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The running system is the specification.

Modernise your mainframe estate without losing what it knows.

Cobra runs your COBOL unchanged, proves each business rule against the real program, and lets you change the estate in small steps you can reverse. Other approaches ask you to trust a rewrite. Cobra starts by running what you already trust, then shows you, line by line and test by test, what it does. It reads COBOL, PL/I and IBM assembler — across IBM mainframe and IBM i estates — through one analysis surface.

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The Filix AI methodology
Filix five-layer AI methodologyA stack of five composable layers, from authoritative metadata at the base to a compounding institutional memory at the top.Authoritative metadataThe base layer the AI reasons from1Specialised AI rolesAgents with clear, separate jobs2Loaded expertiseDomain skills the AI uses on demand3Hard rulesSafe choices made the easy default4Compounding memoryLessons that travel between engagements5

Measured evidence

Nearly 4,000
programs of one production estate compile and run on Cobra
1,980
business rules pinned to a COBOL line, each with a test on the real program
3
client estates validated every week, 58 of 58 projects passing
90+
read-only analysis tools across COBOL, PL/I, HLASM, JCL, CICS, IMS, MQ

Measured figures, as at October 2026.

How it works

Read. Run. Prove. Change in steps.

Four stages, each producing something you can check. AI does the work at each stage; tests on your real programs approve it. Nothing is simulated, and every finding links back to a line of your code.

How Cobra works
How Cobra works: read, run, prove, change in stepsYour estate feeds four stages from left to right. Each stage produces an artefact. Evidence from the Prove stage links back to the catalogue made in the Read stage.Your estateCOBOL, PL/I, assembler,JCL, CICS, IMS,files and databasesReadCatalogue every program,record, field, call and job1The catalogue andthe estate mapRunUnchanged, on a realruntime in a container2Your system, runningon modern infrastructureProveOne rule, one sourceline, one test3Decision tables,each row with a testChange in stepsOne slice at a time,each step reversible4Slices moved,each one provedWhat eachstage producesEvidence: every finding links back to a source line
Read this diagram as text
  1. Read. Cobra catalogues every program, record, field, call and job in your estate. It produces the catalogue and the estate map.
  2. Run. Your COBOL runs unchanged on a real runtime in a container. You have your system, running on modern infrastructure.
  3. Prove. Each business rule becomes one row of a decision table, tied to its source line, with a test that runs the real program.
  4. Change in steps. Work moves one slice at a time, and each step can be reversed.
  5. Every finding links back to a source line in the catalogue.
See how it worksSee three scenariosStart with a slice
Platform

One platform, many languages, one runtime.

The Cobra Modernisation Platform is integrated, not a toolkit. Every component composes with every other.

Cobra Runtime

Delivered
A real COBOL runtime, integrated with .NET and ready to run alongside modern services.
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Dictionary Server

Delivered
Authoritative metadata exposed as 90+ specialised tools across COBOL, PL/I, HLASM and more — the base layer the AI reasons from.
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AI Specification Capture

Delivered
A patent-pending approach to extracting business rules from runtime behaviour, not source code alone.
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Testing Framework

Delivered
Generated tests run against the real runtime under modern test infrastructure. Simulation is forbidden.
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Code Generation

Delivered
Schemas and adapters generated from your COBOL definitions, across the major database platforms.
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Language Coverage

Delivered
Multiple mainframe languages — COBOL, PL/I, HLASM, JCL, CICS, IMS, MQ — surfaced by one platform, with COBOL, PL/I and assembler as first-class citizens.
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Deployment

Delivered
Container-first. Run on Linux, in the cloud, or alongside your mainframe during transition.
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Architecture

Delivered
A single canonical view of how the platform composes, end to end.
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Delivered: built, tested and running against real client code and data every week.

Methodology

Layered, opinionated, designed for safe AI.

Authoritative metadata at the base. Specialised AI roles above it. Loaded skills, hard rules, and an institutional memory that compounds. The methodology is the product as much as the platform is.

Read the methodologyFor partners
  1. 1
    Authoritative metadata
    The base layer the AI reasons from.
  2. 2
    Specialised AI roles
    A small set of agents, each with a clear job.
  3. 3
    Loaded expertise
    Domain skills the AI uses on demand.
  4. 4
    Hard rules
    Safe choices made the easy default.
  5. 5
    Compounding memory
    Lessons that travel from one engagement to the next.
Maturity, stated plainly

What is proven, and what is not yet.

A supplier that tells you where the edge is can be checked. One that does not, cannot.

Maturity of the Cobra platform
Built and workingYesEverything described on this site runs today.
Proven against real client production code and dataYesThree client estates run under test every week.
Running a client’s live operationNot yetThat is the next step, and we do not claim otherwise.

Who stands behind it →

What happens next

A focused demo, on your terms.

A 60–90 minute conversation: where you are, where you want to be, and how the platform and the methodology fit. Virtual or on-site.

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