framework can then filter to these custom toolsets when connecting to the MCP server.

Build Custom Toolsets →

Learn how to define toolsets in YAML and use them with agents

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Agent Development Approach

Building an agent for IBM i follows this high-level process:

1. Define Agent Purpose

   What specific IBM i domain will this agent handle? Performance? Security? Discovery?

2. Select or Create Toolsets

   Use existing toolsets or define custom ones in YAML based on your agent’s needs

3. Configure Tool Filtering

   Connect your agent framework to the MCP server with toolset filters

4. Write Agent Instructions

   Guide the agent on how to interpret user questions and use tools effectively

5. Test and Deploy

   Verify the agent’s reliability and deploy as a standalone service

Multi-Agent Architecture: IBM i’s traditional separation of concerns translates well to specialized agents. Rather than one agent for “IBM i administration,” build separate agents for performance monitoring, security auditing, database management, etc. Each agent becomes an expert in its domain.

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Framework Options

Pre-built integrations are available for popular agent frameworks:

Agno Framework

Python agents with AgentOS, persistent memory, and evaluation tools

Google ADK

Google Agent Development Kit with Google AI and Vertex AI support

LangChain

LangGraph-based agents with state management and workflows

Each integration includes example specialized agents demonstrating toolset filtering and domain-focused architectures.

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Next Steps

SQL Tools Building

Understand how to create SQL tools and organize them into toolsets

Toolsets Guide

Learn how to define and use toolsets for specialized agents

Agno Framework Guide

Start building agents with the recommended Agno framework

Example Agents

Explore pre-built specialized agents for performance, discovery, and more

Architecture Philosophy: The IBM i MCP server encourages specialized agents that handle specific domains rather than monolithic agents attempting all tasks. This separation of concerns aligns with IBM i’s traditional design philosophy and provides better performance, security, and maintainability.