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Self-Hosted configuration options

The configuration options listed in this document are applicable to self-hosted instances of Renovate ("the bot").

Please also see Self-Hosted Experimental Options.

allowCustomCrateRegistries

Configure this to true if custom crate registries are allowed.

Name Value
globalOnly true
type boolean
default false

allowPlugins

Configure this to true if repositories are allowed to run install plugins.

Name Value
globalOnly true
type boolean
default false

allowPostUpgradeCommandTemplating

If true allow templating for post-upgrade commands.

Name Value
type boolean
default false
globalOnly true

Set to true to allow templating of dependency level post-upgrade commands.

Let's look at an example of configuring packages with existing Angular migrations.

Add two properties to config.js: allowPostUpgradeCommandTemplating and allowedPostUpgradeCommands:

module.exports = {
  allowPostUpgradeCommandTemplating: true,
  allowedPostUpgradeCommands: ['^npm ci --ignore-scripts$', '^npx ng update'],
};

In the renovate.json file, define the commands and files to be included in the final commit.

The command to install dependencies (npm ci --ignore-scripts) is necessary because, by default, the installation of dependencies is skipped (see the skipInstalls global option).

{
  "packageRules": [
    {
      "matchPackageNames": ["@angular/core"],
      "postUpgradeTasks": {
        "commands": [
          "npm ci --ignore-scripts",
          "npx ng update {{{depName}}} --from={{{currentVersion}}} --to={{{newVersion}}} --migrate-only --allow-dirty --force"
        ],
        "fileFilters": ["**/**"]
      }
    }
  ]
}

With this configuration, the executable command for @angular/core looks like this:

npm ci --ignore-scripts
npx ng update @angular/core --from=10.0.0 --to=11.0.0 --migrate-only --allow-dirty --force

allowScripts

Configure this to true if repositories are allowed to run install scripts.

Name Value
globalOnly true
type boolean
default false

allowedPostUpgradeCommands

A list of regular expressions that determine which post-upgrade tasks are allowed.

Name Value
type array
subType string
globalOnly true

A list of regular expressions that determine which commands in postUpgradeTasks are allowed to be executed. If this list is empty then no tasks will be executed.

e.g.

{
  "allowedPostUpgradeCommands": ["^tslint --fix$", "^tslint --[a-z]+$"]
}

autodiscover

Autodiscover all repositories.

Name Value
type boolean
default false

When you enable autodiscover, by default, Renovate will run on every repository that the bot account can access. If you want Renovate to run on only a subset of those, use the autodiscoverFilter option to limit the bot to only the wanted repositories.

autodiscoverFilter

Filter the list of autodiscovered repositories.

Name Value
type string

You can use this option to filter the list of repositories that the Renovate bot account can access through autodiscover. It takes a minimatch glob-style pattern.

e.g.

{
  "autodiscoverFilter": "project/*"
}

baseDir

The base directory for Renovate to store local files, including repository files and cache. If left empty, Renovate will create its own temporary directory to use.

Name Value
type string
default null

By default Renovate uses a temporary directory like /tmp/renovate to store its data. You can override this default with the baseDir option.

e.g.

{
  "baseDir": "/my-own-different-temporary-folder"
}

binarySource

Controls whether third party tools like npm or Gradle are called directly, or via Docker sidecar containers.

Name Value
globalOnly true
type string
allowedValues global,docker
default "global"

Renovate often needs to use third party binaries in its PRs, e.g. npm to update package-lock.json or go to update go.sum. By default, Renovate will use a child process to run such tools, so they need to be pre-installed before running Renovate and available in the path.

As an alternative, Renovate can use "sidecar" containers for third party tools. If configured, Renovate will use docker run to create containers such as Node.js or Python to run tools within as-needed. For this to work, docker needs to be installed and the Docker socket available to Renovate.

cacheDir

The directory for Renovate for storing caches. If left empty, Renovate will create a subdirectory within baseDir to use.

