docs/content/code-security/dependabot/dependabot-version-updates/customizing-dependabot-prs.md

title, intro, allowTitleToDifferFromFilename, permissions, versions, type, topics, shortTitle

title	intro	allowTitleToDifferFromFilename	permissions	versions	type	topics	shortTitle
Customizing Dependabot pull requests to fit your processes	Learn how to tailor your Dependabot pull requests to better suit your own internal workflows.	true	{% data reusables.permissions.dependabot-yml-configure %}	fpt ghec ghes * * *	how_to	Dependabot Version updates Repositories Dependencies Pull requests	Customize Dependabot PRs

There are various ways to customize your {% data variables.product.prodname_dependabot %} pull requests so that they better suit your own internal processes.

For example, to integrate {% data variables.product.prodname_dependabot %}'s pull requests into your CI/CD pipelines, it can apply custom labels to pull requests, which you can then use to trigger action workflows.

There are several different customization options which can all be used in combination, and tailored per package ecosystem.

{% ifversion dependabot-reviewers-deprecation %}

Automatically adding assignees

By default, {% data variables.product.prodname_dependabot %} raises pull requests without any assignees.

To automatically assign pull requests to a designated security team, you can use assignees to set these values per package ecosystem.

The example dependabot.yml file below changes the npm configuration so that all pull requests opened with version and security updates for npm have:

• An individual ("user-name") automatically assigned to the pull requests.

# `dependabot.yml` file with
#  assignee for all npm pull requests

version: 2
updates:
  # Keep npm dependencies up to date
  - package-ecosystem: "npm"
    directory: "/"
    schedule:
      interval: "weekly"
    # Raise all npm pull requests with assignees
    assignees:
      - "user-name"

Automatically adding reviewers

By default, {% data variables.product.prodname_dependabot %} raises pull requests without any reviewers.

To ensure your project's security updates get addressed promptly by the appropriate team, you can automatically add reviewers to {% data variables.product.prodname_dependabot %} pull requests using a CODEOWNERS file. See AUTOTITLE.

{% else %}

Automatically adding reviewers and assignees

Important

The reviewers property is closing down and will be removed in a future release of {% data variables.product.prodname_ghe_server %}.

You can also automatically add reviewers and assignees using a CODEOWNERS file. See AUTOTITLE.

By default, {% data variables.product.prodname_dependabot %} raises pull requests without any reviewers or assignees.

However, you may want pull requests to be consistently reviewed or dealt with by a specific individual or team that has expertise in that package ecosystem, or automatically assigned to a designated security team. In which case, you can use reviewers and assignees to set these values per package ecosystem.

The example dependabot.yml file below changes the npm configuration so that all pull requests opened with version and security updates for npm have:

• A team ("my-org/team-name") and an individual ("octocat") automatically added as reviewers to the pull requests.
• An individual ("user-name") automatically assigned to the pull requests.

# `dependabot.yml` file with
# reviews and an assignee for all npm pull requests

version: 2
updates:
  # Keep npm dependencies up to date
  - package-ecosystem: "npm"
    directory: "/"
    schedule:
      interval: "weekly"
    # Raise all npm pull requests with reviewers
    reviewers:
      - "my-org/team-name"
      - "octocat"
    # Raise all npm pull requests with assignees
    assignees:
      - "user-name"

{% endif %}

Labeling pull requests with custom labels

{% data reusables.dependabot.default-labels %}

You can use labels to override the default labels and specify your own custom labels per package ecosystem. This is useful if, for example, you want to:

• Use labels to assign a priority to certain pull requests.
• Use labels to trigger another workflow, such as automatically adding the pull request onto a project board.

The example dependabot.yml file below changes the npm configuration so that all pull requests opened with version and security updates for npm have custom labels.

# `dependabot.yml` file with
# customized npm configuration

version: 2
updates:
  # Keep npm dependencies up to date
  - package-ecosystem: "npm"
    directory: "/"
    schedule:
      interval: "weekly"
    # Raise all npm pull requests with custom labels
    labels:
      - "npm dependencies"
      - "triage-board"

{% data reusables.dependabot.option-affects-security-updates %}

See also labels.

Adding a prefix to commit messages

By default, {% data variables.product.prodname_dependabot %} attempts to detect your commit message preferences and use similar patterns. In addition, {% data variables.product.prodname_dependabot %} populates the titles of pull requests based on the commit messages.

You can specify your own prefix for {% data variables.product.prodname_dependabot %}'s commit messages (and pull request titles) for a specific package ecosystem. This can be useful if, for example, you're running automations that process commit messages or pull requests titles.

