Built-In Tools

Tabnine CLI provides built-in tools that the AI uses automatically to fulfill your requests. You don't call tools directly — the AI selects the right tool based on what you ask.

> What files are in the src directory?

The AI automatically uses the list_directory tool.

Available Tools

File Operations

• read_file — Read file contents. Supports text, images (PNG, JPG, GIF, WEBP, SVG, BMP), audio (MP3, WAV, AIFF, AAC, OGG, FLAC), and PDF files. For text files, can read specific line ranges.

• read_many_files — Read content from multiple files specified by glob patterns. Handles the same file types as read_file. Useful for bulk reads across a directory.

• write_file — Create new files or overwrite existing ones. Creates parent directories if needed.

• replace — Make precise text replacements in existing files. Requires significant surrounding context to ensure correct edits. Can replace a single occurrence (default) or all occurrences of a match.

• list_directory — List files and subdirectories in a directory. Can filter using glob patterns and respects .gitignore and .tabnineignore.

• glob — Find files matching glob patterns (e.g., **/*.ts, src/*.js). Returns absolute paths sorted by modification time (newest first).

Search

• grep_search — Search for regular expression patterns within file contents. Powered by ripgrep when available. Supports context lines, case sensitivity, literal string mode, file filtering, and match limits.

  Note: Older documentation may refer to this tool as search_file_content. That name is a legacy alias — the actual tool name is grep_search.

Shell

• run_shell_command — Execute shell commands in your terminal. Supports background execution, working directory selection, and a brief description for the user.

Web Tools (Disabled by Default)

• web_fetch — Fetch and process content from URLs (including localhost). Can handle up to 20 URLs in a single call. See Web Fetch for details.

These tools are disabled by default in Tabnine CLI. To enable them, add to your settings.json:

{
  "tools": {
    "enableWebFetchTool": true
  }
}

• enableWebFetchTool — enables web_fetch (URL content fetching).

Each setting controls its respective tool independently.

Memory & Task Management

• save_memory — Save concise global user preferences and facts that persist across all sessions and workspaces. Not for workspace-specific context.

• write_todos — Manage subtask lists for complex requests. Tracks progress with statuses: pending, in_progress, completed, cancelled, blocked.

Planning

• enter_plan_mode — Switch to Plan Mode for safe research and planning of complex changes. In Plan Mode, only read-only tools are available.

• exit_plan_mode — Finalize the plan and transition to implementation. Presents the plan for user approval before any edits begin.

Plan Mode is controlled by the experimental.plan setting (enabled by default).

User Interaction

• ask_user — Ask the user one or more questions to gather preferences, clarify requirements, or make decisions. Supports multiple-choice, free-text, and yes/no question types.

Skills

• activate_skill — Load a specialized agent skill by name. Skills provide expert guidance for specific tasks (e.g., coding guidelines, skill creation). Available skills vary by installation.

Internal Documentation

• get_internal_docs — Access Tabnine CLI's built-in documentation files. Without arguments, lists all available docs. With a path argument, returns the content of that doc file.

Task Tracker (Experimental)

These tools are gated behind experimental.taskTracker (disabled by default).

• tracker_create_task — Create a new task (epic, task, or bug).

• tracker_update_task — Update an existing task's title, description, status, or dependencies.

• tracker_get_task — Retrieve details for a specific task.

• tracker_list_tasks — List tasks, optionally filtered by status, type, or parent.

• tracker_add_dependency — Add a dependency between two tasks.

• tracker_visualize — Render an ASCII tree visualization of the task graph.

Built-In MCP Tools

The following tools are powered by Tabnine's infrastructure and run as built-in MCP servers:

• Remote Code Search — Search across your organization's codebases using Tabnine's cloud indexing. Controlled by tools.enableRemoteCodeSearch (enabled by default).

• Coaching Guidelines — AI-powered coding best practices tailored to your team. Controlled by tools.enableCoaching (enabled by default).

