Shareable Config Presets¶

This page describes how to configure your shared presets. Read the Key concepts, presets page to learn more about presets in general.

Shareable config presets must use the JSON, JSONC or JSON5 formats, other formats are not supported.

Tip

Describe what your preset does in the "description" field or add comments as Renovate supports JSONC syntax within its preset files.

Extending from a preset¶

To use a preset put it in an extends array within your Renovate config. Presets can be nested.

Preset Hosting¶

Presets should be hosted in repositories, which usually means the same platform host as Renovate is running against.

Alternatively, Renovate can fetch preset files from an HTTP server.

Warning

We deprecated npm-based presets. We plan to drop the npm-based presets feature in a future major release of Renovate.

You can set a Git tag (like a SemVer) to use a specific release of your shared config.

Preset File Naming¶

Presets are repo-hosted, and you can have one or more presets hosted per repository. If you omit a file name from your preset (e.g. github>abc/foo) then Renovate will look for a default.json file in the repo. If you wish to have an alternative file name, you need to specify it (e.g. github>abc/foo//alternative-name.json5).

Warning

We've deprecated using a renovate.json file for the default preset file name in a repository. If you're using a renovate.json file to share your presets, rename it to default.json.

GitHub¶

name	example use	preset	resolves as	filename	Git tag
GitHub default	`github>abc/foo`	`default`	`https://github.com/abc/foo`	`default.json`	Default branch
GitHub with preset name	`github>abc/foo:xyz`	`xyz`	`https://github.com/abc/foo`	`xyz.json`	Default branch
GitHub with preset name (JSONC)	`github>abc/foo:xyz.jsonc`	`xyz`	`https://github.com/abc/foo`	`xyz.jsonc`	Default branch
GitHub with preset name (JSON5)	`github>abc/foo:xyz.json5`	`xyz`	`https://github.com/abc/foo`	`xyz.json5`	Default branch
GitHub with preset name and path	`github>abc/foo//path/xyz`	`xyz`	`https://github.com/abc/foo`	`path/xyz.json`	Default branch
GitHub default with a tag	`github>abc/foo#1.2.3`	`default`	`https://github.com/abc/foo`	`default.json`	`1.2.3`
GitHub with preset name with a tag	`github>abc/foo:xyz#1.2.3`	`xyz`	`https://github.com/abc/foo`	`xyz.json`	`1.2.3`
GitHub with preset name and path with a tag	`github>abc/foo//path/xyz#1.2.3`	`xyz`	`https://github.com/abc/foo`	`path/xyz.json`	`1.2.3`
GitHub with subpreset name and tag	`github>abc/foo:xyz/sub#1.2.3`	`sub`	`https://github.com/abc/foo`	`xyz.json`	`1.2.3`

GitLab¶

name	example use	preset	resolves as	filename	Git tag
GitLab default	`gitlab>abc/foo`	`default`	`https://gitlab.com/abc/foo`	`default.json`	Default branch
GitLab with preset name	`gitlab>abc/foo:xyz`	`xyz`	`https://gitlab.com/abc/foo`	`xyz.json`	Default branch
GitLab with preset name (JSONC)	`gitlab>abc/foo:xyz.jsonc`	`xyz`	`https://gitlab.com/abc/foo`	`xyz.jsonc`	Default branch
GitLab with preset name (JSON5)	`gitlab>abc/foo:xyz.json5`	`xyz`	`https://gitlab.com/abc/foo`	`xyz.json5`	Default branch
GitLab default with a tag	`gitlab>abc/foo#1.2.3`	`default`	`https://gitlab.com/abc/foo`	`default.json`	`1.2.3`
GitLab with preset name with a tag	`gitlab>abc/foo:xyz#1.2.3`	`xyz`	`https://gitlab.com/abc/foo`	`xyz.json`	`1.2.3`
GitLab with preset name and path with a tag	`gitlab>abc/foo//path/xyz#1.2.3`	`xyz`	`https://gitlab.com/abc/foo`	`path/xyz.json`	`1.2.3`
GitLab with subpreset name and tag	`gitlab>abc/foo:xyz/sub#1.2.3`	`sub`	`https://gitlab.com/abc/foo`	`xyz.json`	`1.2.3`

