diff --git a/lib/workers/repository/onboarding.js b/lib/workers/repository/onboarding.js
index 881c1daf212ac3825c5571618cb8cba129c69956..5beb03a4c1922d64a53cd6d77ad1fec1506dcaea 100644
--- a/lib/workers/repository/onboarding.js
+++ b/lib/workers/repository/onboarding.js
@@ -26,10 +26,10 @@ async function createBranch(config) {
   const repoIsPrivate = await module.exports.isRepoPrivate(config);
   if (repoIsPrivate) {
     config.logger.debug('Repo is private - setting to app type');
-    onboardingConfig.extends = ['app'];
+    onboardingConfig.extends = [':app'];
   } else {
     config.logger.debug('Repo is not private - setting to library');
-    onboardingConfig.extends = ['library'];
+    onboardingConfig.extends = [':library'];
   }
   const onboardingConfigString = `${stringify(onboardingConfig)}\n`;
   const existingContent = await config.api.getFileContent(
diff --git a/test/workers/repository/__snapshots__/onboarding.spec.js.snap b/test/workers/repository/__snapshots__/onboarding.spec.js.snap
index 236a5c705e244729bd999156edaecccca572249d..752fa921a1cc8bcb8a7397171d8b4dd918d7a184 100644
--- a/test/workers/repository/__snapshots__/onboarding.spec.js.snap
+++ b/test/workers/repository/__snapshots__/onboarding.spec.js.snap
@@ -310,7 +310,7 @@ Array [
   "renovate/configure",
   Array [
     Object {
-      "contents": "{\\"extends\\": [\\"library\\"]}
+      "contents": "{\\"extends\\": [\\":library\\"]}
 ",
       "name": "renovate.json",
     },
@@ -324,7 +324,7 @@ Array [
   "renovate/configure",
   Array [
     Object {
-      "contents": "{\\"extends\\": [\\"library\\"]}
+      "contents": "{\\"extends\\": [\\":library\\"]}
 ",
       "name": "renovate.json",
     },
@@ -338,7 +338,7 @@ Array [
   "renovate/configure",
   Array [
     Object {
-      "contents": "{\\"extends\\": [\\"app\\"]}
+      "contents": "{\\"extends\\": [\\":app\\"]}
 ",
       "name": "renovate.json",
     },
diff --git a/test/workers/repository/onboarding.spec.js b/test/workers/repository/onboarding.spec.js
index 7ba914441c4ae78923ee816dc91e93dc3b258c58..cbff316296bbfa21f9e382603769ddb9c23be1d7 100644
--- a/test/workers/repository/onboarding.spec.js
+++ b/test/workers/repository/onboarding.spec.js
@@ -296,7 +296,7 @@ describe('lib/workers/repository/onboarding', () => {
       expect(config.api.commitFilesToBranch.mock.calls[0]).toMatchSnapshot();
     });
     it('skips commit files if existing content matches', async () => {
-      const existingContent = '{"extends": ["library"]}\n';
+      const existingContent = '{"extends": [":library"]}\n';
       config.api.getFileContent.mockReturnValueOnce(existingContent);
       const res = await onboarding.getOnboardingStatus(config);
       expect(res).toEqual(false);