Name Value
globalOnly true
type string
default null

By default Renovate uses a temporary directory like /tmp/renovate/cache to store cache data. Use the cacheDir option to override this default.

The baseDir and cacheDir option do not need to point to the same directory. You can use one directory for the repo data, and another for the the cache data.

e.g.

{
  "baseDir": "/my-own-different-temporary-folder",
  "cacheDir": "/my-own-different-cache-folder"
}

customEnvVariables

Custom environment variables for child processes and sidecar Docker containers.

Name Value
globalOnly true
type object

This configuration will be applied after all other environment variables so that it can be used to override defaults.

detectGlobalManagerConfig

If true, Renovate will attempt to read global manager config from the file system.

Name Value
type boolean
default false
globalOnly true

The purpose of this capability is to allow a bot admin to configure manager-specific files such as a global .npmrc file, instead of configuring it in Renovate config.

This feature is disabled by default because it may prove surprising or undesirable for some users who don't expect Renovate to go into their home directory and import registry or credential information.

Currently this capability is supported for the npm manager only - specifically the ~/.npmrc file. If found, it will be imported into config.npmrc with config.npmrcMerge will be set to true.

detectHostRulesFromEnv

If true, Renovate tries to detect host rules from environment variables.

Name Value
type boolean
default false
globalOnly true

The format of the environment variables must follow:

  • Datasource name (e.g. NPM, PYPI)
  • Underscore (_)
  • matchHost
  • Underscore (_)
  • Field name (TOKEN, USER_NAME, or PASSWORD)

Hyphens (-) in datasource or host name must be replaced with double underscores (__). Periods (.) in host names must be replaced with a single underscore (_).

Note: the following prefixes cannot be supported for this functionality: npm_config_, npm_lifecycle_, npm_package_.

npmjs registry token example

NPM_REGISTRY_NPMJS_ORG_TOKEN=abc123:

{
  "hostRules": [
    {
      "hostType": "npm",
      "matchHost": "registry.npmjs.org",
      "token": "abc123"
    }
  ]
}

GitLab Tags username/password example

GITLAB__TAGS_CODE__HOST_COMPANY_COM_USERNAME=bot GITLAB__TAGS_CODE__HOST_COMPANY_COM_PASSWORD=botpass123:

{
  "hostRules": [
    {
      "hostType": "gitlab-tags",
      "matchHost": "code-host.company.com",
      "username": "bot",
      "password": "botpass123"
    }
  ]
}

Datasource and credentials only

You can skip the host part, and use just the datasource and credentials.

DOCKER_USERNAME=bot DOCKER_PASSWORD=botpass123:

{
  "hostRules": [
    {
      "hostType": "docker",
      "username": "bot",
      "password": "botpass123"
    }
  ]
}

dockerChildPrefix

Change this value in order to add a prefix to the Renovate Docker sidecar container names and labels.

Name Value
type string
globalOnly true
default "renovate_"

Adds a custom prefix to the default Renovate sidecar Docker containers name and label.

If this is set to myprefix_ the final container created from renovate/node image would be named myprefix_node instead of currently used renovate_node and be labeled myprefix_child instead of renovate_child.

Note that dangling containers will not be removed until Renovate is run with the same prefix again.

dockerImagePrefix

Change this value in order to override the default Renovate Docker sidecar image name prefix.

Name Value
type string
default "docker.io/renovate"
globalOnly true

By default Renovate pulls the sidecar Docker containers from docker.io/renovate. You can use the dockerImagePrefix option to override this default.

Say you want to pull your images from ghcr.io/renovatebot instead of docker.io/renovate. You would use put this in your configuration file:

{
  "dockerImagePrefix": "ghcr.io/renovatebot"
}

If you pulled a new node image, the final image would be ghcr.io/renovatebot/node instead of docker.io/renovate/node.

dockerUser

Specify UID and GID for Docker-based binaries when binarySource=docker is used.

Name Value
globalOnly true
type string
default null

Override default user and group used by Docker-based binaries. The user-id (UID) and group-id (GID) should match the user that executes Renovate.

