GitHub Actions

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Run Tabnine CLI on every GitHub pull request to automate code review, documentation, test generation, and more.

Overview

The Tabnine GitHub Action is a composite action that installs the Tabnine CLI, authenticates, and runs the agent in non-interactive mode on every pull request. The included configuration provides a comprehensive code review prompt, but you can customize the prompt to automate any task — documentation generation, test scaffolding, changelog drafting, and more.

Composite Action vs. Standalone Workflow

There are two ways to use Tabnine with GitHub Actions:

Approach	Best For
Composite Action (recommended)	Most users - minimal setup, automatic updates when you bump the action version
Standalone Workflow	Users who want full control over every step, need to customize the setup, or prefer not to depend on an external action

The Quick Setup below uses the composite action. If you prefer the standalone approach, copy GitHub/tabnine-review.yml from this repository into your project at .github/workflows/tabnine-review.yml. The standalone workflow contains all the same steps (CLI installation, authentication, cleanup, and the code review prompt) inlined directly, so you can modify any part of it.

The standalone workflow uses GitHub repository variables (vars.TABNINE_HOST, vars.TABNINE_MODEL_ID) for optional configuration instead of action inputs. Set them in Settings > Secrets and variables > Actions > Variables tab > New repository variable.

When setting an env variable TABNINE_CLEANUP=True, a cleanup stage will be added to the workflow and delete the settings that were generated previously.

Prerequisites

• A GitHub repository with Actions enabled

• A Tabnine account with Agents enabled

• TABNINE_KEY - Tabnine Personal access token

Quick Setup

1

Add the TABNINE_KEY secret

Go to your repository's Settings > Secrets and variables > Actions and add a new repository secret named TABNINE_KEY with your Tabnine PAT.

2

Create the workflow file

Create .github/workflows/tabnine-review.yml in your repository:

.github/workflows/tabnine-review.yml

name: "Tabnine PR Review Agent"

on:
  pull_request:
    branches:
      - main

permissions:
  contents: read
  pull-requests: write

jobs:
  review_pr:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Checkout the repository
        uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0

      - name: Review PR
        uses: codota/tabnine-pr-agent@v2
        continue-on-error: true
        with:
          TABNINE_KEY: ${{ secrets.TABNINE_KEY }}
          github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
          repository: ${{ github.repository }}
          pull_request_number: ${{ github.event.pull_request.number }}
          head_sha: ${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha }}
          base_sha: ${{ github.event.pull_request.base.sha }}

3

Open a pull request

Push the workflow file and open a PR. The Tabnine Code Review will run automatically and post its findings as comments.

Configuration

Required Inputs

Input	Description
TABNINE_KEY	Tabnine Personal access token. Store as a repository secret.
github_token	GitHub token for posting comments. Use the built-in secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN.
repository	Repository in owner/repo format. Use ${{ github.repository }}.
pull_request_number	PR number. Use ${{ github.event.pull_request.number }}.
head_sha	PR head commit SHA. Use ${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha }}.
base_sha	PR base commit SHA. Use ${{ github.event.pull_request.base.sha }}.

Optional Inputs

Input	Default	Description
tabnine_host	https://console.tabnine.com	Tabnine host URL (for self-hosted / EMT installations)
model_id	—	Model ID for the AI agent. Overrides the default from the admin console.

Important Notes

Full git history required. The checkout step must use fetch-depth: 0 so the agent can access the full diff between the PR branch and the base branch.

continue-on-error: true is recommended so that a review failure does not block your CI pipeline. Code review is advisory - it should not prevent merges.

Permissions

The workflow requires these GitHub token permissions:

Permission	Level	Why
contents	read	Read repository files and diff
pull-requests	write	Post review comments on the PR

How It Works

1

Install the CLI

Installs Tabnine CLI from your Tabnine host.

2

Configure authentication

Configures authentication using the TABNINE_KEY secret.

3

Clean up previous comments

Cleans up any previous Tabnine PR Bot comments (to avoid duplicates on re-runs).

4

Run the agent

Runs the agent with the configured prompt — the agent has access to the repository, the PR diff (via gh pr diff), shell commands, and the GitHub API.

The agent uses the pre-authenticated gh CLI, so no additional API tokens are needed beyond GITHUB_TOKEN.

With the included code review prompt, the agent fetches the diff, classifies risk, audits the code, and posts inline comments and a summary. You can replace or extend the prompt to perform other tasks.

Customization

Reviewing Only Specific Branches

Update the on trigger to limit which branches get reviewed:

workflow trigger

on:
  pull_request:
    branches:
      - main
      - develop
      - 'release/**'

Using a Specific Model

Pass a model_id to override the default AI model:

Using a specific model

- name: Review PR
  uses: codota/tabnine-pr-agent@v2
  continue-on-error: true
  with:
    TABNINE_KEY: ${{ secrets.TABNINE_KEY }}
    github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
    repository: ${{ github.repository }}
    pull_request_number: ${{ github.event.pull_request.number }}
    head_sha: ${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha }}
    base_sha: ${{ github.event.pull_request.base.sha }}
    model_id: "your-model-id"

Self-Hosted / Private Installations

If you run a self-hosted Tabnine instance, set the tabnine_host input:

Self-hosted Tabnine host

- name: Review PR
  uses: codota/tabnine-pr-agent@v2
  continue-on-error: true
  with:
    TABNINE_KEY: ${{ secrets.TABNINE_KEY }}
    github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
    repository: ${{ github.repository }}
    pull_request_number: ${{ github.event.pull_request.number }}
    head_sha: ${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha }}
    base_sha: ${{ github.event.pull_request.base.sha }}
    tabnine_host: "https://tabnine.your-company.com"

Troubleshooting

"Error: TABNINE_KEY is required"

The TABNINE_KEY secret is not set or is empty.

Solution: Add the secret in Settings > Secrets and variables > Actions > New repository secret. The value should be the Personal Access Token from your Tabnine admin console.

"Error: Tabnine CLI installation failed"

The CLI installer could not be downloaded or executed.

Solution:

• Verify the tabnine_host URL is reachable from GitHub Actions runners

• If using a self-hosted runner, ensure it has internet access and Node.js 20+

• Check if your corporate firewall blocks the Tabnine host

No comments appear on the PR

The action ran but no review comments were posted.

Possible causes:

• The PR diff is empty or contains only low-risk changes (Tier 1 reviews may post only a summary)

• The pull-requests: write permission is missing from the workflow

• Check the GitHub Actions logs for errors in the "Code Review" step

Duplicate comments on re-runs

The action automatically cleans up previous Tabnine PR Bot comments before posting new ones. If duplicates appear:

Solution: Ensure the github_token has pull-requests: write permission, which is required for deleting old comments.

See Also

• Git Integrations Overview — Supported platforms and review capabilities

• GitLab CI/CD — Setup for GitLab

• Bitbucket Pipelines — Setup for Bitbucket