Where Does Tabnine Store Config and Models?
Tabnine keeps legacy engine config in a TabNine folder per OS, while the newer CLI agent uses a .tabnine folder in your home directory.
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Tabnine has two generations living side by side, and they store things in different places. The legacy engine uses a TabNine folder: Roaming on Windows, Preferences on Mac, .config on Linux. Its config file is tabnine_config.json.
The newer CLI agent ignores all of that and uses a .tabnine folder in your home directory instead. User settings, workspace overrides and MCP server entries go there. Check which generation your install actually runs before editing, because the two files never sync with each other.
Where Tabnine stores this, by platform
%APPDATA%\TabNine\tabnine_config.json
Legacy engine config plus VS Code binaries under globalStorage per platform triplet. The TABNINE_BINARIES_DIR variable overrides the binary path. Newer CLI installs ignore this folder and use ~/.tabnine instead.
~/Library/Preferences/TabNine/tabnine_config.json
Legacy engine home on Mac, with versioned subfolders plus cloud and local settings beside the config. Agent settings live separately at ~/.tabnine/agent/settings.json regardless of OS.
~/.config/TabNine/tabnine_config.json
Legacy engine home on Linux. System-wide CLI defaults sit at /etc/tabnine-cli/settings.json. Per-user agent config is ~/.tabnine/agent/settings.json with workspace overrides under <project>/.tabnine.
Frequently asked questions
Where do I configure the Tabnine CLI agent?
Edit ~/.tabnine/agent/settings.json in your home folder, or <project>/.tabnine/agent/settings.json for one repo. System defaults sit in ProgramData on Windows, /Library/Application Support on Mac and /etc on Linux. Restart the agent after editing.
Where is the old Tabnine engine config?
Open the legacy tabnine_config.json: %APPDATA%\TabNine on Windows, ~/Library/Preferences/TabNine on Mac, ~/.config/TabNine on Linux. Binaries sit under the VS Code globalStorage TabNine folder per platform triplet. The TABNINE_BINARIES_DIR variable overrides that path.
How do I add an MCP server to Tabnine?
Add it under the mcpServers key in the agent settings file. Both the user file in your home folder and the workspace file in .tabnine accept the key. The legacy engine config does not read MCP entries, so use the agent file.
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