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Version: v1

Dependency updates

Vortex ships a Renovate configuration that keeps your project's dependencies current. Renovate opens pull requests for new releases of your PHP and JavaScript packages, container images, CI tools and GitHub Actions. Every group auto-merges by default. Most groups also wait 14 days before they propose a release, which gives a registry time to pull a compromised release before it reaches your project. A fix for a published security advisory skips that wait when Renovate can read your repository's advisories.

This page is for the lead or DevOps engineer who sets up Renovate for a project and decides which updates merge on their own. It covers how updates are grouped, delayed and merged, running Renovate in your own CI and the settings in renovate.json. To check your dependencies for known vulnerabilities, see Dependency audit.

How updates are organized​

Renovate opens every pull request from a branch with the deps/ prefix and labels it Dependencies. To have the pull requests assigned to someone, add their GitHub usernames to the assignees field.

Update rules​

The following table lists the update groups, with the schedule and the delay of each:

GroupPackagesUpdate typesScheduleMinimum release age
Drupal coredrupal/core-recommended, drupal/core-composer-scaffold, drupal/core-project-message and drupal/core-devMinor, patchDaily before 2 AM UTCNone
Drupal contrib and PHP packages (non-core)All Drupal contrib modules and non-Drupal Packagist packagesMinor, patchWeekly, Sunday before 2 AM UTC14 days for Packagist packages
JS packagesAll npm packages (root package.json only)Minor, patchWeekly, Sunday before 2 AM UTC14 days
Container imagesImages in .docker/ and docker-compose.yml, and the images CI starts with docker runMajor, minor, patchDaily before 3 AM UTC14 days for Docker Hub images
CI toolsnpm packages that CI runs at a pinned version through npxMajor, minor, patchDaily before 3 AM UTC14 days
Renovate imageThe renovate/renovate image in .circleci/update-dependencies.ymlMajor, minor, patchWeekly, Sunday before 3 AM UTC14 days
GitHub ActionsAll actions, and the container images that the jobs in .github/workflows/ run in, all pinned to digestsMajor, minor, patchDaily before 3 AM UTC14 days

A schedule is a time window. Renovate creates a group's branches only during a run that falls inside the group's window. The schedule itself never starts a run.

Renovate publishes several releases a day, so the image that runs Renovate in CircleCI has a group of its own with a weekly schedule. In the daily CI tools group, the Renovate image would get a new pull request almost every day.

Auto-merge​

Every group auto-merges by default: GitHub merges the PR as soon as it meets the base branch's protection rules, such as required status checks and reviews. Each group in renovate.json lists an explicit automerge flag, so you can see and change the behavior per group. To merge a group's PRs yourself, set its flag to false:

{
    "groupName": "PHP - Drupal core - Minor and patch",
    "groupSlug": "php-drupal-core-minor-patch",
    ...
    "automerge": false
}

The installer's Auto-merge dependency updates prompt asks which groups to auto-merge, with every group selected by default. It sets the flag to true for the groups you select and to false for the other groups. The CI tools choice covers the Renovate image group too. When you update Vortex, the prompt preselects the groups whose flag is already true, so your choices carry over.

Auto-merge requires 2 settings in the GitHub repository:

  • Allow auto-merge, turned on in Settings > General, under Pull Requests.
  • Require status checks to pass before merging, turned on in the base branch's protection rules, with at least 1 required status check selected. Without a required check, GitHub might merge a PR even when CI fails.

Every required status check must also report on deps/* branches. A check that never reports, such as a CircleCI job that a branch filter excludes from deps/* branches, keeps the PR blocked indefinitely. A GitHub Actions job skipped by its if condition reports as skipped, which satisfies the requirement.

Minimum release age​

In every group except Drupal core, Renovate holds back a new release until it's 14 days old, on registries that record release dates. A compromised release is often detected and pulled from its registry within days. Nobody reviews an auto-merged update, so the delay keeps such a release out of your project. Renovate recommends 14 days when you auto-merge third-party dependencies.

Each delayed group sets minimumReleaseAge next to its automerge flag:

{
    "groupName": "JavaScript - All packages - Minor and patch",
    "groupSlug": "js-all-minor-patch",
    ...
    "minimumReleaseAge": "14 days",
    "automerge": true
}

The top-level "internalChecksFilter": "strict" setting makes Renovate wait to create the branch and the PR until a release reaches that age. When the newest release is too young, Renovate proposes the newest release that's old enough. A grouped PR leaves out the packages with no release old enough yet. Because the PR only exists after the delay has passed, GitHub's auto-merge can't merge a release early.

The delay adds to each group's schedule. A weekly group proposes a release 14 to 21 days after it's published. A daily group proposes it 14 to 15 days after.

Drupal core​

Drupal core has no delay, so a core security release is proposed on the next daily run. Its rule in renovate.json carries a description that says so.

