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ci: manage dev-kit's own dependencies with Renovate - #46
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dev-kit had no renovate.json, so the actions it pins internally only moved when someone bumped them by hand — seventeen references across ten actions, including the installer, cachix and osv-scanner that every consumer's CI runs through. Centralising the governance workflows made that load-bearing: those pins used to live in each consumer, where Renovate managed them, and now they live only here. The config is the base preset alone, as example/renovate.json already shows. There is no go.mod or tools.lock here, and goVersion is an mkShell parameter rather than a pin, so :go would manage nothing. Neither Makefile matches the dev-kit regex manager — both track main rather than a release tag — so this does not bump its own version. renovate-auto-approve is now called the way a consumer calls it, by path rather than by SHA: a same-repo reusable workflow can be addressed locally, which always exercises the version in the branch and avoids a self-reference needing a release's own SHA before that commit exists. Writing that stub turned up a documentation bug. The README and the workflow's own header both describe the trigger as `pull_request`, which defaults to opened, reopened and synchronize. The workflow reacts to labels: Renovate usually adds the automerge label after opening the PR, and the revoke path fires when a PR gains the block label or loses the automerge one. A stub following the documentation silently never approves anything. Both now say which types are needed, and the header shows the `on:` block instead of leaving it implied. Closes #40
📝 WalkthroughWalkthroughdev-kit adds Renovate configuration and a caller workflow for its reusable auto-approval workflow. The workflow runs on selected pull-request events. The README and reusable-workflow example document the event triggers and permissions. ChangesRenovate self-management
Priority: ⬇️ Low Estimated code review effort: 2 (Simple) | ~10 minutes Change: Other Sequence Diagram(s)sequenceDiagram
participant PullRequestEvent
participant SelfApprovalWorkflow
participant ReusableApprovalWorkflow
PullRequestEvent->>SelfApprovalWorkflow: Opened, reopened, synchronized, labeled, or unlabeled
SelfApprovalWorkflow->>ReusableApprovalWorkflow: Invoke local reusable workflow
Suggested reviewers: Merge Risk: 🔵 Low · up to Qualifying Renovate pull requests may not be auto-approved because the caller does not pass a permission the reusable workflow needs. Add contents: read to the caller job before merging; manual review remains possible. 🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 4 | ❓ 1❌ Failed checks (1 inconclusive)
✅ Passed checks (4 passed)
Full details: Linked Issues checkExplanation Issue ✨ Finishing Touches🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)
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Inline comments:
Review comments at @.github/workflows/renovate-auto-approve-self.yml:
- Around line 17-24: Update the approve job’s permissions block to include
contents: read alongside pull-requests: write, so the reusable workflow has the
permissions it needs.
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.github/workflows/renovate-auto-approve-self.yml.github/workflows/renovate-auto-approve.ymlREADME.mdrenovate.json
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A job-level permissions block replaces the workflow-level one rather than adding to it, and a called workflow cannot elevate what its caller grants — GitHub documents permissions as maintained or reduced, never elevated, through a reusable-workflow chain. Passing only pull-requests:write therefore left the called workflow without contents:read, which it needs for the repository activity API: the check on who pushed the head, and the revoke path. The documented example had the same split, with contents:read at the workflow level and only pull-requests:write on the job, so a stub copied from it would fail the first time a Renovate PR actually carried the automerge label — the earlier calls return before reaching the activity API, so nothing fails until then. solution-arsenal's stub has that shape today and needs the same fix.
yocaba
approved these changes
Oct 9, 2026
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AlexHardAtWork
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Oct 13, 2026
Three fixes now (#46, #53, and the sibling of #53) have been the same two rules: a called workflow cannot elevate beyond the calling job, and a job-level `permissions:` block replaces the workflow-level one instead of merging. The failure is a startup validation on the caller, so it creates no check run and actionlint exits 0 on it. The check reads both kinds of caller — in-repo `uses: ./...` jobs and the README stubs consumers copy — because covering only one would have missed #46 and only the other would miss every consumer. Validated against three known states: the reconstructed #46 defect, v3.0.2 where both issues-* workflows were wrong, and this branch where none are. test-actions.yml also only triggered on two named workflow files, so a permissions change in a reusable workflow or a README stub could ship without this, or anything else here, running.
