diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 02312b7..c0b417f 100755
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
     "type": "git",
     "url": "https://github.com/cursorless-dev/command-server"
   },
-  "version": "0.11.0",
+  "version": "0.12.0",
   "engines": {
     "vscode": "^1.53.0"
   },
@@ -109,6 +109,11 @@
           "type": "boolean",
           "default": false,
           "description": "Whether to enable protection against background windows executing a command"
+        },
+        "command-server.communicationDirLocation": {
+          "type": "string",
+          "default": "",
+          "description": "The directory in which the command server will create a directory to communicate with the client. You shouldn't set this unless your TMPDIR/TEMP/TMP environment variables are inconsistent between VS Code and the Talon/Python command client. Currently, this is only useful when set to a temporary directory."
         }
       }
     }
@@ -139,6 +144,6 @@
   "dependencies": {
     "minimatch": "^3.0.4",
     "rimraf": "^3.0.2",
-    "talon-rpc": "2.1.0"
+    "talon-rpc": "2.2.0"
   }
 }
diff --git a/src/communicationDirLocationSetting.ts b/src/communicationDirLocationSetting.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..735f9e8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/communicationDirLocationSetting.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+import * as vscode from "vscode";
+
+export function getCommunicationDirLocationSetting(): string | undefined {
+  const value = vscode.workspace
+    .getConfiguration("command-server")
+    .get<string>("communicationDirLocation")
+    ?.trim();
+  return value ? value : undefined;
+}
+
+export function onCommunicationDirLocationSettingChange(callback: () => void) {
+  vscode.workspace.onDidChangeConfiguration((e) => {
+    if (e.affectsConfiguration("command-server.communicationDirLocation")) {
+      callback();
+    }
+  });
+}
diff --git a/src/extension.ts b/src/extension.ts
index 9f85a31..59dfe0f 100755
--- a/src/extension.ts
+++ b/src/extension.ts
@@ -1,16 +1,25 @@
 import { NodeIo, TalonRpcServer } from "talon-rpc";
 import * as vscode from "vscode";
 import CommandRunner from "./commandRunner";
+import {
+  getCommunicationDirLocationSetting,
+  onCommunicationDirLocationSettingChange,
+} from "./communicationDirLocationSetting";
 import { RPC_DIR_NAME } from "./constants";
 import { FocusedElementType } from "./types";
 
 export async function activate(context: vscode.ExtensionContext) {
   const commandRunner = new CommandRunner();
-  const io = new NodeIo(RPC_DIR_NAME);
-  const rpc = new TalonRpcServer(io, commandRunner.runCommand);
-
+  let io = new NodeIo(RPC_DIR_NAME, getCommunicationDirLocationSetting());
+  let rpc = new TalonRpcServer(io, commandRunner.runCommand);
   await io.initialize();
 
+  onCommunicationDirLocationSettingChange(async () => {
+    io = new NodeIo(RPC_DIR_NAME, getCommunicationDirLocationSetting());
+    rpc = new TalonRpcServer(io, commandRunner.runCommand);
+    await io.initialize();
+  });
+
   let focusedElementType: FocusedElementType | undefined;
 
   context.subscriptions.push(
diff --git a/yarn.lock b/yarn.lock
index fa60e05..4d273f3 100644
--- a/yarn.lock
+++ b/yarn.lock
@@ -1350,10 +1350,10 @@ table@^6.0.4:
     slice-ansi "^4.0.0"
     string-width "^4.2.0"
 
-talon-rpc@2.1.0:
-  version "2.1.0"
-  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/talon-rpc/-/talon-rpc-2.1.0.tgz#fd66e8ace51a8d359cb960f6269dfbf11915e1e9"
-  integrity sha512-ADIJtafDcm2FYx1Jk0wah1fm5lxFkUT3XIvOKxiCkyckMGS5uQ1BgdacG5fnSLbJQcj5DZ9Shu0DDh8N1k1CzA==
+talon-rpc@2.2.0:
+  version "2.2.0"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/talon-rpc/-/talon-rpc-2.2.0.tgz#db7f13a7b5dfac3af896801577dd430aac0cf9ef"
+  integrity sha512-ORMJnDjPZ0fgSn6vAwqMDIkPQosTVBRFt5J533L7bn/8yxPEZy5eqTE7pXN8324EinJq7uSjUeYlr1zIW8qNaQ==
 
 text-table@^0.2.0:
   version "0.2.0"