description:How to reconfigure Renovate once it's onboarded
description:How to reconfigure Renovate after it's onboarded
---
---
# Reconfiguring Renovate
# Reconfiguring Renovate
There will likely be times when you need to change your Renovate config.
There will be times when you need to change your Renovate config.
There are two recommended approaches:
There are two recommended approaches:
- Reconfigure via PR
- Nuke the config and re-onboard
## Reconfigure via PR
## Reconfigure via PR
If you wish to make config edits directly, it's recommended to do so via a PR and then run Renovate's config validator to verify it.
If you want to make config edits directly, follow these steps:
The validator is named `renovate-config-validator` and installed alongside `renovate` itself if you run `npm i -g renovate` or equivalent.
If it validates your new config then it should be safe to merge.
1. Create a new Git branch to work on
1. Install the `renovate` package globally (`npm i -g renovate` or `yarn global add renovate`) to get the `renovate-config-validator` program
1. Edit your Renovate configuration file
1. Validate your config by running `renovate-config-validator`
1. If the improved config passes the validation, merge the branch into your mainline branch
## Nuke config and re-onboard
Perhaps you really liked the interactive onboarding PR and want to use it again.
You can follow the steps below to nuke the config and get a new PR.
Any existing Renovate PRs will be closed after you've completed these steps.
1. Find your original `Configure Renovate` PR
1. Rename the original PR to something else, e.g. `Configure Renovate - old`
1. Remove the current Renovate configuration file (e.g. `renovate.json`) from your mainline branch
### Validation when using CircleCI
Following these steps will trick Renovate into thinking that your repository was _never_ onboarded, and will trigger a new "Configure Renovate" PR.
If you are using CircleCI, you can use the third-party [daniel-shuy/renovate](https://circleci.com/developer/orbs/orb/daniel-shuy/renovate) orb to validate your config as part of your workflow, e.g.
## Renovate config file validation when using CircleCI
If you use CircleCI, you can use the third-party [daniel-shuy/renovate](https://circleci.com/developer/orbs/orb/daniel-shuy/renovate) orb to validate your config as part of your workflow, e.g.
```yml
```yml
version:'2.1'
version:'2.1'
...
@@ -27,14 +46,3 @@ workflows:
...
@@ -27,14 +46,3 @@ workflows:
jobs:
jobs:
-renovate/validate-config
-renovate/validate-config
```
```
## Nuke config and re-onboard
Perhaps you really liked the interactive PR and want to see it again.
In that case:
1. Find and rename your original `Configure Renovate` PR (e.g. to `Configure Renovate - old`)
2. Delete your Renovate config (e.g. `renovate.json`) from your base branch
This will be enough to trick Renovate into thinking that the repository was _never_ onboarded and it will trigger a new Configure Renovate PR again.
Any existing Renovate PRs in progress may be closed, however.
