Can't get Renovate Bot to follow latest and not next tag of n8n

[mathisgauthey]

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Self-hosted Renovate

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AzureDevOps

Please tell us more about your question or problem

Hey there. I'm trying to make renovate-bot automatically update my docker-compose.yaml file by adjusting the n8n image version. Issue is that it is taking the last semver version, but it corresponds to the next tag which is a pre-release one.

My docker compose contains a image: docker.n8n.io/n8nio/n8n:1.78.0 , and I would like it to update to the latest equivalent in semver.

n8n releases can be found :

• On their website
• On their Github repo
• On their Dockerhub

I tried without success to :

• Use the respectLatest to true
• Use the ignoreUnstable to true
• Use the extends to use the config:best-practices
• Use a packageRules with a matchPackageNames to docker.n8n.io/n8nio/n8n and use the followTag to latest. It resulted in the following error : Can't find version with tag latest for docker package docker.n8n.io/n8nio/n8n

But each time, it did not work. I don't know what to do now.

Renovate config

Here is my config with redacted names :

{
  "platform": "azure",
  "endpoint": "https://AZDO_URL/ORG_NAME/",
  "azure-pipelines": {
    "enabled": true
  },
  "repositories": [
    "PROJECT/REPO"
  ],
  "prHourlyLimit": 0,
  "baseBranches": [
    "main"
  ],
  "hostRules": [
    {
      "matchHost": "AZDO_DOMAIN",
      "hostType": "azure-pipelines-tasks"
    }
  ],
  "packageRules": [
    {
      "matchDatasources": [
        "azure-pipelines-tasks"
      ],
      "extractVersion": "^(?<version>\\d+)"
    }
  ],
  "extends": [
    "config:best-practices"
  ],
  "respectLatest": true,
  "ignoreUnstable": true
}

Logs (if relevant)