Registries without release dates​

Renovate can only hold back a release when its registry records when the release was published. 2 of the registries Vortex uses don't record release dates, so their updates arrive without the delay:

  • Drupal.org, for Drupal contrib modules
  • GitHub Container Registry, for the Gitleaks image

The top-level "minimumReleaseAgeBehaviour": "timestamp-optional" setting lets these updates through. Without it, Renovate would hold them back indefinitely. The logLevelRemap entry stops Renovate from reporting them as a repository problem on the Dependency Dashboard.

Docker Hub records release dates, but Renovate can't read them for an image with more than 1,000 tags. The Renovate image has tens of thousands of tags, so Vortex looks its versions up in the renovate npm package instead. The package uses the same version numbers and records a date for every release.

GitHub Actions are aged by the date of the commit that a tag points to. The action's publisher controls that date, so for actions the delay is a weaker safeguard than for packages from a registry.

Change the delay​

To change the delay for a group, edit its minimumReleaseAge. To remove the delay, delete the key. Turning auto-merge off for a group keeps its delay, so to get those PRs as soon as a release is published, delete the key too. The delay applies to routine updates only: a security fix skips it.

The Dependency Dashboard lists the updates waiting for the minimum age under Pending Status Checks, where you can request an update early.

Security fixes​

Renovate raises a PR for a published security advisory on its next run after it reads the advisory. The PR skips the minimum release age, the group's schedule and the limit on open PRs. It updates the affected dependency to the lowest release that fixes the advisory.

Advisory PRs carry the Dependencies and Security labels, so they stand apart from routine updates. The vulnerabilityAlerts setting in renovate.json sets the labels:

"vulnerabilityAlerts": {
    "labels": [
        "Dependencies",
        "Security"
    ]
},

Let Renovate read advisories​

On GitHub, Renovate reads advisories from the repository's Dependabot alerts. Turn on these 2 settings in Settings > Advanced Security:

  • Dependency graph
  • Dependabot alerts

Both settings are free on every GitHub plan, for private repositories too. Renovate raises advisory PRs only for the packages listed in composer.json and package.json and the actions in your workflow files. Update an indirect dependency that an alert flags yourself.

Dependabot alerts only list advisories in the repository's Security tab. Dependabot opens PRs through 2 separate features: Dependabot security updates and version updates from a .github/dependabot.yml file. Leave both off, so Renovate stays the only bot that opens dependency PRs.

Renovate also needs permission to read the alerts:

  • Renovate GitHub app: read access to Dependabot alerts. Check the app's permissions under Settings > GitHub Apps.
  • Self-hosted service: a RENOVATE_TOKEN that reads Dependabot alerts. A classic token's repo scope includes that access. A fine-grained token needs the Dependabot alerts repository permission set to Read-only.

Without that access, Renovate gets no advisories. Each security fix then waits like a routine update.

Read advisories from OSV​

If your organization blocks Dependabot alerts, Renovate can read advisories from the OSV database instead. Add "osvVulnerabilityAlerts": true to renovate.json. Renovate marks the option as experimental. It checks only the dependencies listed in composer.json and package.json. The self-hosted service downloads the OSV database on every run.

When Renovate reads no advisories, a security fix arrives as a routine update and waits like any other update. Apply a fix that needs a new major version yourself, because Renovate skips major updates of PHP and JS packages. The dependency audit still reports the advisory in CI. To apply any other fix sooner, update the dependency yourself or request the pending update from the Dependency Dashboard.

Batch security fixes with routine updates​

To have security fixes wait for their group's schedule and minimum release age, turn the fast path off:

"vulnerabilityAlerts": {
    "enabled": false
},

Leave osvVulnerabilityAlerts off with this setting. With both set, Renovate skips the dependencies that OSV flags.

Continuous integration​

Renovate can run as the hosted GitHub app or as a self-hosted service in CircleCI or GitHub Actions. A self-hosted service suits projects that restrict third-party access to their repositories. The installer's Dependency updates provider prompt offers 3 options:

  • Renovate GitHub app, the default: the installer removes the self-hosted CI configuration, which the app doesn't need.
  • Renovate self-hosted in CI: the installer keeps the self-hosted job.
  • None: the installer removes renovate.json and .circleci/update-dependencies.yml.

With either of the last 2 options, the installer keeps .github/workflows/update-dependencies.yml, even in a CircleCI project. When GitHub Actions doesn't run Renovate for your project, delete that workflow by hand.

note

If the job is configured but a required variable is missing, the job still runs and skips the Renovate run without failing the build. Its log shows a Skipping job. message that names the missing variable. On GitHub Actions, the required variables are RENOVATE_TOKEN and RENOVATE_GIT_AUTHOR. CircleCI also requires RENOVATE_REPOSITORIES, because it has no repository to default to.

Set up the self-hosted service​

On both CI providers, the job checks renovate.json with Renovate's configuration validator before the update run starts. Pick your CI provider for its setup:

Create the following required variables in the GitHub repository settings, in Settings > Secrets and variables > Actions:

  • RENOVATE_TOKEN: A GitHub personal access token, created as a repository secret. A classic token needs the repo scope, plus the workflow scope so Renovate can update the actions in your workflow files. A fine-grained token also needs read access to Dependabot alerts for security fixes. For its other permissions, see the Renovate GitHub platform documentation.
  • RENOVATE_GIT_AUTHOR: The author of Renovate commits in the format Name <email@example.com>, such as Renovate Bot <renovate@example.com>, created as a repository variable.