Read the Docker run reference for more information on user and group syntax. Set this to 1001:1002 to use UID 1001 and GID 1002. e.g.

{
  "dockerUser": "1001:1002"
}

dryRun

If enabled, perform a dry run by logging messages instead of creating/updating/deleting branches and PRs.

Name Value
type boolean
globalOnly true
default false

endpoint

Custom endpoint to use.

Name Value
type string
globalOnly true

executionTimeout

Default execution timeout in minutes for child processes Renovate creates.

Name Value
type integer
default 15
globalOnly true

Default execution timeout in minutes for child processes Renovate creates. If this option is not set, Renovate will fallback to 15 minutes.

exposeAllEnv

Configure this to true to allow passing of all env variables to package managers.

Name Value
globalOnly true
type boolean
default false

By default, Renovate only passes a limited set of environment variables to package managers. Confidential data can be leaked if a malicious script enumerates all environment variables. Set exposeAllEnv to true only if you have reviewed (and trust) the repositories which Renovate bot runs against.

Setting this to true will also allow for variable substitution in .npmrc files.

force

Any configuration defined within this object will force override existing settings.

Name Value
globalOnly true
type object

This object is used as a "force override" when you need to make sure certain configuration overrides whatever is configured in the repository. For example, forcing a null (no) schedule to make sure Renovate raises PRs on a run even if the repository itself or its preset defines a schedule that's currently inactive.

In practice, it is implemented by converting the force configuration into a packageRule that matches all packages.

forceCli

Whether CLI configuration options should be moved to the force config section.

Name Value
type boolean
default true

This is set to true by default, meaning that any settings (such as schedule) take maximum priority even against custom settings existing inside individual repositories. It will also override any settings in packageRules.

forkMode

Set to true to fork the source repository and create branches there instead.

Name Value
type boolean
default false
globalOnly true

You probably have no need for this option - it is an experimental setting for the Renovate hosted GitHub App. If this is set to true then Renovate will fork the repository into the personal space of the person owning the Personal Access Token.

forkToken

Will be used on GitHub when forkMode is set to true to clone the repositories.

Name Value
type string
default ""
globalOnly true

You probably have no need for this option - it is an experimental setting for the Renovate hosted GitHub App. This should be set to a Personal Access Token (GitHub only) when forkMode is set to true. Renovate will use this token to fork the repository into the personal space of the person owning the Personal Access Token. Renovate will then create branches on the fork and opens Pull Requests on the parent repository.

gitNoVerify

Which git commands will be run with the --no-verify option.

Name Value
type array
subType string
allowedValues commit,push
globalOnly true

Controls when Renovate passes the --no-verify flag to git. The flag can be passed to git commit and/or git push. Read the documentation for git commit --no-verify and git push --no-verify to learn exactly what each flag does. To learn more about Git hooks, read the Pro Git 2 book, section on Git Hooks.

gitPrivateKey

PGP key to use for signing Git commits.

Name Value
type string
globalOnly true
default null

This should be an armored private key, e.g. the type you get from running gpg --export-secret-keys --armor 92066A17F0D1707B4E96863955FEF5171C45FAE5 > private.key. Replace the newlines with \n before adding the resulting single-line value to your bot's config.

It will be loaded lazily. Before the first commit in a repository, Renovate will:

  1. Run gpg import (if it hasn't been run before)
  2. Run git config user.signingkey and git config commit.gpgsign true

The git commands are run locally in the cloned repo instead of globally. This reduces the chance of unintended consequences with global Git configs on shared systems.

gitUrl

Overrides the default resolution for git remote, e.g. to switch GitLab from HTTPS to SSH-based.

Name Value
type string
allowedValues default,ssh,endpoint
default "default"
globalOnly true

Override the default resolution for Git remote, e.g. to switch GitLab from HTTPS to SSH-based. Currently works for GitLab only.