Gitea¶

name	example use	preset	resolves as	filename	Git tag
Gitea default	`gitea>abc/foo`	`default`	`https://gitea.com/abc/foo`	`default.json`	Default branch
Gitea with preset name	`gitea>abc/foo:xyz`	`xyz`	`https://gitea.com/abc/foo`	`xyz.json`	Default branch
Gitea with preset name (JSON5)	`gitea>abc/foo:xyz.json5`	`xyz`	`https://gitea.com/abc/foo`	`xyz.json5`	Default branch
Gitea default with a tag	`gitea>abc/foo#1.2.3`	`default`	`https://gitea.com/abc/foo`	`default.json`	`1.2.3`
Gitea with preset name with a tag	`gitea>abc/foo:xyz#1.2.3`	`xyz`	`https://gitea.com/abc/foo`	`xyz.json`	`1.2.3`
Gitea with preset name and path with a tag	`gitea>abc/foo//path/xyz#1.2.3`	`xyz`	`https://gitea.com/abc/foo`	`path/xyz.json`	`1.2.3`
Gitea with subpreset name and tag	`gitea>abc/foo:xyz/sub#1.2.3`	`sub`	`https://gitea.com/abc/foo`	`xyz.json`	`1.2.3`

Forgejo¶

name	example use	preset	resolves as	filename	Git tag
Forgejo default	`forgejo>abc/foo`	`default`	`https://codeberg.org/abc/foo`	`default.json`	Default branch
Forgejo with preset name	`forgejo>abc/foo:xyz`	`xyz`	`https://codeberg.org/abc/foo`	`xyz.json`	Default branch
Forgejo with preset name (JSON5)	`forgejo>abc/foo:xyz.json5`	`xyz`	`https://codeberg.org/abc/foo`	`xyz.json5`	Default branch
Forgejo default with a tag	`forgejo>abc/foo#1.2.3`	`default`	`https://codeberg.org/abc/foo`	`default.json`	`1.2.3`
Forgejo with preset name with a tag	`forgejo>abc/foo:xyz#1.2.3`	`xyz`	`https://codeberg.org/abc/foo`	`xyz.json`	`1.2.3`
Forgejo with preset name and path with a tag	`forgejo>abc/foo//path/xyz#1.2.3`	`xyz`	`https://codeberg.org/abc/foo`	`path/xyz.json`	`1.2.3`
Forgejo with subpreset name and tag	`forgejo>abc/foo:xyz/sub#1.2.3`	`sub`	`https://codeberg.org/abc/foo`	`xyz.json`	`1.2.3`

Self-hosted Git / current Git server¶

Note

If you're self-hosting your platform, for instance a GitHub Enterprise Server instance, you'll want to use local> to look up presets on the current Git server.
You can also use local> if you're running on github.com, and this will work as if you had written github>. This can make your presets more portable if you run across many different Git platforms.

For instance, if you have platform=github and endpoint=https://github.company.com:

name	example use	preset	resolves as	filename	Git tag
Local default	`local>abc/foo`	`default`	`https://github.company.com/abc/foo`	`default.json`	Default branch
Local with preset path	`local>abc/foo:xyz`	`xyz`	`https://github.company.com/abc/foo`	`xyz.json`	Default branch
Local with preset path (JSON5)	`local>abc/foo:xyz.json5`	`xyz`	`https://github.company.com/abc/foo`	`xyz.json5`	Default branch
Local with preset name and path	`local>abc/foo//path/xyz`	`xyz`	`https://github.company.com/abc/foo`	`path/xyz.json`	Default branch
Local default with a tag	`local>abc/foo#1.2.3`	`default`	`https://github.company.com/abc/foo`	`default.json`	`1.2.3`
Local with preset name with a tag	`local>abc/foo:xyz#1.2.3`	`xyz`	`https://github.company.com/abc/foo`	`xyz.json`	`1.2.3`
Local with preset name and path with a tag	`local>abc/foo//path/xyz#1.2.3`	`xyz`	`https://github.company.com/abc/foo`	`path/xyz.json`	`1.2.3`
Local with subpreset name and tag	`local>abc/foo:xyz/sub#1.2.3`	`sub`	`https://github.company.com/abc/foo`	`xyz.json`	`1.2.3`

Tip

You can't combine the path and sub-preset syntaxes. This means that anything in the form provider>owner/repo//path/to/file:subsubpreset is not supported. One workaround is to use distinct files instead of sub-presets.