The following optional variables are repository variables too. Each one has a default:

  • RENOVATE_REPOSITORIES: Repository to run Renovate on in the format yourorg/repo (default: the current repository).
  • RENOVATE_DRY_RUN: Set to true to test runs without making changes (default: false).

The workflow runs on a schedule at 11:45 and 23:45 UTC every day. Both times fall outside the schedule windows in renovate.json, which all end by 3 AM UTC, so a scheduled run opens no PRs for the update groups. To get PRs from scheduled runs, move the cron times in .github/workflows/update-dependencies.yml into the windows, or widen the windows.

Manual trigger: run the workflow from the Actions tab with the workflow dispatch feature. A manual run ignores the schedules, prHourlyLimit and branchConcurrentLimit. renovate.json doesn't set branchConcurrentLimit, so it otherwise takes the prConcurrentLimit value of 10. A manual run can therefore create more than 10 branches. It still opens at most 10 PRs and waits for the minimum release age. Select its preserve_schedules option to keep the schedules and skip the updates that aren't due, the way a scheduled run does.

Debug logging: enabled by default with LOG_LEVEL: 'debug'.

The self-hosted service runs only on its schedule or when you start it, so a request you tick on the Dependency Dashboard waits for the next run.

Confirm that the job's Run Renovate step ran and that no step printed a Skipping job. message.

Dependency dashboard​

The Renovate Dependency Dashboard is a GitHub issue that tracks the updates Renovate has found. It groups them under headings such as these:

  • Awaiting Schedule: updates waiting for their group's schedule window
  • Pending Status Checks: updates waiting for their release to reach the minimum release age
  • Rate-Limited: updates held back by the limit on open PRs
  • Errored: updates that failed and that Renovate retries
  • Open: updates that already have a PR

To request an update early, tick its checkbox on the dashboard.

The config:recommended preset turns the dashboard on. To turn it off, set "dependencyDashboard": false in renovate.json.

In self-hosted mode, the issue title names the CI provider that runs Renovate:

  • On GitHub Actions: "Renovate Dependency Dashboard (self-hosted) by GitHub Actions"
  • On CircleCI: "Renovate Dependency Dashboard (self-hosted) by CircleCI"

Configuration​

The configuration lives in renovate.json. It extends Renovate's config:recommended preset. Its Drupal core and contrib groups follow the Renovate configuration for automated Drupal dependency updates project.

Renovate reads only the files that the managers in enabledManagers cover:

  • composer for composer.json
  • npm for the package.json files
  • dockerfile for the Dockerfiles in .docker/
  • docker-compose for docker-compose.yml
  • github-actions for the workflows in .github/workflows/
  • custom.regex for 4 custom managers: the IMAGE build argument in docker-compose.yml, the docker run and npx --yes lines in .circleci/config.yml and .github/workflows/, and the renovate/renovate image in .circleci/update-dependencies.yml

Renovate leaves the other image references in .circleci/config.yml untracked, such as the drevops/ci-runner image that the jobs run in.

Renovate raises the version constraint in composer.json and package.json to each new release ("rangeStrategy": "bump"), the same way Composer's bump-after-update setting does. Constraints that end in @dev, @alpha, @beta, @RC or @stable are the exception. A rule that works around a Renovate bug gives them update-lockfile, so Renovate updates only the lock file while the new release fits the constraint. The rule matches the flags in that exact case, so a lowercase @rc still gets bump.

Because configMigration is on, Renovate also raises a pull request when it needs to migrate renovate.json to a newer configuration format.

PR throughput and presentation​

The following settings control how many PRs Renovate opens and how they look:

  • Concurrent PR limit: prConcurrentLimit: 10 - at most 10 open PRs across all groups at any time.
  • Hourly PR limit: prHourlyLimit: 0 - no hourly cap, because the schedules in the update rules limit the rate.
  • Commit body table: commitBodyTable: true - every update commit carries a table of its updates in the commit message body.
  • Dashboard labels: the Renovate dependency dashboard issue is labeled Dependencies (dependencyDashboardLabels).

Disabled updates​

Renovate skips these updates on purpose, so you apply them by hand. The following table lists each disabled rule:

GroupWhat's skippedWhy
PHP majorAll Packagist packages in composer.json, including Drupal core and contribMajor version upgrades might introduce breaking changes
JS majorAll npm packages in the root package.jsonMajor version upgrades might introduce breaking changes
PHP language versionphp constraint in composer.jsonThe constraint stays in line with config.platform.php and the PHP version of the container images
JS language versionsnode, npm in package.jsonThe constraints stay in line with the Node.js and npm versions in the cli container, where npm runs
JS non-root packagesAny package.json not at the rootTheme dependencies are managed separately