diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/tab.rb b/Library/Homebrew/tab.rb
index a922f914fd..0c6fb79272 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/tab.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/tab.rb
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ class Tab < OpenStruct
   end
 
   def write
-    tabfile.write to_json
+    tabfile.atomic_write(to_json)
   end
 
   def to_s