Set up Mend Renovate Self-hosted App for GitHub

Create and Configure the GitHub App (bot)

Before running Mend Renovate, you need to provision it as an App on GitHub, and retrieve the ID + private key provided.

If you're running a self-hosted instance of GitHub Enterprise, it is suggested to name the app "Renovate" so that it shows up as easily recognizable as renovate[bot] in Pull Requests.
If you're running against github.com then the name Renovate is already taken by the hosted Mend Renovate app, so you will need something else like "YourCompany Renovate".

The App requires the following permissions:

Repository permissions
- Administration: Read-only
- Checks: Read & write
- Commit statuses: Read & write
- Contents: Read & write
- Dependabot alerts: Read-only (optional)
- Issues: Read & write
- Metadata: Read-only
- Pull Requests: Read & write
- Workflows: Read & write
Organization permissions
- Members: Read-only

The App should also subscribe to the following webhook events:

Security Advisory
Check run
Check suite
Issues
Pull request
Push
Repository
Status

Description, Homepage, User authorization callback URL, and Setup URL are all unimportant so you may set them to whatever you like.

The Mend Renovate webhook listener binds to port 8080 by default, however it will bind to process.env.PORT instead if that is defined.
Note: The Mend Renovate image takes care of exposing port 8080 of the container, so if you change this port then you will need to take care of any exposing/mapping of ports yourself.
In the Docker Compose example config, the default port 8080 is used and then mapped to port 80 on the host.

For the Webhook URL field, point it to /webhook on port 80 (or whatever port you mapped to) of the server that you will run Mend Renovate on, e.g. http://1.2.3.4/webhook
Be sure to enter a webhook secret too.
If you don't care about the value, then enter 'renovate' as that is the default secret that the webhook handler process uses.

You can use the Renovate icon for the app/bot if you desire.

Run Mend Renovate Self-hosted App

You can run Mend Renovate Self-hosted App from a Docker command line prompt, or by using a Docker Compose file. Examples are provided in the links below.

Example Docker Compose files:

[!NOTE]
Some configuration of environment variables will be required inside the Docker Compose files.
Essential configuration options are shown below. For a full list of configurable variables, see Configuration Options.

Configure Environment Variables

Essential Configuration for Mend Renovate Server

MEND_RNV_ACCEPT_TOS: Set this environment variable to y to consent to Mend's Terms of Service.

MEND_RNV_LICENSE_KEY: Provide a valid license key for Renovate Community Edition or Enterprise Edition

[!Note]
To run Renovate Community Edition with up to 10 repositories, you can use this unregistered license key:
eyJsaW1pdCI6IjEwIn0=.30440220457941b71ea8eb345c729031718b692169f0ce2cf020095fd328812f4d7d5bc1022022648d1a29e71d486f89f27bdc8754dfd6df0ddda64a23155000a61a105da2a1
For a free license key for an unrestricted number of repositories on Renovate Community Edition, register with the form on the Renovate Community Edition web page.
For an Enterprise license key, contact Mend at http://mend.io.

MEND_RNV_PLATFORM: Set this to github.

MEND_RNV_ENDPOINT: [GitHub Enterprise Server only] This is the API endpoint for your GitHub Enterprise installation. Include the trailing slash.

MEND_RNV_SERVER_PORT: The port on which the server listens for webhooks and api requests. Defaults to 8080.

MEND_RNV_GITHUB_APP_ID: The GitHub App ID of the provisioned Renovate app on GitHub.

MEND_RNV_GITHUB_APP_KEY: The private key of the Renovate app on GitHub. Alternatively, use MEND_RNV_GITHUB_PEM_FILE_PATH.

MEND_RNV_GITHUB_PEM_FILE_PATH: The file path for a GitHub app key PEM file. Defaults to /usr/src/app/renovate.private-key.pem. Alternatively, use MEND_RNV_GITHUB_APP_KEY.

MEND_RNV_ADMIN_API_ENABLED: Set to 'true' to enable Admin APIs. Defaults to 'false'.

MEND_RNV_SERVER_API_SECRET: Required if Admin APIs are enabled, or if running Enterprise Edition.

MEND_RNV_WEBHOOK_SECRET: Must match the secret sent by the GitHub webhooks. Defaults to 'renovate'.

GITHUB_COM_TOKEN: [GitHub Enterprise Server only] A Personal Access Token for a user account on github.com (note: not an account on your GitHub Enterprise instance).

Additional Configuration options

For further details and a list of all available options, see the Configuration Options page.

Renovate CLI Configuration

Renovate CLI functionality can be configured using environment variables (e.g. RENOVATE_XXXXXX) or via a config.js file mounted to /usr/src/app/config.js inside the Mend Renovate container.

npm Registry

If using your own npm registry, you may find it easiest to update your Docker Compose file to include a volume that maps an .npmrc file to /home/ubuntu/.npmrc. The RC file should contain registry=... with the registry URL your company uses internally. This will allow Renovate to find shared configs and other internally published packages.