diff --git a/lib/config/common.ts b/lib/config/common.ts
index e2b3bc4da30017c8a6e94701476db2a10f471a3b..7f530514c75c44384400c5e63c6db1d4962a4bfe 100644
--- a/lib/config/common.ts
+++ b/lib/config/common.ts
@@ -68,6 +68,7 @@ export interface RenovateSharedConfig {
 export interface GlobalAdminConfig {
   autodiscover?: boolean;
   autodiscoverFilter?: string;
+  baseDir?: string;
   forceCli?: boolean;
   gitPrivateKey?: string;
   logFile?: string;
@@ -92,7 +93,6 @@ export interface RepoAdminConfig {
 }
 
 export interface RenovateAdminConfig {
-  baseDir?: string;
   cacheDir?: string;
 
   customEnvVariables?: Record<string, string>;
diff --git a/lib/config/definitions.ts b/lib/config/definitions.ts
index f30e2df69258cb63be2050d40c47c516e0dacfc3..ac213365a6a304a6b17b94016e3e3b0d94fd87cc 100644
--- a/lib/config/definitions.ts
+++ b/lib/config/definitions.ts
@@ -298,7 +298,7 @@ const options: RenovateOptions[] = [
     name: 'baseDir',
     description:
       'The base directory for Renovate to store local files, including repository files and cache. If left empty, Renovate will create its own temporary directory to use.',
-    admin: true,
+    stage: 'global',
     type: 'string',
   },
   {
diff --git a/lib/workers/global/initialize.ts b/lib/workers/global/initialize.ts
index 7eafa5e0c3b2bc2009ac42b6a2093e6adab40434..8f82e98d7e6d7b47ca6699e5d6e23e4ead575ed4 100644
--- a/lib/workers/global/initialize.ts
+++ b/lib/workers/global/initialize.ts
@@ -1,15 +1,15 @@
 import os from 'os';
 import fs from 'fs-extra';
 import upath from 'upath';
-import { RenovateConfig } from '../../config/common';
+import { GlobalConfig, RenovateConfig } from '../../config/common';
 import { logger } from '../../logger';
 import { initPlatform } from '../../platform';
 import * as packageCache from '../../util/cache/package';
 import { setEmojiConfig } from '../../util/emoji';
 import { Limit, setMaxLimit } from './limits';
 
-async function setDirectories(input: RenovateConfig): Promise<RenovateConfig> {
-  const config: RenovateConfig = { ...input };
+async function setDirectories(input: GlobalConfig): Promise<GlobalConfig> {
+  const config: GlobalConfig = { ...input };
   process.env.TMPDIR = process.env.RENOVATE_TMPDIR || os.tmpdir();
   if (config.baseDir) {
     logger.debug('Using configured baseDir: ' + config.baseDir);