2025-02-25T10:06:46.5228832Z DEBUG: Matched 1 file(s) for manager azure-pipelines: .azure/workflows/azure_pipeline_deploy.yaml (repository=PROJECT/REPO_NAME, baseBranch=main)
2025-02-25T10:06:46.5231482Z DEBUG: Matched 1 file(s) for manager docker-compose: .azure/docker/docker-compose.yaml (repository=PROJECT/REPO_NAME, baseBranch=main)
2025-02-25T10:06:46.5462898Z DEBUG: docker-compose.extractPackageFile(.azure/docker/docker-compose.yaml) (repository=PROJECT/REPO_NAME, baseBranch=main)
2025-02-25T10:06:46.5605465Z DEBUG: manager extract durations (ms) (repository=PROJECT/REPO_NAME, baseBranch=main)
2025-02-25T10:06:46.5611231Z        "managers": {"azure-pipelines": 23, "docker-compose": 37}
2025-02-25T10:06:46.5611988Z DEBUG: Found azure-pipelines package files (repository=PROJECT/REPO_NAME, baseBranch=main)
2025-02-25T10:06:46.5612751Z DEBUG: Found docker-compose package files (repository=PROJECT/REPO_NAME, baseBranch=main)
2025-02-25T10:06:46.5613442Z DEBUG: Found 2 package file(s) (repository=PROJECT/REPO_NAME, baseBranch=main)
2025-02-25T10:06:46.5614279Z  INFO: Dependency extraction complete (repository=PROJECT/REPO_NAME, baseBranch=main)
2025-02-25T10:06:46.5614728Z        "stats": {
2025-02-25T10:06:46.5615065Z          "managers": {
2025-02-25T10:06:46.5615548Z            "azure-pipelines": {"fileCount": 1, "depCount": 2},
2025-02-25T10:06:46.5616071Z            "docker-compose": {"fileCount": 1, "depCount": 2}
2025-02-25T10:06:46.5616440Z          },
2025-02-25T10:06:46.5616850Z          "total": {"fileCount": 2, "depCount": 4}
2025-02-25T10:06:46.5617183Z        }
2025-02-25T10:06:46.5617702Z DEBUG: baseBranch: main (repository=PROJECT/REPO_NAME, baseBranch=main)
2025-02-25T10:06:47.4197464Z DEBUG: getDigest(https://docker.n8n.io, n8nio/n8n, 1.81.0) (repository=PROJECT/REPO_NAME, baseBranch=main)
2025-02-25T10:06:47.4198693Z DEBUG: getManifestResponse(https://docker.n8n.io, n8nio/n8n, 1.81.0, head) (repository=PROJECT/REPO_NAME, baseBranch=main)
2025-02-25T10:06:47.4217729Z DEBUG: Using queue: host=docker.n8n.io, concurrency=16 (repository=PROJECT/REPO_NAME, baseBranch=main)
2025-02-25T10:06:47.5802588Z DEBUG: No registry auth required for https://docker.n8n.io/v2/ (repository=PROJECT/REPO_NAME, baseBranch=main)
2025-02-25T10:06:47.9612236Z DEBUG: Got docker digest sha256:b1e7ce157f8cde0f08a4bce4684f2814449e456a69d5395075172177f79bb07b (repository=PROJECT/REPO_NAME, baseBranch=main)
2025-02-25T10:06:47.9676392Z DEBUG: getDigest(https://docker.n8n.io, n8nio/n8n, 1.78.0) (repository=PROJECT/REPO_NAME, baseBranch=main)
2025-02-25T10:06:47.9677703Z DEBUG: getManifestResponse(https://docker.n8n.io, n8nio/n8n, 1.78.0, head) (repository=PROJECT/REPO_NAME, baseBranch=main)
2025-02-25T10:06:47.9679975Z DEBUG: No registry auth required for https://docker.n8n.io/v2/ (repository=PROJECT/REPO_NAME, baseBranch=main)
2025-02-25T10:06:48.3780619Z DEBUG: Got docker digest sha256:762ba5de53262c257d14aa875b565c4ade9f870fef4dab36bb79951f0ae06b87 (repository=PROJECT/REPO_NAME, baseBranch=main)
2025-02-25T10:06:48.3812685Z DEBUG: PackageFiles.add() - Package file saved for base branch (repository=PROJECT/REPO_NAME, baseBranch=main)
2025-02-25T10:06:48.3813706Z DEBUG: Package releases lookups complete (repository=PROJECT/REPO_NAME, baseBranch=main)
2025-02-25T10:06:48.3819648Z DEBUG: No releaseTimestamp for redis update to undefined (repository=PROJECT/REPO_NAME, baseBranch=main)
2025-02-25T10:06:48.3820799Z DEBUG: No currentVersionTimestamp for docker.n8n.io/n8nio/n8n (repository=PROJECT/REPO_NAME, baseBranch=main)
2025-02-25T10:06:48.3824737Z DEBUG: Repository libYears (repository=PROJECT/REPO_NAME, baseBranch=main)
2025-02-25T10:06:48.3825383Z        "managerLibYears": {"azure-pipelines": 0, "docker-compose": 0.0000012761605783866058},
2025-02-25T10:06:48.3825976Z        "totalLibYears": 0.0000012761605783866058,
2025-02-25T10:06:48.3826226Z        "totalDepsCount": 4,
2025-02-25T10:06:48.3826451Z        "outdatedDepsCount": 2
2025-02-25T10:06:48.3828758Z DEBUG: branchifyUpgrades (repository=PROJECT/REPO_NAME, baseBranch=main)
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5203270Z DEBUG: detectSemanticCommits() (repository=PROJECT/REPO_NAME, baseBranch=main)
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5207136Z DEBUG: getCommitMessages (repository=PROJECT/REPO_NAME, baseBranch=main)
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5297639Z DEBUG: semanticCommits: detected "angular" (repository=PROJECT/REPO_NAME, baseBranch=main)
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5298474Z DEBUG: semanticCommits: enabled (repository=PROJECT/REPO_NAME, baseBranch=main)
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5319225Z DEBUG: 4 flattened updates found: redis, redis, docker.n8n.io/n8nio/n8n, docker.n8n.io/n8nio/n8n (repository=PROJECT/REPO_NAME, baseBranch=main)
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5328703Z DEBUG: Returning 3 branch(es) (repository=PROJECT/REPO_NAME, baseBranch=main)
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5577821Z DEBUG: config.repoIsOnboarded=true (repository=PROJECT/REPO_NAME, baseBranch=main)
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5587598Z DEBUG: packageFiles with updates (repository=PROJECT/REPO_NAME, baseBranch=main)
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5588504Z        "config": {
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5588777Z          "azure-pipelines": [
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5588994Z            {
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5589169Z              "deps": [
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5590004Z                {
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5590298Z                  "depName": "qetza.replacetokens.replacetokens-task.replacetokens",
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5590556Z                  "currentValue": "6",
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5590830Z                  "datasource": "azure-pipelines-tasks",
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5591034Z                  "updates": [],
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5591336Z                  "packageName": "qetza.replacetokens.replacetokens-task.replacetokens",
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5591591Z                  "versioning": "loose",
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5591782Z                  "warnings": [],
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5592803Z                  "currentVersion": "6",
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5593023Z                  "fixedVersion": "6"
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5593207Z                },
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5593361Z                {
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5593555Z                  "depName": "Bash",
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5593912Z                  "currentValue": "3",
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5594154Z                  "datasource": "azure-pipelines-tasks",
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5594386Z                  "updates": [],
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5594585Z                  "packageName": "Bash",
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5594793Z                  "versioning": "loose",
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5595001Z                  "warnings": [],
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5595198Z                  "currentVersion": "3",
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5595419Z                  "fixedVersion": "3"
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5595584Z                }
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5595738Z              ],
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5596017Z              "packageFile": ".azure/workflows/azure_pipeline_deploy.yaml"
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5596211Z            }
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5596374Z          ],
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5596552Z          "docker-compose": [
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5596710Z            {
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5596884Z              "deps": [
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5597041Z                {
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5597236Z                  "depName": "redis",
