Fresche X-Modernize AI goes self-service: IBM i teams can convert RPG to Java themselves, starting with 1,000 free credits

Fresche Solutions has made X-Modernize AI generally available as a self-service web application, the Montreal company announced on November 4. IBM i development teams can now sign up, analyze their applications, and convert RPG code to Java on their own, instead of going through Fresche’s fully managed service. The launch gives those teams a choice: run the conversion themselves, or have Fresche run it through Modernization-as-a-Service (MaaS) with the same engine.

The distinction matters because the people converting the code are often the people who know it best. X-Modernize AI first launched in November 2025 as Fresche’s third generation of IBM i modernization technology, powering its own MaaS engagements. A year later, the same conversion engine is available directly to the developers who maintain these applications day to day — the ones who know where the business rules live and which programs depend on which. Fresche’s lead product manager, Babar Ali, put the gap the self-service version closes plainly: teams that wanted to modernize with their own developers had few purpose-built options, and general-purpose AI tools cannot see the whole application or say what a conversion will cost.

Three steps from RPG to Java

Analyze. Teams start with complimentary access to X-Analysis, which maps the entire application — programs, files, and every dependency between them — and divides it into manageable slices, so each conversion starts with full context. Mapping an application before changing it is a discipline in its own right; this site’s hands-on with Floorplan shows what a codebase map looks like when it is done well, and X-Analysis plays the equivalent role here, for RPG estates rather than a single repository.

Convert. Metadata and application slices are exported directly to X-Modernize AI, where specialized AI agents plan, convert, test, and correct the code, producing clean Java and a new, modern web UI. The agents work slice by slice rather than translating line by line, and Fresche’s product brief says auto-generated unit tests find and correct errors during conversion, with the best-fit model chosen for each task. It is the same pattern of agents doing sustained code work that Together AI’s Compiler applies to GPU code — autonomous agents, checked output, human review at the end.

Refine. Developers download the converted code or pull it into Git and handle last-mile remediation in the tools they already use. The Java is theirs to keep, with no platform lock-in and no runtime licence, and teams choose the scope, timing, and language model for each conversion. Because each section of the generated Java maps back to the original RPG subroutine, reviewers can check converted logic against the source it came from.

The price of trying it

Pricing follows the same try-before-you-commit shape as the product: start free, prove the value, pay only as you modernize. Every new account receives 1,000 credits to convert its own code, so teams can judge output quality, speed, and effort on a real application before investing. Before each conversion, X-Modernize AI shows the estimated cost of that slice, so teams can plan the work and the budget with no surprises — the cost preview Ali flags as the thing general-purpose tools cannot offer. The self-service platform is available now for RPG to Java conversion, with sign-up at Fresche’s X-Modernize AI page; no credit card is needed to start.

What early users report

Among the first teams to use the self-service app is Fareway, a grocery retailer whose small IT team supports accounting, warehouse, and store operations on IBM i. Its developers used X-Modernize AI to convert sales reporting and warehouse programs from RPG to Java, and after about an hour of onboarding they were running conversions on their own. “Once we got our first one going, it was like, oh, okay, this is simple,” said Heather M., a software developer at Fareway, who added that the comments in the generated code helped her follow what the RPG had been doing even without knowing Java. Maggie M., Fareway’s team lead for application development, framed the need as capacity rather than headcount: “We’re not necessarily looking at growing our team by headcount, but there’s a lot of complexity in our system. We need these tools to help us get there.”

Georgia Crown Distributing Company, which also worked with Fresche ahead of the launch, sees the self-service app as succession planning. “Somebody fresh out of school who knows Java could step in, start looking at that code and support it,” said Mark S., senior programmer analyst there. The argument is the one every IBM i shop faces: RPG expertise retires, Java graduates do not need to learn RPG to maintain the system once the code has moved.

Self-service, or have Fresche deliver it

Organizations that would rather not run the work themselves can choose Modernization-as-a-Service, where Fresche’s modernization team uses the same X-Modernize AI technology to deliver whole-application transformation end to end. Teams can also start in self-service and bring Fresche in when a project grows in scope. “For 50 years, Fresche has worked alongside the teams who keep IBM i running, and this launch puts our modernization technology directly in their hands,” said Joe Zarrehparvar, Fresche’s CEO. “Whether a team runs X-Modernize AI themselves or has our experts run it for them, they keep the business logic their company depends on and gain Java code they own.” Ali says the product carries what Fresche has learned across more than 800 modernization projects; the company says more than 2,200 organizations worldwide use its modernization, managed services, security, and data and analytics offerings.

Part of a wider push

The self-service launch follows a busy autumn for Fresche’s AI portfolio. In October it released OpsIQ, a free AI assistant for IBM i operations first previewed with the company’s 50th anniversary announcement in September. OpsIQ lets operators and administrators ask questions about their systems in plain language, ranks QSYSOPR messages by severity, and helps diagnose issues with suggested fixes. It is free to download and use. X-Modernize AI is the conversion half of the same story: one tool to keep the system running, another to move it somewhere new. For IBM i teams, the question was never whether the code would outlive its authors. It is whether the move to Java happens on their schedule, with their people, and at a cost they can see before they commit. As of today, that version of the move exists.