Example configs¶

An example of a small rule is :preserveSemverRanges, which has the description "Preserve (but continue to upgrade) any existing SemVer ranges.". It simply sets the configuration option rangeStrategy to replace.

An example of a full config is config:recommended, which is Renovate's default configuration. It mostly uses Renovate config defaults but adds a few smart customizations such as grouping monorepo packages together.

Note

The :xyz naming convention (with : prefix) is shorthand for the default: presets. For example: :xyz is the same as default:xyz.

How to Use Preset Configs¶

By default, Renovate App's onboarding PR suggests the ["config:recommended"] preset. If you're self hosting, and want to use the config:recommended preset, then you must add "onboardingConfig": { "extends": ["config:recommended"] } to your bot's config.

Read the Full Config Presets page to learn more about our config: presets.

A typical onboarding renovate.json looks like this:

{
  "extends": ["config:recommended"]
}

Here's an example of using presets to change Renovate's behavior. You're happy with the config:recommended preset, but want Renovate to create PRs when you're not at the office. You look at our schedule: presets, and find the schedule:nonOfficeHours preset. You put schedule:nonOfficeHours in the extends array of your renovate.json file, like this:

{
  "extends": ["config:recommended", "schedule:nonOfficeHours"]
}

Preset Parameters¶

If you browse the "default" presets, you will see some that have parameters, e.g.:

{
  "labels": {
    "description": "Apply labels <code>{{arg0}}</code> and <code>{{arg1}}</code> to PRs",
    "labels": ["{{arg0}}", "{{arg1}}"]
  },
  "assignee": {
    "description": "Assign PRs to <code>{{arg0}}</code>",
    "assignees": ["{{arg0}}"]
  }
}

Here is how you would use these in your Renovate config:

{
  "extends": [":labels(dependencies,devops)", ":assignee(renovate-tests)"]
}

In short, the number of {{argx}} parameters in the definition is how many parameters you need to provide. Parameters must be strings, non-quoted, and separated by commas if there are more than one.

If you find that you are repeating config a lot, you might consider publishing one of these types of parameterized presets yourself. Or if you think your preset would be valuable for others, please contribute a PR to the Renovate repository, see Contributing to presets.

Also, the entire parameter string is available as {{args}}. It includes everything between parentheses, verbatim, without the parentheses themselves. If you want to include a comma in the parameter value, you need to use {{args}} instead of {{arg0}}.

GitHub-hosted Presets¶

To host your preset config on GitHub:

Create a new repository. Normally you'd call it renovate-config but it can be named anything
Add configuration files to this new repo for any presets you want to share. For the default preset, default.json will be checked. For named presets, <preset-name>.json will be loaded. For example, loading preset library would load library.json. No other files are necessary.
In other repos, reference it in an extends array like "github>owner/name", for example:
```
{
  "extends": ["github>renovate-tests/renovate-config"]
}
```

From then on Renovate will use the Renovate config from the preset repo's default branch. You do not need to add it as a devDependency or add any other files to the preset repo.

GitLab-hosted Presets¶

For a private GitLab repository Renovate requires at least Reporter level access.

