renovatebot/renovate

Analysis updated 2026-06-21

★ 21,457TypeScriptAudience · developerComplexity · 2/5LicenseSetup · easy

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((Renovate))
    What it does
      Dependency updates
      Auto pull requests
      Security patches
    Supported platforms
      GitHub GitLab
      Bitbucket Azure
    Package managers
      npm Python
      Docker Go
    Deployment
      Cloud-hosted free
      Self-hosted Docker

mindmap root((Renovate)) What it does Dependency updates Auto pull requests Security patches Supported platforms GitHub GitLab Bitbucket Azure Package managers npm Python Docker Go Deployment Cloud-hosted free Self-hosted Docker

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What do people build with it?

USE CASE 1

Automatically receive pull requests for outdated npm packages in your GitHub repository without any manual checking.

USE CASE 2

Keep Docker base images up to date across all your repositories with auto-proposed changes you can review and merge.

USE CASE 3

Set up automated dependency updates for a Python or Go project hosted on GitLab or Bitbucket.

USE CASE 4

Schedule dependency update PRs to arrive only on Monday mornings to avoid mid-week distractions.

What is it built with?

TypeScriptNode.jsDocker

How does it compare?

	renovatebot/renovate	desktop/desktop	appium/appium
Stars	21,457	21,437	21,487
Language	TypeScript	TypeScript	TypeScript
Setup difficulty	easy	easy	moderate
Complexity	2/5	1/5	3/5
Audience	developer	general	developer

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you get it running?

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min

Cloud-hosted mode on GitHub requires only installing the Renovate GitHub App, no server or config file needed to get started.

Free to use, but if you distribute a modified version you must release it under the same AGPL-3.0 open-source terms.

In plain English

Renovate is an automated tool that keeps the third-party software dependencies in your code project up to date. Dependencies are the external libraries and packages your code relies on, every project has many of them, and they release new versions regularly with bug fixes and security patches. Manually tracking and updating them is tedious and easy to neglect. Renovate does this work for you automatically. When you connect Renovate to your code repository, it scans your project files to find all the dependencies you have listed, checks whether newer versions exist, and then opens pull requests (proposed changes) in your repository for each update it finds. Those pull requests include information like how old the new version is, how widely adopted it is, and how confident the community is that the update is safe, so you can make an informed decision about whether to merge it. You retain full control, Renovate proposes the changes, but you approve them. The tool supports over 90 different package managers and works with repositories hosted on GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Azure DevOps, Gitea, and several other platforms. It covers updates for dependencies across many languages including npm (JavaScript/TypeScript), Java, Python.NET, Ruby, Go, and Docker. You can run Renovate in several ways: as a free cloud-hosted service on GitHub or Bitbucket (no setup required), as a self-hosted server on your own infrastructure, or as a step in your existing automated build pipeline. The project is maintained by Mend.io, written in TypeScript, and licensed under AGPL-3.0.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1

Set up Renovate on my GitHub repository to automatically open PRs when my npm dependencies release new minor or patch versions, show me the minimal renovate.json config.

Prompt 2

How do I configure Renovate to group all ESLint-related dependency updates into a single pull request instead of one per package?

Prompt 3

Show me a Renovate config that schedules dependency update PRs to be created only on Monday mornings and auto-merges patch-level updates.

Prompt 4

I want to self-host Renovate on my own server, walk me through running it with Docker and connecting it to my GitLab instance.

Prompt 5

How does Renovate decide whether an update is safe to auto-merge, and how do I configure confidence thresholds for my repo?

Frequently asked questions

What is renovate?

Automated tool that scans your code repository for outdated third-party dependencies and opens pull requests to update them, so you never fall behind on bug fixes and security patches.

What language is renovate written in?

Mainly TypeScript. The stack also includes TypeScript, Node.js, Docker.

What license does renovate use?

Free to use, but if you distribute a modified version you must release it under the same AGPL-3.0 open-source terms.

How hard is renovate to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated easy, with roughly 5min to a first successful run.

Who is renovate for?

Mainly developer.

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