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Hi HN, we’re Sai and Aayush, and we’re building Hypercubic (https://www.hypercubic.ai/). Today we’re launching Hopper, an agentic development environment for the mainframe.
Mainframes still run a surprising amount of critical infrastructure: banking, payments, insurance, airlines, government programs, logistics, and core operations at large institutions. Many of these systems are decades old, but they continue to process enormous transaction volumes because they are reliable, secure, and deeply embedded into business operations.
A lot of that software is written in COBOL and runs on IBM z/OS. The development environment looks very different from modern cloud or Unix-style development. Instead of GitHub, shell commands, package managers, and CI pipelines, developers often work through TN3270 terminal sessions, ISPF panels, partitioned datasets, JCL, JES queues, spool output, return codes, VSAM files, CICS transactions, and shop-specific conventions.
TN3270 is the terminal interface used to interact with many IBM mainframe systems. ISPF is the menu and panel system developers use inside that terminal to browse datasets, edit source, submit jobs, and inspect output. It is powerful and reliable, but it was designed for expert humans navigating screens, function keys, and fixed-width workflows, not AI agents.
A simple COBOL change might require finding the right source member, checking copybooks, locating compile JCL, submitting a job, reading JES/SYSPRINT output, interpreting condition codes, patching fixed-width source, and resubmitting.
Much of this work is so well-defined and repetitive that it's a good fit for agentic AI. To get that working, however, a chatbot next to a terminal is not enough. The agent needs to operate inside the mainframe environment.
Hopper combines three things: (1) A real TN3270 terminal, (2) Mainframe-aware panels for datasets, members, jobs, and spool output, and (3) An AI agent that can operate across those z/OS surfaces.
For example, here is a tiny version of the kind of thing Hopper can help debug:
cobol
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. PAYCALC.
DATA DIVISION.
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
01 CUSTOMER-BALANCE PIC 9(7)V99.
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
ADD 100.00 TO CUSTOMER-BALNCE
DISPLAY "UPDATED BALANCE: " CUSTOMER-BALANCE
STOP RUN.
jcl
//PAYCOMP JOB (ACCT),'COMPILE',CLASS=A,MSGCLASS=X
//COBOL EXEC IGYWCL
[//COBOL.SYSIN](https://cobol.sysin/) DD DSN=USER1.APP.COBOL(PAYCALC),DISP=SHR
[//LKED.SYSLMOD](https://lked.syslmod/) DD DSN=USER1.APP.LOAD(PAYCALC),DISP=SHR
Hopper is designed to let an agent operate through that same loop autonomously.
Hopper is not trying to hide the mainframe behind a generic abstraction. It is not a chatbot pasted onto a terminal. The design principle is simple: preserve the fidelity of the mainframe environment, but make it accessible to AI agents.
Sensitive operations require approval, and the terminal remains visible at all times.
Once agents can operate inside the mainframe environment, new workflows become possible: faster job debugging, automated documentation, safer code changes, test generation, migration planning, traffic replay, and modernization verification.
At Hypercubic, we are building AI-native infrastructure for the full lifecycle of legacy modernization: understanding, operating, transforming, and testing. Hopper is one part of that platform.
Visit our site to download Hopper: https://www.hypercubic.ai/hopper
Here’s a demo video of Hopper in action: https://youtu.be/q81L5DcfBvE
You can also request access and immediately get a mainframe user account to play with.
We’re curious to hear your thoughts, especially from anyone who has worked with mainframes, COBOL or has done legacy enterprise modernization.
Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48111143
Points: 3
# Comments: 1
Google I/O is just a week away, and that means it’s time for another Android Show event to unpack all the Android ecosystem highlights Google has in store. Android Show: I/O Edition is set to kick off on YouTube and the Android website at 10AM PT / 1PM ET on Tuesday, May 12th. Based on […]
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