Possible values:

  • default: use HTTPS URLs provided by the platform for Git
  • ssh: use SSH URLs provided by the platform for Git
  • endpoint: ignore URLs provided by the platform and use the configured endpoint directly

logContext

Add a global or per-repo log context to each log entry.

Name Value
globalOnly true
type string

logContext is included with each log entry only if logFormat="json" - it is not included in the pretty log output. If left as default (null), a random short ID will be selected.

logFile

Log file path.

Name Value
type string
default null

logFileLevel

Log file log level.

Name Value
type string
default "debug"

migratePresets

Define presets here which have been removed or renamed and should be migrated automatically.

Name Value
type object
globalOnly true
additionalProperties [object Object]

Use this if you have repositories that extend from a particular preset, which has now been renamed or removed. This is handy if you have a large number of repositories that all extend from a particular preset which you want to rename, without the hassle of manually updating every repository individually. Use an empty string to indicate that the preset should be ignored rather than replaced.

Example:

modules.exports = {
  migratePresets: {
    '@company': 'local>org/renovate-config',
  },
};

In the above example any reference to the @company preset will be replaced with local>org/renovate-config.

onboarding

Require a Configuration PR first.

Name Value
type boolean
globalOnly true
default true

Set this to false only if all three statements are true:

  • You've configured Renovate entirely on the bot side (e.g. empty renovate.json in repositories)
  • You want to run Renovate on every repository the bot has access to
  • You want to skip all onboarding PRs

onboardingBranch

Change this value in order to override the default onboarding branch name.

Name Value
type string
default "renovate/configure"
globalOnly true

Note that this setting is independent of branchPrefix. For example, if you configure branchPrefix to be renovate- then you'd still have the onboarding PR created with branch renovate/configure until you configure onboardingBranch=renovate-configure or similar. If you have an existing Renovate installation and you change onboardingBranch then it's possible that you'll get onboarding PRs for repositories that had previously closed the onboarding PR unmerged.

onboardingCommitMessage

Change this value in order to override the default onboarding commit message.

Name Value
type string
globalOnly true

Note that if commitMessagePrefix or semanticCommits values are defined then they will be prepended to the commit message using the same logic that is used for adding them to non-onboarding commit messages.

onboardingConfig

Configuration to use in onboarding PRs.

Name Value
type object
globalOnly true
mergeable true

onboardingConfigFileName

Change this value in order to override the default onboarding config file name.

Name Value
type string
default "renovate.json"
globalOnly true

If set to one of the valid config file names, the onboarding PR will create a configuration file with the provided name instead of renovate.json. Falls back to renovate.json if the name provided is not valid.

onboardingNoDeps

Onboard repository even if no dependencies found.

Name Value
type boolean
default false
globalOnly true

Set this to true if you want Renovate to create an onboarding PR even if no dependencies are found. Otherwise, Renovate skips onboarding a repository if it finds no dependencies in it.

onboardingPrTitle

Change this value in order to override the default onboarding PR title.

Name Value
type string
default "Configure Renovate"
globalOnly true

Similarly to onboardingBranch, if you have an existing Renovate installation and you change onboardingPrTitle then it's possible that you'll get onboarding PRs for repositories that had previously closed the onboarding PR unmerged.

optimizeForDisabled

Set to true to first check for disabling in config before cloning.

Name Value
type boolean
default false
globalOnly true

password

Password for authentication. Currently Bitbucket only (AppPassword).

Name Value
type string
globalOnly true
default null

persistRepoData

If set to true, repository data will preserved between runs instead of deleted.

Name Value
type boolean
globalOnly true
default false

Set this to true if you want Renovate to persist repo data between runs. The intention is that this allows Renovate to do a faster git fetch between runs rather than git clone. It also may mean that ignored directories like node_modules can be preserved and save time on operations like npm install.

platform

Platform type of repository.

Name Value
type string
allowedValues azure,bitbucket,bitbucket-server,gitea,github,gitlab
default "github"
globalOnly true

prCommitsPerRunLimit

Set a maximum number of commits per Renovate run. Default is no limit.

