diff --git a/lib/manager/deps-edn/__snapshots__/extract.spec.ts.snap b/lib/manager/deps-edn/__snapshots__/extract.spec.ts.snap
index 691c60ed69eca09dfd59d2b09aa149b8efeb1fe7..e07fc3aa585cfaf6161749f2d2f88ca237707f67 100644
--- a/lib/manager/deps-edn/__snapshots__/extract.spec.ts.snap
+++ b/lib/manager/deps-edn/__snapshots__/extract.spec.ts.snap
@@ -7,84 +7,72 @@ Object {
       "currentValue": "0.1.2",
       "datasource": "clojure",
       "depName": "persistent-sorted-set:persistent-sorted-set",
-      "fileReplacePosition": 53,
       "registryUrls": Array [],
     },
     Object {
       "currentValue": "1.9.0",
       "datasource": "clojure",
       "depName": "org.clojure:clojure",
-      "fileReplacePosition": 147,
       "registryUrls": Array [],
     },
     Object {
       "currentValue": "1.10.0",
       "datasource": "clojure",
       "depName": "org.clojure:clojure",
-      "fileReplacePosition": 241,
       "registryUrls": Array [],
     },
     Object {
       "currentValue": "1.10.520",
       "datasource": "clojure",
       "depName": "org.clojure:clojurescript",
-      "fileReplacePosition": 389,
       "registryUrls": Array [],
     },
     Object {
       "currentValue": "0.2.11",
       "datasource": "clojure",
       "depName": "org.clojure:tools.namespace",
-      "fileReplacePosition": 451,
       "registryUrls": Array [],
     },
     Object {
       "currentValue": "1.10.520",
       "datasource": "clojure",
       "depName": "org.clojure:clojurescript",
-      "fileReplacePosition": 584,
       "registryUrls": Array [],
     },
     Object {
       "currentValue": "0.0-389",
       "datasource": "clojure",
       "depName": "lambdaisland:kaocha",
-      "fileReplacePosition": 644,
       "registryUrls": Array [],
     },
     Object {
       "currentValue": "0.0-21",
       "datasource": "clojure",
       "depName": "lambdaisland:kaocha-cljs",
-      "fileReplacePosition": 703,
       "registryUrls": Array [],
     },
     Object {
       "currentValue": "0.21.1",
       "datasource": "clojure",
       "depName": "cider:cider-nrepl",
-      "fileReplacePosition": 810,
       "registryUrls": Array [],
     },
     Object {
       "currentValue": "0.6.0",
       "datasource": "clojure",
       "depName": "nrepl:nrepl",
-      "fileReplacePosition": 870,
       "registryUrls": Array [],
     },
     Object {
       "currentValue": "0.2.11",
       "datasource": "clojure",
       "depName": "org.clojure:tools.namespace",
-      "fileReplacePosition": 929,
       "registryUrls": Array [],
     },
     Object {
       "currentValue": "0.9.5703",
       "datasource": "clojure",
       "depName": "com.datomic:datomic-free",
-      "fileReplacePosition": 1141,
       "registryUrls": Array [],
     },
   ],
diff --git a/lib/manager/deps-edn/extract.ts b/lib/manager/deps-edn/extract.ts
index 0c451815b5da71a3280b585010cf7233287e9992..5fea8f8454e9d412356dfcf8ae09beb77657fa90 100644
--- a/lib/manager/deps-edn/extract.ts
+++ b/lib/manager/deps-edn/extract.ts
@@ -11,9 +11,6 @@ export function extractPackageFile(content: string): PackageFile {
   let offset = 0;
   while (match) {
     const [wholeSubstr, depName, currentValue] = match;
-    const fileReplacePosition =
-      offset + match.index + wholeSubstr.indexOf(currentValue);
-
     offset += match.index + wholeSubstr.length;
     rest = content.slice(offset);
     match = regex.exec(rest);
@@ -22,7 +19,6 @@ export function extractPackageFile(content: string): PackageFile {
       datasource: datasourceClojure.id,
       depName: expandDepName(depName),
       currentValue,
-      fileReplacePosition,
       registryUrls: [],
     });
   }
diff --git a/lib/manager/deps-edn/index.ts b/lib/manager/deps-edn/index.ts
index 9f81a4dd48e53e59c2051d2d3f8c3cff790b2457..5f9ee54da32199e76903326103bf42c875450ea1 100644
--- a/lib/manager/deps-edn/index.ts
+++ b/lib/manager/deps-edn/index.ts
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
 import * as mavenVersioning from '../../versioning/maven';
 import { extractPackageFile } from './extract';
-import { updateDependency } from './update';
 
-export { extractPackageFile, updateDependency };
+export { extractPackageFile };
+
+export const autoReplace = true;
 
 export const defaultConfig = {
   fileMatch: ['(^|/)deps\\.edn$'],
diff --git a/lib/manager/deps-edn/update.spec.ts b/lib/manager/deps-edn/update.spec.ts
deleted file mode 100644
index 45349c6b4a6d1729a960aa93cc38d2cded836aa1..0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
--- a/lib/manager/deps-edn/update.spec.ts
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,25 +0,0 @@
-/* eslint-disable no-template-curly-in-string */
-import { readFileSync } from 'fs';
-import { resolve } from 'path';
-import { extractPackageFile } from './extract';
-import { updateDependency } from './update';
-
-const depsEdn = readFileSync(
-  resolve(__dirname, `./__fixtures__/deps.edn`),
-  'utf8'
-);
-
-describe('manager/deps-edn/update', () => {
-  it('updateDependency', () => {
-    const { deps } = extractPackageFile(depsEdn);
-    const dep = deps.pop();
-    const upgrade = {
-      ...dep,
-      newValue: `${dep.currentValue}-9999`,
-    };
-    const { currentValue, newValue } = upgrade;
-    const newFileContent = updateDependency({ fileContent: depsEdn, upgrade });
-    const cmpContent = depsEdn.replace(currentValue, newValue);
-    expect(newFileContent).toEqual(cmpContent);
-  });
-});
diff --git a/lib/manager/deps-edn/update.ts b/lib/manager/deps-edn/update.ts
deleted file mode 100644
index b12e6e44d7963381af2885bc93d7bf30c69775d0..0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
--- a/lib/manager/deps-edn/update.ts
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,9 +0,0 @@
-import { UpdateDependencyConfig } from '../common';
-import { updateAtPosition } from '../maven/update';
-
-export function updateDependency({
-  fileContent,
-  upgrade,
-}: UpdateDependencyConfig): string | null {
-  return updateAtPosition(fileContent, upgrade);
-}