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5597441Z                  "packageName": "redis",
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5597666Z                  "currentValue": "6.2.17-alpine",
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5597950Z                  "replaceString": "redis:6.2.17-alpine",
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5598712Z                  "autoReplaceStringTemplate": "{{depName}}{{#if newValue}}:{{newValue}}{{/if}}{{#if newDigest}}@{{newDigest}}{{/if}}",
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5599068Z                  "datasource": "docker",
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5599257Z                  "updates": [
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5599670Z                    {
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5599888Z                      "bucket": "major",
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5600111Z                      "newVersion": "7.4.2",
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5600333Z                      "newValue": "7.4.2-alpine",
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5600694Z                      "newDigest": "sha256:02419de7eddf55aa5bcf49efb74e88fa8d931b4d77c07eff8a6b2144472b6952",
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5601185Z                      "releaseTimestamp": "2025-02-16T08:05:08.773Z",
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5601431Z                      "newVersionAgeInDays": 9,
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5601649Z                      "newMajor": 7,
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5601841Z                      "newMinor": 4,
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5602036Z                      "newPatch": 2,
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5602258Z                      "updateType": "major",
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5602501Z                      "libYears": 0.0000012761605783866058,
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5602762Z                      "branchName": "renovate/redis-7.x"
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5602944Z                    },
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5603101Z                    {
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5603313Z                      "isPinDigest": true,
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5603532Z                      "updateType": "pinDigest",
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5603868Z                      "newValue": "6.2.17-alpine",
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5604229Z                      "newDigest": "sha256:148bb5411c184abd288d9aaed139c98123eeb8824c5d3fce03cf721db58066d8",
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5604553Z                      "branchName": "renovate/pin-dependencies"
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5604744Z                    }
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5604899Z                  ],
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5605109Z                  "versioning": "docker",
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5605307Z                  "warnings": [],
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5605552Z                  "registryUrl": "https://index.docker.io",
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5605785Z                  "lookupName": "library/redis",
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5606005Z                  "currentVersion": "6.2.17",
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5606306Z                  "currentVersionTimestamp": "2025-02-16T08:04:28.528Z",
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5606565Z                  "currentVersionAgeInDays": 9,
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5606795Z                  "isSingleVersion": true,
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5607019Z                  "fixedVersion": "6.2.17-alpine"
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5607195Z                },
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5607370Z                {
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5607591Z                  "depName": "docker.n8n.io/n8nio/n8n",
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5608000Z                  "packageName": "docker.n8n.io/n8nio/n8n",
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5608340Z                  "currentValue": "1.78.0",
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5608743Z                  "replaceString": "docker.n8n.io/n8nio/n8n:1.78.0",
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5609318Z                  "autoReplaceStringTemplate": "{{depName}}{{#if newValue}}:{{newValue}}{{/if}}{{#if newDigest}}@{{newDigest}}{{/if}}",
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5609719Z                  "datasource": "docker",
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5610042Z                  "updates": [
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5610298Z                    {
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5610581Z                      "bucket": "non-major",
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5610801Z                      "newVersion": "1.81.0",
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5611015Z                      "newValue": "1.81.0",
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5611225Z                      "newMajor": 1,
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5611426Z                      "newMinor": 81,
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5611633Z                      "newPatch": 0,
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5611841Z                      "updateType": "minor",
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5612202Z                      "newDigest": "sha256:b1e7ce157f8cde0f08a4bce4684f2814449e456a69d5395075172177f79bb07b",
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5612783Z                      "branchName": "renovate/docker.n8n.io-n8nio-n8n-1.x"
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5612992Z                    },
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5613169Z                    {
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5613365Z                      "isPinDigest": true,
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5613583Z                      "updateType": "pinDigest",
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5614072Z                      "newValue": "1.78.0",
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5614442Z                      "newDigest": "sha256:762ba5de53262c257d14aa875b565c4ade9f870fef4dab36bb79951f0ae06b87",
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5614769Z                      "branchName": "renovate/pin-dependencies"
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5614961Z                    }
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5615234Z                  ],
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5615447Z                  "versioning": "docker",
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5615638Z                  "warnings": [],
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5615891Z                  "sourceUrl": "https://github.com/n8n-io/n8n",
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5616141Z                  "registryUrl": "https://docker.n8n.io",
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5616391Z                  "homepage": "https://n8n.io",
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5616608Z                  "lookupName": "n8nio/n8n",
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5616824Z                  "currentVersion": "1.78.0",
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5617054Z                  "isSingleVersion": true,
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5617270Z                  "fixedVersion": "1.78.0"
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5617452Z                }
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5617604Z              ],
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5617836Z              "packageFile": ".azure/docker/docker-compose.yaml"
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5618037Z            }
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5618180Z          ]
2025-02-25T10:06:48.5618321Z        }

