fix(package-rules): make fetchChangeLogs work at update level by justfalter · Pull Request #42368 · renovatebot/renovate

justfalter · 2026-04-05T02:17:51Z

Changes

Adds packageRules.fetchChangeLogs, a means for overriding changelog fetching for matching packages.

The goal of this change is to provide package-level control over the fetching of changelogs. It allows users to weigh the tradeoff between changelogs and runtime for things like large monorepos (ex: https://github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go-v2), or perhaps to simply disable changelogs for problematic hosts.

My personal motivation, as outlined in a discussion thread I started the other day, centers around my need to mitigate the impact that fetching changelogs on a GitHub Enterprise instance for monorepos with a large number of tags, as well as eliminate redundancy (I have internal tooling for handling changelogs).

The packageRules.disableChangeLog option will allow me to add a shared preset to my organization for disabling changelog generation for packages sourced from my internal monorepo via the simple:

{
  packageRules: [
   {
      matchSourceUrls: ["https://my.github.server.com/biz/monorepo{/**,}"],
      fetchChangeLogs: "off"
   } 
  ]
}

Relevant renovate runs in GitHub actions:

Run w/o disableChangeLog: 14m29s in total (most fetching changelogs for aws-sdk-go-v2) - created PR.

Run w/ disableChangeLog: true for aws-sdk-go-v2 and aws-sdk-js-v3: 1m54s - changelogs were produced for all updates (example), except the targeted aws-sdk packages (PR).

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This closes an existing Issue, Closes: #
This doesn't close an Issue, but I accept the risk that this PR may be closed if maintainers disagree with its opening or implementation

Please see #42358

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The public repository: https://github.com/justfalter/renovate-test-repo

jamietanna

We should also mention this in https://docs.renovatebot.com/key-concepts/changelogs/

jamietanna · 2026-04-07T09:57:32Z

+    description:
+      'Set to true to disable fetching of changelogs for matching packages.',
+    type: 'boolean',
+    stage: 'pr',


This might also be branch-level - if fetchChangeLogs=branch

jamietanna · 2026-04-07T09:58:18Z

I think this seems reasonable - I'd like @viceice's view of it too before we merge

viceice

I would prefer to allow using the existing fetch changelog option at package level instead of branch level.

viceice · 2026-04-07T10:35:53Z


 For more details on supported syntax see Renovate's [string pattern matching documentation](./string-pattern-matching.md).

+### packageRules.disableChangeLog


why not using the existing fetch changelog option 🤔

I chose packageRules.disableChangeLog over packageRules.fetchChangeLogs only to keep things simple, but I am open to change.

If we were add packageRules.fetchChangeLogs, I suppose that the package rule would simply override the top-level. This should still allow for what I am looking to accomplish (disabling changelogs for specific packages), while also affording greater flexibility.

This would mean moving more decision-making into embedChangelog, which I think is reasonable.

Adds `packageRules.disableChangeLog`, a means for disabling changelog fetching for matching packages.

- replace `packageRules.disableChangeLog` with a `packageRules.fetchChangeLogs`. - Update docs and tests.

justfalter · 2026-04-07T22:31:19Z

-              header !== 'managerFilePatterns' && header !== 'enabled',
+              header !== 'managerFilePatterns' &&
+              header !== 'enabled' &&
+              header !== 'fetchChangeLogs',


This was required in order to get documentation tests to pass as the configuration.md now contains a fetchChangeLogs and a packageRules.fetchChangeLogs header.

remote packageRules.fetchChangeLogs and add a note to fetchChangeLogs. We've other options which are using same (eg enabled)

justfalter · 2026-04-07T22:34:29Z

I have refactored things into patchRules.fetchChangeLogs, which can be used to override the top-level fetchChangeLogs.
This means that fetching of changelogs may occur if there are packageRules that override a top-level fetchChangeLogs: "off".

Here's my renovate config: https://github.com/justfalter/renovate-test-repo/blob/main/.github/renovate.json5

Here's an action run w/ the above config (note: only takes 1m17s w/ fetchConfigs: off): https://github.com/justfalter/renovate-test-repo/actions/runs/24112320401/job/70350567061

viceice · 2026-04-08T07:45:36Z

    allowedValues: ['off', 'branch', 'pr'],
    default: 'pr',
    cli: false,
+    parents: ['packageRules', '.'],


Suggested change

parents: ['packageRules', '.'],

parents: ['.', 'packageRules'],

global option should still be first. @jamietanna WDYT?