Name Value
type integer
default 0

Parameter to reduce CI load. CI jobs are usually triggered by these events: pull-request creation, pull-request update, automerge events. Set as an integer. Default is no limit.

printConfig

If enabled, log the full resolved config for each repo, including resolved presets.

Name Value
type boolean
globalOnly true
default false

This option is useful for troubleshooting, particularly if using presets. e.g. run renovate foo/bar --print-config > config.log and the fully-resolved config will be included in the log file.

privateKey

Server-side private key.

Name Value
type string
replaceLineReturns true
globalOnly true
default null

This private key is used to decrypt config files.

The corresponding public key can be used to create encrypted values for config files. If you want a simple UI to encrypt values you can put the public key in a HTML page similar to https://app.renovatebot.com/encrypt.

To create the key pair with GPG use the following commands:

  • gpg --full-generate-key and follow the prompts to generate a key. Name and email are not important to Renovate, and do not configure a passphrase. Use a 4096bit key.
key generation log 
❯ gpg --full-generate-key
gpg (GnuPG) 2.2.24; Copyright (C) 2020 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

Please select what kind of key you want:
   (1) RSA and RSA (default)
   (2) DSA and Elgamal
   (3) DSA (sign only)
   (4) RSA (sign only)
  (14) Existing key from card
Your selection? 1
RSA keys may be between 1024 and 4096 bits long.
What keysize do you want? (3072) 4096
Requested keysize is 4096 bits
Please specify how long the key should be valid.
         0 = key does not expire
      <n>  = key expires in n days
      <n>w = key expires in n weeks
      <n>m = key expires in n months
      <n>y = key expires in n years
Key is valid for? (0)
Key does not expire at all
Is this correct? (y/N) y

GnuPG needs to construct a user ID to identify your key.

Real name: Renovate Bot
Email address: renovate@whitesourcesoftware.com
Comment:
You selected this USER-ID:
    "Renovate Bot <renovate@whitesourcesoftware.com>"

Change (N)ame, (C)omment, (E)mail or (O)kay/(Q)uit? O

gpg: key 0649CC3899F22A66 marked as ultimately trusted
gpg: revocation certificate stored as '/Users/rhys/.gnupg/openpgp-revocs.d/794B820F34B34A8DF32AADB20649CC3899F22A66.rev'
public and secret key created and signed.

pub   rsa4096 2021-09-10 [SC]
      794B820F34B34A8DF32AADB20649CEXAMPLEONLY
uid                      Renovate Bot <renovate@whitesourcesoftware.com>
sub   rsa4096 2021-09-10 [E]
  • Copy the key ID from the output (794B820F34B34A8DF32AADB20649CEXAMPLEONLY in the above example) or run gpg --list-secret-keys if you forgot to take a copy
  • Run gpg --armor --export-secret-keys YOUR_NEW_KEY_ID > renovate-private-key.asc to generate an armored (text-based) private key file
  • Run gpg --armor --export YOUR_NEW_KEY_ID > renovate-public-key.asc to generate an armored (text-based) public key file

The private key should then be added to your Renovate Bot global config (either using privateKeyPath or exporting it to the RENOVATE_PRIVATE_KEY environment variable). The public key can be used to replace the existing key in https://app.renovatebot.com/encrypt for your own use.

Any encrypted secrets using GPG must have a mandatory organization/group scope, and optionally can be scoped for a single repository only. The reason for this is to avoid "replay" attacks where someone could learn your encrypted secret and then reuse it in their own Renovate repositories. Instead, with scoped secrets it means that Renovate ensures that the organization and optionally repository values encrypted with the secret match against the running repository.

Note: simple public key encryption was previously used to encrypt secrets, but this approach has now been deprecated and no longer documented.

privateKeyOld

Secondary/old private key to try.

Name Value
type string
replaceLineReturns true
globalOnly true
default null

Use this field if you need to perform a "key rotation" and support more than one keypair at a time. Decryption with this key will be attempted after privateKey.