Related issues

• Follow `latest` docker tag #14015

Reproducible example

• https://github.com/mathisgauthey/34456 (This is using the same things I provided here.)

[github-actions[bot]]

Hi there,

Please help this Discussion progress by creating a minimal reproduction. This means a repository dedicated to reproducing this issue with the minimal dependencies and config possible.

Before we start working on your issue we need to know exactly what's causing the current behavior. A minimal reproduction helps us with this. Discussions without reproductions are less likely to be converted to Issues.

Please follow these steps:

1. Read our guide on creating a minimal reproduction.
2. Go to our minimal reproduction template repository.
3. Select the Use this template button to create a new repository based on the template.
4. Work on the minimal reproduction in your own repository.
5. Fill out the information in your repository's README.md.
6. Add the link to your reproduction to the first post of your Discussion. If you are not the original author, you can post a new comment with the link.

If you need help with running renovate on your minimal reproduction repository, please refer to our Running Renovate guide.
Good luck,

The Renovate team

[mathisgauthey]

https://github.com/mathisgauthey/34456

[mathisgauthey]

https://github.com/mathisgauthey/34456

The bot doesn't seem to pick it up but anyway here it is ! 😁

[mathisgauthey]

As far as I can tell, every line of your renovate.json in the reproduction can be removed, and the result is still the same. Every line there is either incorrect (platform=github is not a valid repo config), or the default (baseBranches, respectLatest, ignoreUnstable).

Alright, I ported it from Azure so I don't know much about these settings. I mainly added them so that they'd be fixed if the default changes one day.

The real issue is with the fact that the followTag property is an npm only feature and that I fail to find a proper way to immitate that behavior when dealing with repo that don't tag their docker images with a -beta sufix their pre-release branch and use only Github release tags. I forwarded an image to the README.

[rarkins]

Unfortunately the followTag feature for npm can't work the same way in Docker. In npm, there will be metadata field like latest=1.18.0, next=2.0.4. Easy! But in Docker, there's tags 1.18.0, 2.0.4 and latest. You'd need to check the SHA of latest, try to match it to other tags like 1.18.0, and then have edge case handling for when it matches multiple other tags, or matches no other tag. In short, the Docker APIs don't have any endpoint which let's us ask "which version is the latest?".

For example, on GitHub Releases the latest tag is clear:

On Docker Hub it is not:

What you could try is to set overrideDatasource=github-releases, and overridePackageName=n8n-io/n8n. This would tell Renovate "do not look up new versions from Docker Hub, instead use the github releases as the source of truth". This might immediately start working for you, but the downside is that if the latest version on github releases isn't present on Docker Hub, then it will propose an invalid update.