viceice · 2026-04-08T07:47:40Z

-              header !== 'managerFilePatterns' && header !== 'enabled',
+              header !== 'managerFilePatterns' &&
+              header !== 'enabled' &&
+              header !== 'fetchChangeLogs',


remote packageRules.fetchChangeLogs and add a note to fetchChangeLogs. We've other options which are using same (eg enabled)

viceice · 2026-04-08T07:49:57Z

+>;
+
+export interface EmbedChangelogsOptions {
+  branches: BranchUpgradeConfig[];


wrong name

Suggested change

branches: BranchUpgradeConfig[];

upgrades: BranchUpgradeConfig[];

viceice · 2026-04-08T07:50:56Z

+
+// The Extend utility type just ensures that U is a subset of T, making sure that we get a typescript error should
+// 'branch' or 'pr' ever be removed from the FetchChangeLogOptions union.
+type Extends<T, U extends T> = U;


move to lib/types/...

viceice · 2026-04-08T07:51:27Z

+}
+
+export async function embedChangelogs({
+  branches,


Suggested change

branches,

upgrades,

viceice · 2026-04-08T07:51:44Z

+  fetchChangeLogs,
+}: EmbedChangelogsOptions): Promise<void> {
+  // Filter down to branch upgrades that match the stage and fetchChangeLogs configuration.
+  const upgrades = branches.filter(


Suggested change

const upgrades = branches.filter(

const filteredUpgrades = upgrades.filter(

viceice · 2026-04-08T07:51:50Z

+      resolveFetchChangeLogs(fetchChangeLogs, upgrade.fetchChangeLogs) ===
+      stage,
+  );
+  await p.map(upgrades, embedChangelog, { concurrency: 10 });


Suggested change

await p.map(upgrades, embedChangelog, { concurrency: 10 });

await p.map(filteredUpgrades, embedChangelog, { concurrency: 10 });

viceice · 2026-04-08T07:53:26Z

+// Merges the top-level fetchChangeLogs value with the upgrade's fetchChangeLogs value (prioritizing the latter, if defined).
+function resolveFetchChangeLogs(
+  fetchChangeLogs?: FetchChangeLogsOptions,
+  upgradeFetchChangeLogs?: FetchChangeLogsOptions,


i think this is always set on upgrades object 🤔

please create another reproduction:

set fetchChangeLogs=off globally

set fetchChangeLogsPr for a single dep

group deps to single PR

show us the link 😁

justfalter · 2026-04-08T16:50:25Z

I've spent the morning doing additional testing outside of this pull-request, and it looks like Renovate already supports specifying fetchChangeLogs in a package rule, and behaves as expected w.r.t overriding the top-level.
In my testing, it looks like this all started working at some point with Renovate 38.x.

I'll be honest, I am really not certain how I had gotten this far without validating that it could not already be set in this way. I had been working off the documentation, and I thought I had attempted a packageRules.fetchChangeLogs at some point --- it's very possible that I had been testing this with a repository that was using an ancient version of Renovate.

This is all to say that this pull-request is not needed.
The documentation for what configuration can be applied via packageRules could be made more clear. The JSON schema, too, seems to be lacking.

justfalter · 2026-04-15T15:34:54Z

I'm re-opening this pull request after I found that the fetchChangeLogs settings tend to get lost/ignored if that package is later grouped together with others using groupName. I am fairly certain that the BranchConfig generation code just uses the alphabetically first package's fetchChangeLog setting, and all others are ignored.

- Revert chanages that added `fetchChangeLogs` to types --- they were already present. - Remove docs for `packageRules.fetchChangeLogs` and put it under `fetchChangeLogs`. - Revert changes to options - they are not nescessary, as is the case for most other options that can be overridden at the packageRules level.

justfalter · 2026-04-15T17:01:02Z

First update: 9873069 and simplifying documentation.

- top-level: only choose options that are implicitly root level (no parents) or explicitly have root ('.') as parent. - sub-options: only choose options that have parents and none of them are root-level ('.'). This means that we no longer have to exclude for `enabled`

