What does the extends preset do?

extends pulls in a shared, maintained set of defaults — config:recommended is the modern starting point. Building on a preset means you only override the few behaviours you care about instead of configuring everything from scratch.

How does automerge work in Renovate?

Automerge lets Renovate merge a PR automatically once your required status checks pass. It is commonly enabled for low-risk updates like patch versions and devDependencies, while major updates stay manual for review.

What is the Dependency Dashboard?

Enabling :dependencyDashboard makes Renovate open a single issue summarising all pending and rate-limited updates. It gives you one place to see and trigger updates instead of tracking many separate PRs.

Why group non-major updates?

Grouping minor and patch updates into one PR reduces noise and CI runs when many packages bump at once. The trade-off is a larger PR, so teams that want granular control sometimes leave grouping off.

Where does renovate.json go?

Place renovate.json in the root of your repository, or use .github/renovate.json. Renovate also accepts renovate.json5 and a renovate key in package.json, but a root renovate.json is the most common location.

renovate.json Config Builder

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A clean renovate.json without trial and error

Renovate keeps your dependencies current by opening pull requests as new versions ship, but its behaviour depends entirely on renovate.json. This builder produces a valid config from a few choices so the bot follows a sensible schedule, automerges safe updates, and stays out of your way.

How it works

The tool builds a JSON object starting with the official $schema URL and an extends array seeded with your chosen preset (plus :dependencyDashboard when enabled). It adds timezone and a single-entry schedule array so updates land in a predictable window. branchPrefix, prConcurrentLimit, and labels control how PRs are named, throttled, and tagged. Automerge choices become entries in packageRules: matching devDependencies by matchDepTypes, and patch or minor updates by matchUpdateTypes, each with automerge: true. The non-major grouping rule matches ["minor", "patch"] and assigns a shared groupName and groupSlug so those bumps arrive in one PR.

Example and notes

A low-noise setup uses config:recommended, a Monday-morning schedule, automerge on patch and dev updates, and non-major grouping turned on — that combination keeps the repo current while leaving major bumps for human review. Automerge only fires when your branch protection and status checks pass, so configure required checks first. Drop the file at the repo root and Renovate applies it on its next scheduled run.