z/OS Assistant for Copilot

Talk to your mainframe in natural language — directly from GitHub Copilot Chat.

z/OS Assistant is a VS Code Chat Participant that bridges GitHub Copilot and z/OS via the Zowe SDK. Manage datasets, monitor jobs, submit JCL — all through conversational commands, in plain English or French.

Requirements

The extension automatically connects using:

1. Zowe Explorer's active profile (if installed)
2. zowe.config.json in your workspace (fallback)

No additional credential configuration needed.

Features

@zos /ds — Datasets & PDS Members

Browse, read, write, search and manage z/OS datasets and PDS members.

@zos /ds list datasets HLQ.COBOL.**
@zos /ds show members of HLQ.COBOL.SRC
@zos /ds display HLQ.COBOL.SRC(PGMA)
@zos /ds search PERFORM in HLQ.COBOL.SRC
@zos /ds info about HLQ.COBOL.LOAD

10 operations: list, read, write, create, delete, search, info — with auto-detected syntax highlighting for COBOL, JCL, and ASM.

@zos /jobs — z/OS Jobs

Monitor and manage your batch jobs with visual status indicators.

@zos /jobs list my jobs
@zos /jobs status of JOB12345
@zos /jobs show output of JOB12345
@zos /jobs monitor JOB12345 BATCH01
@zos /jobs cancel JOB12345 BATCH01

7 operations: list, status, spool output, cancel, purge, monitor — with visual RC indicators (✅ 🟡 🔴) and automatic error diagnosis.

@zos /run — JCL Submission

Submit JCL from datasets, inline, or resubmit previous jobs.

@zos /run submit HLQ.JCL(BATCH01)
@zos /run launch HLQ.JCL(COMPILE) and monitor
@zos /run resubmit job JOB12345

4 operations: submit from dataset, submit inline JCL, submit + auto-monitor with spool display, resubmit from previous job.

Safety System

Destructive operations are protected by a three-tier confirmation system:

Production detection: datasets matching *.PROD.*, *.PRD.*, SYS*.** are automatically flagged. Configurable via settings.

Getting Started

1. Install GitHub Copilot Chat and Zowe Explorer
2. Install z/OS Assistant for Copilot from the Marketplace
3. Open the Copilot Chat panel (Ctrl+Alt+I)
4. Type @zos to start interacting with your mainframe

Configuration

Open Settings (Ctrl+,) and search for z/OS Assistant:

Commands

Language Model Tools

In addition to chat commands, z/OS Assistant exposes the following tools that Copilot can invoke automatically during conversations:

• #zos_listDatasets — List datasets matching a pattern
• #zos_listMembers — List PDS members
• #zos_readMember — Read a PDS member's content
• #zos_datasetInfo — Get dataset attributes (DSORG, RECFM, LRECL…)
• #zos_searchContent — Search text across a PDS
• #zos_listJobs — List jobs by owner, prefix, or status
• #zos_getJobStatus — Get detailed job status and return code
• #zos_getJobOutput — Retrieve spool output (SYSPRINT, JESMSGLG…)
• #zos_submitJcl — Submit JCL from a dataset member

Telemetry

All telemetry data is stored locally on your machine (VS Code globalState). Nothing is sent externally. Run z/OS: Usage report (last 30 days) to view your usage statistics.

To disable telemetry, set zosAssistant.telemetryEnabled to false in settings.

Roadmap

• [ ] /tso — TSO and console commands
• [ ] /uss — USS filesystem operations
• [ ] Multi-profile support (switch between LPAR environments)
• [ ] Copilot instruction file for enhanced COBOL assistance
• [ ] Dataset content caching for faster repeated reads

Known Issues

• /tso and /uss commands are not yet implemented (placeholders)
• Multi-LPAR profile switching is in progress

Report issues at github.com/zarafa-dev-io/zLMTools/issues.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.