How to Get Started with Tabby: Your Self-Hosted AI Coding Assistant

August 30, 2020

Welcome to the world of Tabby, a self-hosted AI coding assistant designed to provide an open-source and on-premises alternative to popular coding tools like GitHub Copilot. This blog will guide you through the steps to successfully set up and run Tabby on your system, along with troubleshooting tips for a smooth experience.

Why Choose Tabby?

Self-contained with no need for a DBMS or cloud service.
OpenAPI interface, making integration with existing infrastructure seamless.
Support for consumer-grade GPUs.

Getting Started

Follow these steps to get up and running with Tabby quickly:

1. Access the Documentation

First off, familiarize yourself with the official documentation available here.

2. Installation Steps

Head over to the installation guide in the documentation and follow the instructions carefully. Here’s a quick overview:

Run Tabby using Docker with the following command:

docker run -it --gpus all -p 8080:8080 -v $HOME/.tabby:data tabbyml/tabby serve --model StarCoder-1B --device cuda --chat-model Qwen2-1.5B-Instruct

This command will start a server in under a minute!

3. Explore Tabs and Features

Tabby has many exciting features including:

Integration with Codestral for enhanced functionality.
Flexible configurations through HTTP API.
Team management features to enhance collaborative work.

Understand Tabby’s Logic: An Analogy

Imagine you are a chef in a large kitchen, surrounded by multiple ingredients (your coding tasks). Tabby acts as your highly skilled sous-chef, equipped with the knowledge of thousands of recipes (coding solutions) and an ability to prepare dishes (code) swiftly. With the command of just a few words (chat commands), your sous-chef (Tabby) can bring you the exact dish (code completion) you desire without the need for extensive recipes (database or cloud storage). This intuitive interaction allows for a seamless cooking experience where your creativity flows unhindered!

Troubleshooting Tabby

Even with the best systems, hiccups can occur. Here are some common issues you may encounter and their solutions:

Issue: Tabby server fails to start.
Solution: Ensure you have Docker installed and that your GPU drivers are up to date.
Issue: Commands returning errors.
Solution: Double-check your command syntax and confirm that all required dependencies are installed.
Issue: Integration issues with your IDE.
Solution: Review the IDE/Editor Extensions documentation and ensure they are configured correctly.
Need more help? For more insights, updates, or to collaborate on AI development projects, stay connected with fxis.ai.

Final Thoughts

At fxis.ai, we believe that such advancements are crucial for the future of AI, as they enable more comprehensive and effective solutions. Our team is continually exploring new methodologies to push the envelope in artificial intelligence, ensuring that our clients benefit from the latest technological innovations.