To host your preset config on GitLab:

Create a new repository on GitLab. Normally you'd call it renovate-config but it can be named anything
Add a default.json to this new repo containing the preset config. No other files are necessary
In other repos, reference it in an extends array like "gitlab>owner/name", e.g. "gitlab>renovate-tests/renovate-config"

Gitea-hosted Presets¶

To host your preset config on Gitea:

Create a new repository on Gitea. Normally you'd call it renovate-config but you can use any name you want
Add a default.json to this new repository containing the preset config. No other files are necessary
In other repositories, reference it in an extends array like "gitea>owner/name", e.g. "gitea>renovate-tests/renovate-config"

Forgejo-hosted Presets¶

To host your preset config on Forgejo:

Create a new repository on Forgejo. Normally you'd call it renovate-config but you can use any name you want
Add a default.json to this new repository containing the preset config. No other files are necessary
In other repositories, reference it in an extends array like "forgejo>owner/name", e.g. "forgejo>renovate-tests/renovate-config"

Local presets¶

Renovate also supports local presets, e.g. presets that are hosted on the same platform as the target repository. This is especially helpful in self-hosted scenarios where public presets cannot be used. Local presets are specified either by leaving out any prefix, e.g. owner/name, or explicitly by adding a local> prefix, e.g. local>owner/name. Renovate will determine the current platform and look up the preset from there.

Relative preset references¶

Presets can reference other presets from the same repository with a relative path. Renovate resolves the relative reference to the source, repository and tag of the preset which contains the reference. This means you can move or fork a preset repository, or pin it to a tag, without editing the references inside the presets.

Syntax	Resolves relative to
`./x`	the directory of the preset file with the reference
`../x`	the parent directory of the preset file with the reference
`/x`	the root of the preset repository

For example, take a preset repository with this layout:

default.json
system/registries.json
security/base.json

The default.json file can reference the other presets like this:

{
  "extends": ["./system/registries", "/security/base"]
}

If a repository extends github>org/repo#v2.0.0, then Renovate resolves the two references to github>org/repo//system/registries#v2.0.0 and github>org/repo//security/base#v2.0.0. The tag v2.0.0 is inherited, so all presets are read from the same tag.

Note

Relative references only work inside presets. Renovate does not accept them in a repository's own renovate.json, in an inherited config, or in globalExtends. The renovate-config-validator accepts relative references in any file, so a relative reference in a repository's own config only fails when Renovate runs, and not during validation.

Some more things to know about relative references:

You can not add a #tag to a relative reference, because the tag is always inherited from the referencing preset
A relative reference always points to a preset file, you can not reference a sub-preset key inside a file with a relative reference, this is the same limitation as for the //path syntax
Relative references are supported for github, gitlab, gitea, forgejo and local presets
Parameters are supported, for example ./group(eslint), and the parameters may contain a Handlebars template like ./group({{ env.TEAM }})
References whose path contains a Handlebars template, like ./{{ env.SOME_VAR }}/base, are not rewritten, so they fail to resolve
The ignorePresets entries of a preset may also use the relative form, Renovate resolves them in the same way as the extends entries of that preset
A reference which resolves to the default preset at the root of the repository, like /default, is resolved to the plain repository form such as github>org/repo#v2.0.0

Note

Relative references inside an onboardingConfig are canonicalized as well, including the inherited tag. This means an onboarded repository gets an absolute preset string like github>org/repo//system/registries#v2.0.0, which resolves from that repository.

Ignoring relative references¶

Renovate matches ignorePresets entries against the preset string which it resolved, and not against the relative reference which is written inside the preset. This means you must always use the absolute form, including the inherited tag.

Take the repository from above. A repository which extends that catalog can skip security/base.json like this:

{
  "extends": ["github>org/repo#v2.0.0"],
  "ignorePresets": ["github>org/repo//security/base#v2.0.0"]
}

This works at any depth, so a preset which is only reached through another preset, for example a /security/base reference inside system/registries.json, is skipped in the same way.

Using the relative form does not work, because the references are already resolved when the ignorePresets entries are matched:

{
  "extends": ["github>org/repo#v2.0.0"],
  "ignorePresets": ["/security/base"]
}

To find the absolute string of a preset, run Renovate with LOG_LEVEL=debug and read the visitedPresets field of the Resolved shallow config, without merging internal presets message. It lists every merged preset in its absolute form.

A preset may also ignore the presets which it pulls in itself, and may use the relative form for that:

{
  "extends": ["./system/registries"],
  "ignorePresets": ["/security/base"]
}

Note

Renovate uses the ignorePresets of the repository config when there is one, and only falls back to the ignorePresets of a preset otherwise. A preset can therefore only ignore its own references when the repository which extends it does not set ignorePresets.

