diff --git a/src/packages/snippets/keymaps/snippets-1.cson b/src/packages/snippets/keymaps/snippets-1.cson
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c8bf63c51
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/packages/snippets/keymaps/snippets-1.cson
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+window.keymap.bindKeys '.editor'
+  'tab': 'snippets:expand'
diff --git a/src/packages/snippets/keymaps/snippets-2.cson b/src/packages/snippets/keymaps/snippets-2.cson
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6b660c6fd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/packages/snippets/keymaps/snippets-2.cson
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+# it's critical that these bindings be loaded after those snippets-1 so they
+# are later in the cascade, hence breaking the keymap into 2 files
+
+window.keymap.bindKeys '.editor'
+  'tab': 'snippets:next-tab-stop'
+  'shift-tab': 'snippets:previous-tab-stop'
diff --git a/src/packages/snippets/keymaps/snippets.cson b/src/packages/snippets/keymaps/snippets.cson
deleted file mode 100644
index 6227dd8c1..000000000
--- a/src/packages/snippets/keymaps/snippets.cson
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,6 +0,0 @@
-window.keymap.bindKeys '.editor'
-  'tab': 'snippets:expand'
-
-window.keymap.bindKeys '.editor'
-  'tab': 'snippets:next-tab-stop'
-  'shift-tab': 'snippets:previous-tab-stop'