If you are migrating from the legacy public key encryption approach to use GPG, then move your legacy private key from privateKey to privateKeyOld and then put your new GPG private key in privateKey. Doing so will mean that Renovate will first attempt to decrypt using the GPG key but fall back to the legacy key and try that next.

You can remove the privateKeyOld config option once all the old encrypted values have been migrated, or if you no longer want to support the old key and let the processing of repositories fail.

privateKeyPath

Path to the Server-side private key.

Name Value
type string
globalOnly true
default null

Used as an alternative to privateKey, if you want the key to be read from disk instead.

privateKeyPathOld

Path to the Server-side old private key.

Name Value
type string
globalOnly true
default null

Used as an alternative to privateKeyOld, if you want the key to be read from disk instead.

Links which are embedded within PRs, issues, etc.

Name Value
type object
globalOnly true
mergeable true
additionalProperties [object Object]

Override this object if you want to change the URLs that Renovate links to, e.g. if you have an internal forum for asking for help.

redisUrl

If defined, this Redis URL will be used for caching instead of the file system.

Name Value
type string
default null

If this value is set then Renovate will use Redis for its global cache instead of the local file system. The global cache is used to store lookup results (e.g. dependency versions and release notes) between repositories and runs. Example url: redis://localhost.

repositories

List of Repositories.

Name Value
type array

repositoryCache

Option to do repository extract caching.

Name Value
globalOnly true
type string
allowedValues disabled,enabled,reset
default "disabled"

Set this to "enabled" to have Renovate maintain a JSON file cache per-repository to speed up extractions. Set to "reset" if you ever need to bypass the cache and have it overwritten. JSON files will be stored inside the cacheDir beside the existing file-based package cache.

Warning: this is an experimental feature and may be modified or removed in a future non-major release.

requireConfig

Set to false if it is optional for repositories to contain a config.

Name Value
type boolean
default true
globalOnly true

If this is set to false, it means that Renovate won't require a config file such as renovate.json to be present in each repository and will run even if one is missing.

secrets

Object containing secret name/value pairs

Name Value
type object
globalOnly true
mergeable true
additionalProperties [object Object]

Secrets may be configured by a bot admin in config.js, which will then make them available for templating within repository configs. For example, to configure a GOOGLE_TOKEN to be accessible by all repositories:

module.exports = {
  secrets: {
    GOOGLE_TOKEN: 'abc123',
  },
};

They can also be configured per repository, e.g.

module.exports = {
  repositories: [
    {
      repository: 'abc/def',
      secrets: {
        GOOGLE_TOKEN: 'abc123',
      },
    },
  ],
};

It could then be used in a repository config or preset like so:

{
  "hostRules": [
    {
      "matchHost": "google.com",
      "token": "{{ secrets.GOOGLE_TOKEN }}"
    }
  ]
}

Secret names must start with an upper or lower case character and can contain only characters, digits, or underscores.

skipInstalls

Skip installing modules/dependencies if lock file updating is possible alone.

Name Value
type boolean
globalOnly true
default null

By default, Renovate will use the most efficient approach to updating package files and lock files, which in most cases skips the need to perform a full module install by the bot. If this is set to false, then a full install of modules will be done. This is currently applicable to npm and lerna/npm only, and only used in cases where bugs in npm result in incorrect lock files being updated.

token

Repository Auth Token.

Name Value
type string
globalOnly true
default null

username

Username for authentication. Currently Bitbucket only.

Name Value
type string
globalOnly true
default null

Mandatory if a GitHub app token is in use using the CLI.

writeDiscoveredRepos

Writes discovered repositories to a JSON file and then exit.

Name Value
type string
globalOnly true
default null

Optional parameter which allows to write the discovered repositories into a JSON file instead of renovating them.

Usage: renovate --write-discovered-repos=/tmp/renovate-repos.json

["myOrg/myRepo", "myOrg/anotherRepo"]
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