If a relative reference can not be resolved, for example because it escapes the repository root, then Renovate keeps the raw reference. Use that raw string to neutralize it:

{
  "extends": ["github>org/repo#v2.0.0"],
  "ignorePresets": ["../oops"]
}

Warning

A relative reference which cannot be resolved causes a configuration error in every repository which extends the preset. Preset authors should therefore validate their preset repository in CI, for example with the renovate-config-validator CLI.

Fetching presets from an HTTP server¶

If your desired platform is not yet supported, or if you want presets to work when you run Renovate with --platform=local, you can specify presets using HTTP URLs:

{
  "extends": [
    "http://my.server/users/me/repos/renovate-presets/raw/default.json?at=refs%2Fheads%2Fmain"
  ]
}

Parameters are supported similar to other methods:

{
  "extends": [
    "http://my.server/users/me/repos/renovate-presets/raw/default.json?at=refs%2Fheads%2Fmain(param)"
  ]
}

Templating presets¶

You can use Handlebars templates to be flexible with your presets. This can be handy when you want to include presets conditionally.

Note

The template only supports a small subset of options, but you can extend them via customEnvVariables.

Read the templates section to learn more.

Example use-case¶

The following example shows a self-hosted Renovate preset located in a GitLab repository called renovate/presets.

{
  "extends": ["local>renovate/presets"]
}

Usually you want to validate the preset before you put it in your Renovate configuration Here is an example of how you can use templating to validate and load the preset on a branch level:

// config.js
module.exports = {
  customEnvVariables: {
    GITLAB_REF: process.env.CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME || 'main',
  },
  extends: ['local>renovate/presets#{{ env.GITLAB_REF }}'],
};

Contributing to presets¶

Have you configured a rule that could help others? Please consider contributing it to the Renovate repository so that it gains higher visibility and saves others from reinventing the same thing.

Create a discussion to propose your preset to the Renovate maintainers. The maintainers can also help improve the preset, and let you know where to put it in the code. If you are proposing a "monorepo" preset addition then it's OK to raise a PR directly as that can be more efficient than a GitHub Discussion.

Group/Organization level presets¶

Whenever repository onboarding happens, Renovate checks for a a default config to extend. Renovate will check for a repository called renovate-config with a default.json file in the parent user/group/org of the repository. On platforms that support nested groups (e.g. GitLab), Renovate will check for this repository at each level of grouping, from nearest to furthest, and use the first one it finds. On all platforms, it will then look for a repository named like .{{platform}} (e.g. .github) with a renovate-config.json, under the same top-level user/group/org.

If found, that repository's preset will be suggested as the sole extended preset, and any existing onboardingConfig config will be ignored/overridden. For example the result may be:

{
  "$schema": "https://docs.renovatebot.com/renovate-schema.json",
  "extends": ["local>myorgname/.github:renovate-config"]
}

npm-hosted presets¶

Warning

Using npm-hosted presets is deprecated, we recommend you do not follow these instructions and instead use a local preset.

If you manage multiple repositories using Renovate and want the same custom config across all or most of them, then you might want to consider publishing your own preset config so that you can "extend" it in every applicable repository. That way when you want to change your Renovate configuration you can make the change in one location rather than having to copy/paste it to every repository individually.

Let's say that your username on npm and elsewhere is "fastcore". In that case, you can choose between publishing your preset config package as @fastcore/renovate-config or renovate-config-fastcore. Let's assume you choose renovate-config-fastcore as the package name.

You then need to publish the renovate-config-fastcore package where the package.json has the field renovate-config and then put your config under the field default. For example:

{
  "name": "renovate-config-fastcore",
  "version": "0.0.1",
  "renovate-config": {
    "default": {
      "extends": ["config:recommended", "schedule:nonOfficeHours"]
    }
  }
}

Then in each of your repositories you can add your Renovate config like:

{
  "extends": ["fastcore"]
}

Any repository including this config will then adopt the rules of the default library preset but schedule it on weeknights or weekends.

If you prefer to publish using the namespace @fastcore/renovate-config then you would use the @ prefix instead:

{
  "extends": ["@fastcore"]
}