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2025

  • 1 min read

Run and debug Renovate locally

Last I gave a quick introduction to Renovate and how to run it in centralised configuration. Today we will go over how to run Renovate locally for debugging and extending configuration purpose, which is very handy.

npx --yes --package renovate -- renovate --dry-run=full --token="GITHUB_TOKEN" wcarlsen/repository0

This requires only a Github token and to change LOG_LEVEL, just set it as an environment variable to DEBUG.

Now go customise your config.js or renovate.json config files to get the best out of Renovate.

  • 2 min read

Automatic dependency updates (Renovate)

I've for a while now been running selfhosted Renovate at work for handling automatic dependency updates for my team and I can only recommend it. It's like Github's dependabot but on steroids and very simple to setup.

Setup can be structured in two ways, I have implemented the latter.

  • per repository - flexible but not very DRY (don't repeat yourself)
  • centralised - not as flexible but very DRY

All that is needed is a config.js file.

module.exports = {
  branchPrefix: 'update/renovate/',
  username: 'your-service-account-name',
  onboarding: false,
  requireConfig: 'optional',
  platform: 'github',
  repositories: [
    'wcarlsen/repository0',
    'wcarlsen/repository1',
  ],
  packageRules: [
    {
      matchUpdateTypes: [
        'digest',
        'lockFileMaintenance',
        'patch',
        'pin',
      ],
      minimumReleaseAge: '1 day',
      automerge: false,
      matchCurrentVersion: '!/(^0|alpha|beta)/',
      dependencyDashboard: true,
    },
    {
      matchUpdateTypes: [
        'minor'
      ],
      minimumReleaseAge: '7 day',
      automerge: false,
      matchCurrentVersion: '!/(^0|alpha|beta)/',
      dependencyDashboard: true,
    },
    {
      matchUpdateTypes: [
        'major'
      ],
      minimumReleaseAge: '14 day',
      automerge: false,
      dependencyDashboard: true,
    },
  ],
};

and a Github action and service account PAT.

name: Renovate
on:
  schedule:
    - cron: "15 2 * * 1-5" # Every week day at 02.15
  workflow_dispatch:
jobs:
  renovate:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - name: Self-hosted Renovate
        uses: renovatebot/github-action@02f4fdeb479bbb229caa7ad82cb5e691c07e80b3 # v41.0.14
        env:
          LOG_LEVEL: ${{ vars.LOG_LEVEL || 'info' }}
          RENOVATE_INTERNAL_CHECKS_FILTER: none
        with:
          configurationFile: config.js
          token: ${{ secrets.RENOVATE_TOKEN }}

Local overwrites can be done in the repositories root with a renovate.json.

{
  "$schema": "https://docs.renovatebot.com/renovate-schema.json",
  "packageRules": [
    {
      "matchPackageNames": ["registry.k8s.io/autoscaling/cluster-autoscaler"],
      "allowedVersions": "<1.33.0"
    }
  ]
}

Enjoy those well deserved automatic dependency updates.

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