IBM makes Bob available for self-hosted deployments

IBM describes Bob as an agentic software development platform that applies AI across software delivery and modernization, rather than only generating code.[1] Bob’s backend runs on Red Hat OpenShift clusters operated by the customer, either on premises or in the customer’s cloud account.[2] Developers access the deployment through Bob IDE and Bob Shell, using the same agent harness as IBM’s cloud service.[2]

Bob connects to deployed models through its Model Inference Gateway; IBM says it does not provision, host or manage the infrastructure that serves those models.[4] Organizations can use a frontier model from a cloud service they already use, or an open-weight model on their own GPUs.[2] With a hybrid setup, model requests and their code context go to the organization’s own cloud account, while Bob’s backend, identity, audit logs and usage metering stay on its cluster.[2] IBM says a self-hosted model configuration can keep source code, development context and build artifacts inside the customer-managed environment.[3]

The deployment includes identity services, an inference gateway, audit logging and usage metering, managed by an operator.[2] Its identity service is based on Keycloak and can connect to an organization’s LDAP or Active Directory.[2] IBM says fully air-gapped clusters are supported, with Bob’s images mirrored into a private registry.[2] For fully self-hosted, disconnected deployments, IBM lists NVIDIA Nemotron 3 Ultra and Poolside Laguna S 2.1 as supported models.[2] IBM recommends using a guardrail model or provider-native guardrails for safety and policy compliance.[4]

IBM says self-hosted Bob became generally available on September 24, 2026.[2] The company has not published pricing and routes prospective customers to a demo request; buyers can also start a proof of concept through an IBM representative, Business Partner or Bob’s Contact Sales page.[2][5] IBM says its Java Modernization, IBM i and IBM Z premium packages work with the self-hosted deployment.[2] The release also adds background processes, an updated MCP client and new administrator controls.[2] IBM reports that 68% of surveyed executives find it challenging to meet data-residency and sovereignty requirements across geographies.[1]