To specify your preferences explicitly, use commit-message together with the following supported options:

• prefix:
  • Specifies a prefix for all commit messages.
  • Prefix is also added to the start of the pull request title.
• prefix-development:
  • Specifies a separate prefix for all commit messages that update development dependencies, as defined by the package manager or ecosystem.
  • Supported for bundler, composer, mix, maven, npm, and pip.
• include: "scope":
  • Specifies that any prefix is followed by the dependency types (deps or deps-dev) updated in the commit.

The example below shows several different options, tailored per package ecosystem:

# Customize commit messages

version: 2
updates:
  - package-ecosystem: "npm"
    directory: "/"
    schedule:
      interval: "weekly"
    commit-message:
      # Prefix all commit messages with "npm: "
      prefix: "npm"

  - package-ecosystem: "docker"
    directory: "/"
    schedule:
      interval: "weekly"
    commit-message:
      # Prefix all commit messages with [docker] " (no colon, but a trailing whitespace)
      prefix: "[docker] "

  - package-ecosystem: "composer"
    directory: "/"
    schedule:
      interval: "weekly"
    # Prefix all commit messages with "Composer" plus its scope, that is, a
    # list of updated dependencies
    commit-message:
      prefix: "Composer"
      include: "scope"

  - package-ecosystem: "pip"
    directory: "/"
    schedule:
      interval: "weekly"
    # Include a list of updated dependencies
    # with a prefix determined by the dependency group
    commit-message:
      prefix: "pip prod"
      prefix-development: "pip dev"

{% data reusables.dependabot.option-affects-security-updates %}

See also commit-message.

Associating pull requests with a milestone

Milestones help you track the progress of groups of pull requests (or issues) towards a project goal or release. With {% data variables.product.prodname_dependabot %}, you can use the milestone option to associate pull requests for dependency updates with a specific milestone.

You must specify the numeric identifier of the milestone and not its label. To find the numeric identifier, check the final part of the page URL, after milestone. For example, for https://github.com/<org>/<repo>/milestone/3, "3" is the numeric identifier of the milestone.

# Specify a milestone for pull requests

version: 2
updates:
  - package-ecosystem: "npm"
    directory: "/"
    schedule:
      interval: "weekly"
    # Associate pull requests with milestone "4"
    milestone: 4

{% data reusables.dependabot.option-affects-security-updates %}

See also milestones and AUTOTITLE.

Changing the separator in the pull request branch name

{% data variables.product.prodname_dependabot %} generates a branch for each pull request. Each branch name includes dependabot, as well as the name of the package manager and the dependency to be updated. By default, these parts of the branch name are separated by a / symbol, for example:

• dependabot/npm_and_yarn/next_js/acorn-6.4.1

To maintain supportability or consistency with your existing processes, you may need to ensure your branch names align with your team's existing conventions. In this case, you can use pull-request-branch-name.separator to specify a different separator, choosing either _, /, or "-".

In the below example, the npm configuration changes the default separator from / to "-", so that it would appear as such:

• Default (/): dependabot/npm_and_yarn/next_js/acorn-6.4.1
• Customized ("-"): dependabot-npm_and_yarn-next_js-acorn-6.4.1

Note that the hyphen symbol ("-") must be surrounded by quotation marks so that it's not interpreted as starting an empty YAML list.

# Specify a different separator for branch names

version: 2
updates:
  - package-ecosystem: "npm"
    directory: "/"
    schedule:
      interval: "weekly"
    pull-request-branch-name:
      # Change the default separator (/) to a hyphen (-)
      separator: "-"

{% data reusables.dependabot.option-affects-security-updates %}

See also pull-request-branch-name.separator.

Targeting pull requests against a non-default branch

By default, {% data variables.product.prodname_dependabot %} checks for manifest files on the default branch and raises pull requests for updates against the default branch.

Generally, it makes most sense to keep {% data variables.product.prodname_dependabot %}'s checks and updates on the default branch. However, there may be some cases where you may need to specify a different target branch. If, for example, your team's processes require you to first test and validate updates on a non-production branch, you can use target-branch to specify a different branch for {% data variables.product.prodname_dependabot %} to raise pull requests against.

Note

{% data variables.product.prodname_dependabot %} raises pull requests for security updates against the default branch only. If you use target-branch, then as a result, all configuration settings for that package manager will then only apply to version updates, and not security updates.

# Specify a non-default branch for pull requests for pip

version: 2
updates:
  - package-ecosystem: "pip"
    directory: "/"
    schedule:
      interval: "weekly"
    # Raise pull requests for version updates
    # to pip against the `develop` branch
    target-branch: "develop"
    # Labels on pull requests for version updates only
    labels:
      - "pip dependencies"

  - package-ecosystem: "npm"
    directory: "/"
    schedule:
      interval: "weekly"
      # Check for npm updates on Sundays
      day: "sunday"
    # Labels on pull requests for security and version updates
    labels:
      - "npm dependencies"

See also target-branch.