Tool Summary

Tool Name	Display Name	Category
read_file	ReadFile	File
read_many_files	ReadManyFiles	File
write_file	WriteFile	File
replace	Edit	File
list_directory	ReadFolder	File
glob	FindFiles	File
grep_search	SearchText	Search
run_shell_command	Shell	Execution
google_web_search	GoogleSearch	Web
web_fetch	WebFetch	Web
save_memory	SaveMemory	Memory
write_todos	WriteTodos	Planning
enter_plan_mode	Enter Plan Mode	Planning
exit_plan_mode	Exit Plan Mode	Planning
ask_user	Ask User	Interaction
activate_skill	Activate Skill	Skills
get_internal_docs	GetInternalDocs	Docs
tracker_create_task	Create Task	Tracker
tracker_update_task	Update Task	Tracker
tracker_get_task	Get Task	Tracker
tracker_list_tasks	List Tasks	Tracker
tracker_add_dependency	Add Dependency	Tracker
tracker_visualize	Visualize Tracker	Tracker

Viewing Tools in the CLI

To see which tools are currently available:

/tools

To include descriptions:

/tools desc

This shows all registered tools from the tool registry, including any MCP tools and subagents you have configured.

Tool Configuration

Auto-Approval

By default, tools that modify files or execute commands require user confirmation. Read-only tools (read, search, list, glob) execute automatically.

To auto-approve specific tools, use the tools.allowed setting:

{
  "tools": {
    "allowed": [
      "run_shell_command(git)",
      "run_shell_command(npm test)",
      "write_file"
    ]
  }
}

For shell commands, you can narrow approval to specific command prefixes by using the run_shell_command(prefix) syntax.

You can also change the approval mode during a session using Ctrl+Y to cycle between Default, Auto-Edit, and Plan modes. See Keyboard Shortcuts for the full list.

Restricting Tools

To restrict which built-in tools are available:

{
  "tools": {
    "core": ["read_file", "grep_search", "list_directory", "glob"],
    "exclude": ["run_shell_command"]
  }
}

• tools.core — Allowlist of built-in tool names. Only these tools are loaded.

• tools.exclude — Denylist of tool names to remove.

Tool Settings Reference

Setting	Type	Default	Description
tools.shell.enableInteractiveShell	boolean	true	Use node-pty for an interactive shell. Falls back to child_process if unavailable.
tools.shell.showColor	boolean	false	Show color in shell output.
tools.shell.pager	string	"cat"	Pager command for shell output.
tools.shell.inactivityTimeout	number	300	Max seconds without output before shell times out (5 minutes).
tools.shell.enableShellOutputEfficiency	boolean	true	Enable shell output efficiency optimizations.
tools.useRipgrep	boolean	true	Use ripgrep for grep_search. Falls back to built-in grep if disabled or unavailable.
tools.enableWebTools	boolean	false	Enable the google_web_search tool.
tools.enableWebFetchTool	boolean	false	Enable the web_fetch tool.
tools.enableRemoteCodeSearch	boolean	true	Enable Tabnine Remote Code Search MCP server.
tools.enableCoaching	boolean	true	Enable Tabnine Coaching Guidelines MCP server.
tools.truncateToolOutputThreshold	number	40000	Truncate tool output exceeding this many characters. First 20% and last 80% are kept.
tools.searchOutputLimitEnabled	boolean	true	Limit search tool result size.
tools.searchMaxChars	number	50000	Max characters from search tools.
tools.disableLLMCorrection	boolean	true	Disable LLM-based error correction for the replace tool. When true, edits fail immediately if the exact string isn't found instead of attempting self-correction.
tools.allowed	string[]	—	Tool names that bypass the confirmation dialog.
tools.core	string[]	—	Restrict built-in tools to this allowlist.
tools.exclude	string[]	—	Tool names to exclude entirely.
experimental.plan	boolean	true	Enable Plan Mode (enter_plan_mode / exit_plan_mode).
experimental.taskTracker	boolean	false	Enable experimental task tracker tools.

Tools that modify files or run shell commands always ask for confirmation before performing the action, unless auto-approved via tools.allowed or the approval mode is set to YOLO or Auto-Edit.