Managers

Renovate is based around the concept of "package managers", or "managers" for short. These range from traditional package managers like npm, Bundler and Composer through to less traditional concepts like CircleCI or Travis config files.

The goal of Renovate is to detect and maintain all third-party dependencies in your repositories, through the use of managers.

Supported Managers

Group	Category ID	Managers
Ansible	ansible	ansible, ansible-galaxy
Batect	batect	batect, batect-wrapper
Bazel	bazel	bazel, bazel-module, bazelisk
C and C++	c	conan
Continuous Delivery	cd	argocd, cdnurl, fleet, flux, glasskube, helmfile, helmsman, html, sveltos, tekton
Continuous Integration	ci	azure-pipelines, bitbucket-pipelines, bitrise, buildkite, circleci, cloudbuild, droneci, github-actions, gitlabci, gitlabci-include, jenkins, tekton, travis, velaci, woodpecker
Custom Managers	custom	regex
Dart	dart	pub
Docker	docker	buildpacks, devcontainer, docker-compose, dockerfile
.NET	dotnet	cake, nuget
Elixir	elixir	mix
Go	golang	gomod, ocb
Helm	helm	helm-requirements, helm-values, helmfile, helmsman, helmv3
Infrastructure as Code	iac	ansible, ansible-galaxy, bicep, crossplane, puppet, terraform, terragrunt
Java	java	deps-edn, gradle, gradle-wrapper, kotlin-script, leiningen, maven, maven-wrapper, sbt, scalafmt
JavaScript	js	bun, bun-version, meteor, nodenv, npm, nvm
Kubernetes	kubernetes	argocd, crossplane, fleet, flux, glasskube, helm-requirements, helm-values, helmfile, helmsman, helmv3, jsonnet-bundler, kubernetes, kustomize, sveltos
Node.js	node	nodenv, nvm
Perl	perl	cpanfile
PHP	php	composer
Python	python	pep621, pep723, pip-compile, pip_requirements, pip_setup, pipenv, poetry, pyenv, runtime-version, setup-cfg
Ruby	ruby	bundler, puppet, ruby-version
Rust	rust	cargo
Swift	swift	cocoapods, mint, swift
Terraform	terraform	terraform, terraform-version, terragrunt, terragrunt-version, tflint-plugin
No Category	n/a	asdf, copier, fvm, git-submodules, gleam, hermit, homebrew, mise, nix, osgi, pre-commit, vendir

Configuring Managers

File Matching

Most managers have a default fileMatch array. The fileMatch array has regular expression strings that match against the repository file list.

Managers with no default fileMatch

Some managers have no default fileMatch regular expression, because they have no filename convention that would let Renovate intelligently filter them. In such a case, the manager will be disabled until you create a fileMatch regular expression, e.g. like the following:

{
  "kubernetes": {
    "fileMatch": ["^config/.*\\.yaml$"]
  }
}

Extending a manager's default fileMatch

If the default fileMatch regular expression for a manager does not match against one of your relevant files, you can extend the existing regular expression(s) by configuring a manager's fileMatch like in this example:

{
  "dockerfile": {
    "fileMatch": ["does-not-look-like-a-docker-file"]
  }
}

Ignoring files that match the default fileMatch

Renovate will extend the existing fileMatch, meaning you don't need to include the default regular expressions like Dockerfile in your own array. In other words, the regular expression are "additive". If a manager matches a file that you don't want it to, ignore it using the ignorePaths configuration option. Also, if you ever find that Renovate is not matching a file name that you're certain it should, check your preset config isn't the cause of it. The config:recommended preset ignores common test and example directory names, for example.

Enabling and disabling managers

Enabling experimental managers

Most managers are enabled by default. For those that aren't, typically because they are considered experimental, you can opt-in manually. If there was a manager called some-new-manager you would enable it like this:

{
  "some-new-manager": {
    "enabled": true
  }
}

Disabling managers

Example of disabling a specific manager (gradle)

{
  "gradle": {
    "enabled": false
  }
}

Please check the list of supported managers.

Limiting enabled managers

Say you only want to use Renovate for JavaScript packages, and to update your Dockerfile, and don't want any other updates. You can use the enabledManagers array, to list the managers you want to use (npm, dockerfile):

{
  "enabledManagers": ["npm", "dockerfile"]
}

Using the enabledManagers array disables all other managers, this includes Bundler, Composer, Docker Compose, etc.