Settings

Tabnine CLI provides a comprehensive settings system that allows you to customize the agent's behavior, appearance, and security posture. You can configure settings through two methods:

• Interactive settings command — Type /settings in the chat to open a searchable settings editor

• Manual file editing — Edit the settings JSON files directly (see Settings files below)

For the complete list of all available settings, see Settings Reference.

Settings files

Tabnine CLI loads settings from multiple files, merged in the following order (highest number wins):

#	Level	Path	Purpose
1	System Defaults	<system-defaults-path>	Organization-wide defaults that users can override
2	User	~/.tabnine/agent/settings.json	Personal defaults across all projects
3	Workspace	<project>/.tabnine/agent/settings.json	Project-specific overrides
4	System	<system-settings-path>	Admin-enforced overrides (highest priority)

System Defaults vs System Settings: System Defaults provide organization-wide baseline configuration that individual users can override with their own settings. System Settings have the highest priority and override everything — use them for admin-enforced policies that users cannot change.

System file paths by platform:

Platform	System Settings	System Defaults
Windows	C:\ProgramData\tabnine-cli\settings.json	C:\ProgramData\tabnine-cli\system-defaults.json
macOS	/Library/Application Support/TabnineCli/settings.json	/Library/Application Support/TabnineCli/system-defaults.json
Linux	/etc/tabnine-cli/settings.json	/etc/tabnine-cli/system-defaults.json

System file paths can be overridden with the TABNINE_CLI_SYSTEM_SETTINGS_PATH and TABNINE_CLI_SYSTEM_DEFAULTS_PATH environment variables.

All settings files use the same JSON format. Workspace settings from untrusted folders are ignored.

Changes made via /settings take effect immediately. Manual edits to the JSON files require restarting the CLI. Some settings always require a restart regardless of how they are changed — see the Settings Reference for details.

Core settings

Approval mode

Controls whether the agent asks for confirmation before running shell commands and making file changes.

Value	Description
default	Always ask for confirmation (default)
auto_edit	Auto-approve file edit tools; ask for shell commands
plan	Read-only mode — the agent can only read and plan, not write

Key: general.defaultApprovalMode

{
  "general": {
    "defaultApprovalMode": "auto_edit"
  }
}

YOLO mode (auto-approve everything) can only be enabled via the command line with --yolo or --approval-mode=yolo. It cannot be set in the settings file. To block YOLO mode entirely (even from the command line), set security.disableYoloMode to true.

Theme

Controls the visual theme of the CLI interface. See Themes for the full list and customization options.

Key: ui.theme

Built-in dark themes: Default, Atom One, Ayu, Dracula, GitHub, Holiday, Shades Of Purple, Solarized Dark, ANSI

Built-in light themes: Default Light, Ayu Light, GitHub Light, Google Code, Solarized Light, Xcode, ANSI Light

{
  "ui": {
    "theme": "Dracula"
  }
}

When no theme is explicitly set, the CLI automatically switches between Default (dark) and Default Light based on your terminal background color. Disable this with ui.autoThemeSwitching: false.

Model

Override the model used for conversations. You can also switch models during a session with the /model command or the -m CLI flag. To see how more details and how to configure Fast Models, see Model Selection.

Key: model.name

{
  "model": {
    "name": "your-model-identifier"
  }
}

MCP servers

Configure external MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers to extend the agent with additional tools and context sources. See MCP Server Config for full details.

Key: mcpServers

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "my-server": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@my-org/mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "API_KEY": "your-api-key"
      }
    }
  }
}

MCP server changes always require restarting the CLI.

Telemetry

Telemetry is configured as an object.

See Telemetry for collection behavior and configuration details.

Key: telemetry

{
  "telemetry": {
    "enabled": false
  }
}

Full example

A settings file showing commonly customized options:

{
  "general": {
    "defaultApprovalMode": "auto_edit",
    "vimMode": false,
    "tabnineHost": "https://console.tabnine.com"
  },
  "ui": {
    "theme": "Dracula",
    "autoThemeSwitching": false,
    "showLineNumbers": true,
    "inlineThinkingMode": "full"
  },
  "model": {
    "name": "your-model-identifier",
    "compressionThreshold": 0.7
  },
  "tools": {
    "enableWebFetchTool": true,
    "enableRemoteCodeSearch": true
  },
  "security": {
    "enablePermanentToolApproval": true
  },
  "telemetry": {
    "enabled": true
  },
  "mcpServers": {}
}

Related

• Settings Reference — Complete list of all settings

• Themes — Visual themes and custom theme creation

• MCP Server Config — Detailed MCP server setup

• Hooks — Automate workflows with hooks

• Keyboard Shortcuts — All available keybindings

• Commands — Command-line flags and options