Configuring Dependabot on self-hosted runners

You can configure self-hosted runners that Dependabot uses to access your private registries and internal network resources.

Who can use this feature?

Organization owners and repository administrators

In this article

Prerequisites

  • Dependabot is installed and enabled.
  • GitHub Actions is enabled and in use.

When you enforce a policy to only allow actions and reusable workflows from your enterprise, and you enable Dependabot on GitHub Actions, Dependabot will not run. To enable Dependabot to run with your enterprise actions and reusable workflows, you should choose either to allow actions created by GitHub, or allow specified actions and reusable workflows. For more information, see Enforcing policies for GitHub Actions in your enterprise.

Adding self-hosted runners for Dependabot updates

  1. Provision self-hosted runners, at the repository or organization level. For more information, see Self-hosted runners and Adding self-hosted runners.
  2. Configure your environment and runners to meet the requirements for Dependabot. See Requirements for using Dependabot with self-hosted runners.
  3. Assign the default dependabot label or a custom label to each runner you want Dependabot to use. See Using labels with self-hosted runners.
  4. Optionally, enable workflows triggered by Dependabot to use more than read-only permissions and to have access to any secrets that are normally available. For more information, see Troubleshooting Dependabot on GitHub Actions.

Configuring self-hosted runners for Dependabot updates

Warning

Before selecting Labeled runner, make sure a runner has the label you plan to use. If you specify a runner group, make sure the group exists and the repository can access it. See Dependabot on GitHub Actions runners.

Once you have configured self-hosted runners for Dependabot updates, you can select them at the organization or repository level.

Note

Changing the runner setting does not trigger a new Dependabot run.

For your private or internal repository

  1. On GitHub, navigate to the main page of the repository.

  2. Under your repository name, click Settings. If you cannot see the "Settings" tab, select the dropdown menu, then click Settings.

    Screenshot of a repository header showing the tabs. The "Settings" tab is highlighted by a dark orange outline.

  3. In the "Security and quality" section of the sidebar, click Advanced Security.

  4. Under "Dependency scanning", in the "Dependabot version updates" section, next to "Runner type", click .

  5. From the "Runner type" dropdown menu, select Labeled runner.

  6. Optionally, enter a runner group name and a custom runner label. If you do not enter a label, Dependabot uses the dependabot label.

  7. Click Save runner selection.

    Note

    If you cannot change the runner setting, your organization may restrict actions and self-hosted runners for the repository. Contact your organization owner for more information.

For your organization

You can enable Dependabot on self-hosted runners for all existing private or internal repositories in an organization. Only repositories already configured to run Dependabot on GitHub Actions will be updated to run Dependabot on self-hosted runners the next time a Dependabot job is triggered.

  1. In the upper-right corner of GitHub, click your profile picture, then click Organizations.

  2. Select an organization by clicking on it.

  3. Under your organization name, click Settings. If you cannot see the "Settings" tab, select the dropdown menu, then click Settings.

    Screenshot of the tabs in an organization's profile. The "Settings" tab is outlined in dark orange.

  4. In the "Security" section of the sidebar, click Advanced Security then Global settings.

  5. In the "Dependabot" section, next to "Runner type", click .

  6. Select the "Runner type" dropdown menu, then click Labeled runner and provide any additional information. If you applied a custom label to your self-hosted runners, type that label in the "Runner label" text box.

  7. To enable the feature for all new repositories in the organization, click Save runner selection.