Dependabot

Dependabot creates pull requests to keep your dependencies secure and up-to-date. It is integrated natively into GitHub.

When to Use

• GitHub Repos: It’s the default, easiest choice.
• Security Patches: “Dependabot alert: Critical severity in lodash”.
• Keeping deps fresh: Automated weekly version bumps.

Quick Start (dependabot.yml)

# .github/dependabot.yml
version: 2
updates:
  - package-ecosystem: "npm"
    directory: "/"
    schedule:
      interval: "weekly"
    # Grouping (2025 feature) reduces noise
    groups:
      dependencies:
        patterns:
          - "*"

Core Concepts

Security Updates

Triggered automatically when GitHub detects a vulnerability in your dependencies (via Dependency Graph). These are distinct from Version Updates.

Version Updates

Scheduled updates (Daily/Weekly) to newer versions, regardless of vulnerabilities. Driven by dependabot.yml.

Grouped Updates

Combining multiple package updates into a single PR (e.g., “Bump 5 dependencies”). Drastically reduces PR noise.

Best Practices (2025)

Do:

• Enable Grouping: Group non-critical updates to avoid “PR Fatigue”.
• Auto-Merge (safely): If tests pass and it’s a minor/patch update, configure auto-merge to reduce manual review toil.
• Check Compatibility Scores: GitHub shows “% of CI runs that passed” for an update. Trust the crowd usage data.

Don’t:

• Don’t ignore Alerts: A critical alert usually means an exploit exists.
• Don’t blindly merge Major versions: They usually contain breaking changes.

Troubleshooting

References

• GitHub Dependabot Docs