Blog
What each release changes, and why.
Release write-ups, and posts for business teams about getting more from ERP data on IBM i. Also as RSS.
2026
Mapepire works again when the job CCSID is 65535
A new Mapepire server made every query fail on systems where the job CCSID is 65535. Version 3.8.4 connects through the database host server again, so the job CCSID no longer matters.→Before you approve it
An eight-minute video for the person who reviews this server, with the four questions a review should ask and real refusals from the server.→Charts when you ask for them
Version 3.8 shows query results as a sortable grid under the tool call, and as a chart when the user asks for one, in Claude and the example web app.→A chat app without a subscription for everyone
Version 3.7 adds an example web app that signs people in with their IBM i profile and lets them ask questions with one shared API key or a local model.→Log in with your SSH agent
Version 3.6 lets the Mapepire driver log in to the IBM i through an SSH agent, so the key can have a passphrase and nothing unencrypted sits on disk.→Rules the model reads before the first query
Version 3.2 sends your most important data rules to the model at the start of every session, next to the table notes and business tools you already write in YAML.→Asking Grok Bot about your IBM i
Grok Bot gives you AI teammates that work on their own cloud computer. Connected to this server, a Bot answers questions about Db2 for i data from chat, signed in as you.→Running the server on AWS Fargate
One shared Db2 for i MCP server on Fargate, reaching the IBM i over a site-to-site VPN, with a WAF that only lets in your company networks and the AI clients you use.→The whole list as a spreadsheet
Ask for all the open orders for a customer and get a file you can open in Excel, not a summary in the chat.→Query exports and staying signed in (2.12)
export_query writes every row of a read-only query to a CSV or XLSX file, OAuth sign-ins survive restarts, and fixes for non-ASCII text, binary columns and the schema allowlist.→What "open order" means at your company
How your own business definitions, written down once, keep an AI assistant from guessing about your ERP data. Explained without the technical detail.→New questions for the ERP data you already have
How an AI assistant can answer the one-off questions between reports, against live ERP data on IBM i, alongside the screens, Excel workbooks and BI tools you already use.→Services, timeouts and routines (2.10 and 2.11)
A query timeout that cancels on the IBM i, IBM i services search, SQL errors with cause and recovery text, index advice, and procedures and functions.→Sign in with your IBM i profile
A built-in OAuth 2.1 server lets claude.ai, Cursor and Claude Code connect with one URL. Everyone signs in as themselves and queries run with their own authority.→Mapepire is back, over SSH
I dropped the Mapepire driver earlier. Its new SSH mode changes the trade-off, so it's back, for systems where only port 22 is open.→No Java by default, and several systems from one server
The IBM i Access ODBC driver is now the default, JT400 is optional, and one server can reach production, test and development side by side.→Finding things and keeping control
Search across libraries, profile a table, check journaling, read tables as MCP resources, and mask sensitive columns with every call written to an audit log.→Teaching the model your schema with YAML
Table notes and named business tools, written once in YAML, so the model uses your definitions instead of guessing.→Let IBM i check the model's work
Three tools that push validation to the system itself, so the model finds out about a wrong column name before anything runs.→2.0: the current MCP spec and stricter read-only guarantees
The server now speaks the 2026-07-28 MCP spec, the database connection itself is read-only, and a library allowlist limits what the model can reach.→Hardening 1.x, and an HTTP transport
A stricter SQL validator, rate limits and result limits, Docker secrets, and a way for web apps and agents to connect over HTTP.→Open-sourcing an MCP server for Db2 for i
Why I built a way for Claude and Cursor to read IBM i databases directly, and what the first release does.→