--- a/tabbyapi/common/auth.py
+++ b/tabbyapi/common/auth.py
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ async def load_auth_keys(disable_from_config: bool):
 
     yaml = YAML(typ=["rt", "safe"])
     try:
-        async with aiofiles.open("api_tokens.yml", "r", encoding="utf8") as auth_file:
+        async with aiofiles.open("/var/lib/tabbyapi/api_tokens.yml", "r", encoding="utf8") as auth_file:
             contents = await auth_file.read()
             auth_keys_dict = yaml.load(contents)
             AUTH_KEYS = AuthKeys.model_validate(auth_keys_dict)
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ async def load_auth_keys(disable_from_config: bool):
         )
         AUTH_KEYS = new_auth_keys
 
-        async with aiofiles.open("api_tokens.yml", "w", encoding="utf8") as auth_file:
+        async with aiofiles.open("/var/lib/tabbyapi/api_tokens.yml", "w", encoding="utf8") as auth_file:
             string_stream = io.StringIO()
             yaml.dump(AUTH_KEYS.model_dump(), string_stream)