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dependabot skill

by github·github/awesome-copilot·39k stars·MIT

Comprehensive guide for configuring and managing GitHub Dependabot. Use this skill when users ask about creating or optimizing dependabot.yml files, managing Dependabot pull requests, configuring dependency update strategies, setting up grouped updates, monorepo patterns, multi-ecosystem groups, security update configuration, auto-triage rules, or any GitHub Advanced Security (GHAS) supply chain security topic related to Dependabot. For pre-commit dependency vulnerability scanning in AI coding agents via the GitHub MCP Server, this skill references the Advanced Security plugin (`advanced-security@copilot-plugins`). Use this skill when an agent needs to scan dependencies for known vulnerabilities before committing.

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Install the dependabot skill

A skill is a folder. Copy it into your agent's skills folder and the agent loads it when the task matches its description. 

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/github/awesome-copilot.git /tmp/awesome-copilot
mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills
cp -r /tmp/awesome-copilot/skills/dependabot ~/.claude/skills/dependabot
available in every project

In the Claude apps, zip the folder and upload it from the Skills settings. The folder on GitHub

The instructions your agent would load

SKILL.md as published, without the frontmatter. Read it on GitHub

Dependabot Configuration & Management

Overview

Dependabot is GitHub's built-in dependency management tool with three core capabilities:

  1. Dependabot Alerts — Notify when dependencies have known vulnerabilities (CVEs)
  2. Dependabot Security Updates — Auto-create PRs to fix vulnerable dependencies
  3. Dependabot Version Updates — Auto-create PRs to keep dependencies current

All configuration lives in a single file: .github/dependabot.yml on the default branch. GitHub does not support multiple dependabot.yml files per repository.

Configuration Workflow

Follow this process when creating or optimizing a dependabot.yml:

Step 1: Detect All Ecosystems

Scan the repository for dependency manifests. Look for:

Notes:

  • pnpm and yarn both use the npm ecosystem value.
  • Prefer uv ecosystem value when uv.lock is present; otherwise use pip.

Step 2: Map Directory Locations

For each ecosystem, identify where manifests live. Use directories (plural) with glob patterns for monorepos:

directories:
  - "/"           # root
  - "/apps/*"     # all app subdirs
  - "/packages/*" # all package subdirs
  - "/lib-*"      # dirs starting with lib-
  - "**/*"        # recursive (all subdirs)

Important: directory (singular) does NOT support globs. Use directories (plural) for wildcards.

Step 3: Configure Each Ecosystem Entry

Every entry needs at minimum:

- package-ecosystem: "npm"
  directory: "/"
  schedule:
    interval: "weekly"

Step 4: Optimize with Grouping, Labels, and Scheduling

See sections below for each optimization technique.

Monorepo Strategies

Glob Patterns for Workspace Coverage

For monorepos with many packages, use glob patterns to avoid listing each directory:

- package-ecosystem: "npm"
  directories:
    - "/"
    - "/apps/*"
    - "/packages/*"
    - "/services/*"
  schedule:
    interval: "weekly"

Cross-Directory Grouping

Use group-by: dependency-name to create a single PR when the same dependency updates across multiple directories:

groups:
  monorepo-deps:
    group-by: dependency-name

This creates one PR per dependency across all specified directories, reducing CI costs and review burden.

Limitations:

  • All directories must use the same package ecosystem
  • Applies to version updates only
  • Incompatible version constraints create separate PRs

Standalone Packages Outside Workspaces

If a directory has its own lockfile and is NOT part of the workspace (e.g., scripts in .github/), create a separate ecosystem entry for it.

Dependency Grouping

Reduce PR noise by grouping related dependencies into single PRs.

By Dependency Type

groups:
  dev-dependencies:
    dependency-type: "development"
    update-types: ["minor", "patch"]
  production-dependencies:
    dependency-type: "production"
    update-types: ["minor", "patch"]

By Name Pattern

groups:
  angular:
    patterns: ["@angular*"]
    update-types: ["minor", "patch"]
  testing:
    patterns: ["jest*", "@testing-library*", "ts-jest"]

For Security Updates

groups:
  security-patches:
    applies-to: security-updates
    patterns: ["*"]
    update-types: ["patch", "minor"]

Key behaviors:

  • Dependencies matching multiple groups go to the first match
  • applies-to defaults to version-updates when absent
  • Ungrouped dependencies get individual PRs

Multi-Ecosystem Groups

Combine updates across different package ecosystems into a single PR:

version: 2

multi-ecosystem-groups:
  infrastructure:
    schedule:
      interval: "weekly"
    labels: ["infrastructure", "dependencies"]

updates:
  - package-ecosystem: "docker"
    directory: "/"
    patterns: ["nginx", "redis"]
    multi-ecosystem-group: "infrastructure"

  - package-ecosystem: "terraform"
    directory: "/"
    patterns: ["aws*"]
    multi-ecosystem-group: "infrastructure"

The patterns key is required when using multi-ecosystem-group.

PR Customization

Labels

labels:
  - "dependencies"
  - "npm"

Set labels: [] to disable all labels including defaults. SemVer labels (major, minor, patch) are always applied if present in the repo.

Commit Messages

commit-message:
  prefix: "deps"
  prefix-development: "deps-dev"
  include: "scope"  # adds deps/deps-dev scope after prefix

Assignees and Milestones

assignees: ["security-team-lead"]
milestone: 4  # numeric ID from milestone URL

Branch Name Separator

pull-request-branch-name:
  separator: "-"  # default is /

Target Branch

target-branch: "develop"  # PRs target this instead of default branch

Note: When target-branch is set, security updates still target the default branch; all ecosystem config only applies to version updates.

Schedule Optimization

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