justfalter · 2026-04-15T23:05:10Z

Closing this pull request in favor of #42671

…enovatebot#42671) * fix(package-rules): respect each dep update's fetchChangeLogs value Ensures that changelog fetching respects each dep update's specific `fetchChangeLogs` value. Given the following renovate configuration: https://github.com/justfalter/renovate-test-packagerules-fetchchangelogs/blob/fb9e070d0f9a4d6fc742c4a22edee2c9b055fece/.github/renovate.json5#L42-L61 My expectation is that Renovate would never fetch changelogs for `lodash`. However, when grouped together with `chalk` and `tar` under `group of unrelated packages`, we find that renovate fetches changelogs all packages, including `lodash`. Before this change (`lodash` logs fetched): - Run: https://github.com/justfalter/renovate-test-packagerules-fetchchangelogs/actions/runs/24480887343/job/71544876893 - (wrong) lodash, tar, and chalk all have changelogs: justfalter/renovate-test-packagerules-fetchchangelogs#9 After this change, the PR created by renovate only contains changelogs for `chalk` and `tar`, but not `lodash`: - Run: https://github.com/justfalter/renovate-test-packagerules-fetchchangelogs/actions/runs/24481738609/job/71547632550 - (expected) lodash does not have changelogs, but tar and chalk have changelogs: justfalter/renovate-test-packagerules-fetchchangelogs#10 ---- We can further explore the effectiveness of the change with a more elaborate configuration, where the top-level has `fetchChangeLogs: off`: https://github.com/justfalter/renovate-test-packagerules-fetchchangelogs/blob/0ea69c18b9171e38c56440c762faa68109d3d0d5/.github/renovate.json5#L41-L95 Before the change: - Run: https://github.com/justfalter/renovate-test-packagerules-fetchchangelogs/actions/runs/24482213234/job/71549162174 - (wrong) lodash, tar, and chalk all have changelogs: justfalter/renovate-test-packagerules-fetchchangelogs#15 - (expected) typescript (inherited `off`) does not have changelogs: justfalter/renovate-test-packagerules-fetchchangelogs#17 - (expected) grunt (overridden `pr`) has changelogs: justfalter/renovate-test-packagerules-fetchchangelogs#13 After the change:: - Run: https://github.com/justfalter/renovate-test-packagerules-fetchchangelogs/actions/runs/24482561172/job/71550255278 - (expected) lodash does not have changelogs, but tar and chalk have changelogs: justfalter/renovate-test-packagerules-fetchchangelogs#22 - (expected) typescript (inherited `off`) does not have changelogs: justfalter/renovate-test-packagerules-fetchchangelogs#24 - (expected) grunt (overridden `pr`) has changelogs: justfalter/renovate-test-packagerules-fetchchangelogs#20 Portions of this PR previously appeared in renovatebot#42368 * pre feedback: just use fetchChangeLogs from upgrade * revert documentation.spec.ts changes They've already been integrated with renovatebot#42846

github-actions Bot requested a review from viceice April 5, 2026 02:18

jamietanna reviewed Apr 7, 2026

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Comment thread docs/usage/configuration-options.md Outdated

jamietanna reviewed Apr 7, 2026

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viceice reviewed Apr 7, 2026

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justfalter force-pushed the disableChangelog branch from 4bc8b5b to bccd287 Compare April 7, 2026 22:17

justfalter added 4 commits April 7, 2026 17:25

feat(package-rules): add disableChangeLog option

9de2c9d

Adds `packageRules.disableChangeLog`, a means for disabling changelog fetching for matching packages.

fix lints

7de25aa

refactor: packageRules.fetchChangeLog

979cd77

- replace `packageRules.disableChangeLog` with a `packageRules.fetchChangeLogs`. - Update docs and tests.

restore errant deletion

c56d1a5

justfalter force-pushed the disableChangelog branch from bccd287 to c56d1a5 Compare April 7, 2026 22:30

justfalter commented Apr 7, 2026

View reviewed changes

justfalter requested review from jamietanna and viceice April 7, 2026 22:34

Refactor comments for clarity in types.ts

afdbf0e

justfalter force-pushed the disableChangelog branch from c763ac2 to afdbf0e Compare April 7, 2026 22:40

viceice reviewed Apr 8, 2026

View reviewed changes

viceice changed the title ~~feat(package-rules): add disableChangeLog option~~ feat(package-rules): allow fetchChangeLogs option Apr 8, 2026

justfalter changed the title ~~feat(package-rules): allow fetchChangeLogs option~~ feat(package-rules): add fetchChangeLogs option Apr 8, 2026

justfalter closed this Apr 8, 2026

justfalter reopened this Apr 15, 2026

justfalter added 3 commits April 15, 2026 14:25

branches -> upgrades

6dae3d3

ensure that fetchChangeLogs shows as usable w/ packageRules

e1e5d5e

relocate Extends utility type

cc85322

justfalter changed the title ~~feat(package-rules): add fetchChangeLogs option~~ fix(package-rules): make fetchChangeLogs work at update level Apr 15, 2026

justfalter mentioned this pull request Apr 15, 2026

fix(package-rules): respect each dep update's fetchChangeLogs value #42671

Merged

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justfalter closed this Apr 15, 2026

github-actions Bot locked as resolved and limited conversation to collaborators May 16, 2026


		For more details on supported syntax see Renovate's [string pattern matching documentation](./string-pattern-matching.md).

		### packageRules.disableChangeLog

	parents: ['packageRules', '.'],
	parents: ['.', 'packageRules'],

	branches: BranchUpgradeConfig[];
	upgrades: BranchUpgradeConfig[];

	const upgrades = branches.filter(
	const filteredUpgrades = upgrades.filter(

	await p.map(upgrades, embedChangelog, { concurrency: 10 });
	await p.map(filteredUpgrades, embedChangelog, { concurrency: 10 });

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