[mathisgauthey]

Unfortunately the followTag feature for npm can't work the same way in Docker. In npm, there will be metadata field like latest=1.18.0, next=2.0.4. Easy! But in Docker, there's tags 1.18.0, 2.0.4 and latest. You'd need to check the SHA of latest, try to match it to other tags like 1.18.0, and then have edge case handling for when it matches multiple other tags, or matches no other tag. In short, the Docker APIs don't have any endpoint which let's us ask "which version is the latest?".

For example, on GitHub Releases the latest tag is clear:

On Docker Hub it is not:

What you could try is to set overrideDatasource=github-releases, and overridePackageName=n8n-io/n8n. This would tell Renovate "do not look up new versions from Docker Hub, instead use the github releases as the source of truth". This might immediately start working for you, but the downside is that if the latest version on github releases isn't present on Docker Hub, then it will propose an invalid update.

Hey there, thanks for the explanations, that is quite clear indeed.

But so I can't keep digest pining active for n8n if I'm using this :

"packageRules": [
    {
      "matchDatasources": ["docker"],
      "matchPackageNames": ["n8nio/n8n"],
      "overrideDatasource": "github-releases",
      "overridePackageName": "n8n-io/n8n"
    }

Or maybe I missed something. I'm having this issue there :

[rarkins]

You're right, you can't. So your choices are:

• If you want to see versions in your Dockerfile then try the github-releases hack above
• If you need digests, you'll need to replace the version with latest and only update digests each time a new version (or digest) is released

[mathisgauthey]

You're right, you can't. So your choices are:

* If you want to see versions in your Dockerfile then try the github-releases hack above

* If you need digests, you'll need to replace the version with `latest` and only update digests each time a new version (or digest) is released

My current issue is that it doesn't find any release. I may have failed to point it to the release part but the registry and sourceURL seems fine.

INFO: Dependency extraction complete
{
  "baseBranch": "main"
  "stats": {
    "managers": {
      "docker-compose": {
        "fileCount": 1,
        "depCount": 2
      }
    },
    "total": {
      "fileCount": 1,
      "depCount": 2
    }
  }
}

DEBUG: baseBranch: main
{
  "baseBranch": "main"
}

DEBUG: Overriding datasource from docker to github-releases for n8nio/n8n
{
  "baseBranch": "main"
}

DEBUG: Overriding packageName from n8nio/n8n to n8n-io/n8n for n8nio/n8n
{
  "baseBranch": "main"
}

INFO: Found no results from datasource that look like a version
{
  "baseBranch": "main"
  "dependency": "n8n-io/n8n"
  "result": {
    "sourceUrl": "https://github.com/n8n-io/n8n",
    "releases": [],
    "registryUrl": "https://github.com"
  }
}

If I try to use :

"packageRules": [
    {
      "matchDatasources": ["docker"],
      "matchBaseBranches": ["/^release/.*/"],
      "matchPackageNames": ["n8nio/n8n"],
      "overrideDatasource": "github-releases",
      "overridePackageName": "n8n-io/n8n",
      "followTag": "latest",
      "pinDigests": false
    }

It ends up finding the next version which is a pre-release and not the latest from Github

[github-actions[bot]]

Hi there,

We appreciate the effort you put into creating a reproduction. But your reproduction is not minimal yet, or is missing fields we ask for in our template.

Please re-read the steps and documentation given in the previous message, and try again to create a minimal reproduction.

Thanks, the Renovate team

[mathisgauthey]

I just tried some new settings :

"packageRules": [
      {
        "matchDatasources": ["docker"],
        "matchPackageNames": ["ghcr.io/n8n-io/n8n"],
        "overridePackageName": "n8n-io/n8n",
        "overrideDatasource": "github-releases",
        "extractVersion": "@(\\d+\\.\\d+\\.\\d+)"
      }
  ]

But still get the no release found. I can't seem to make github-release work properly.

DEBUG: Overriding datasource from docker to github-tags for ghcr.io/n8n-io/n8n
DEBUG: Overriding packageName from ghcr.io/n8n-io/n8n to n8n-io/n8n for ghcr.io/n8n-io/n8n
INFO: Found no results from datasource that look like a version
{
  "dependency": "n8n-io/n8n"
  "result": {
    "sourceUrl": "https://github.com/n8n-io/n8n",
    "releases": [],
    "registryUrl": "https://github.com"
  }
}