AlexHardAtWork
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## What
`issues-add-labels.yaml` asks for `permissions: {}` instead of
`contents: read`, plus a check for
the class.
## Why
The same defect as #53, in its sibling. Missed because the two differ
only in `on:`:
add-to-project also fires on `pull_request` and so broke on every PR,
while this fires on
`issues:` alone and has not run since solution-arsenal moved to v3.
#53 reasoned it was fine because the stub's job "sets `issues: write`
explicitly and the stub
grants exactly that". That is the trap: a job-level `permissions` block
**replaces** the
workflow-level one, so that job has no `contents` to hand down and the
callee's `contents: read`
is an elevation. The job needs `issues: write` and nothing else — there
is no checkout.
Third time for the same two rules (#46, #53, here), and the failure is a
startup validation on the
caller: no check run, `actionlint` exits 0, and an `issues:`-only
workflow can sit broken
indefinitely. So the detector ships with the fix instead of after it.
## The check
`scripts/check-reusable-permissions.sh` plus 11 fixtures, run in CI
against this repository. It
reads both kinds of caller — in-repo `uses: ./…` jobs and the README
stubs consumers copy. An
earlier version read only the README and passed #46's defect.
Two things it needed:
- `test-actions.yml` only triggered on two named workflow files, so a
change to a reusable
workflow or a README stub could skip this and everything else there. Now
`.github/workflows/**` and `README.md`.
- It runs under `nix develop`: `yq` is not on the runner image, `jq` is.
## Testing
Red with `main`'s `issues-add-labels.yaml` restored, green otherwise,
same tree. Also catches
#46's defect reconstructed, and both `issues-*` workflows at `bd72053`
(v3.0.2). Fixtures 11/11;
`shellcheck` and `shfmt` clean.
Not seen live — the startup failure only shows once a consumer pins a
commit containing this.
## Notes for reviewers
- Needs v3.0.3 alongside #53 to reach consumers.
- ARC and apiserver-kit still carry inline copies with the same
permission shape: correct
standalone, broken as soon as those repos become callers (#499, #132).
## Checklist
- [x] Tests added/updated, or confirmed that no tests are required
- [x] No breaking changes, or upgrade path documented above
- [x] Readable commit history (squashed and cleaned up as desired)
- [x] AI code review considered and comments resolved
<!-- This is an auto-generated comment: release notes by coderabbit.ai
-->
## Summary by CodeRabbit
* **Chores**
* Workflow changes and README updates are now included in automated
checks.
* Automated checks verify that reusable workflows receive the
permissions they require, helping catch permission issues before changes
are merged.
* The issue-labeling workflow now uses more restricted permissions.
* **Tests**
* Added coverage for permission inheritance, overrides, empty or
insufficient grants, and workflow parsing errors.
<!-- end of auto-generated comment: release notes by coderabbit.ai -->
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What
Closes #40. dev-kit now manages its own dependencies with Renovate and calls
renovate-auto-approvethe way a consumer does.Why it became urgent
dev-kit had no
renovate.json, so its internal pins only moved by hand — 17 references across10 actions, among them
nix-installer-action,cachix-action,osv-scanner-actionandcreate-github-app-token. Every consumer's CI runs through those.That was untidy before v3.0.0 and is load-bearing after it: the pins used to live in each
consumer, where Renovate managed them, and now they live only here. A consumer's
update-action-pinswill not notice, because it checks that pins are SHAs, not that they arecurrent.
Review notes
go.modortools.lockhere, andgoVersionis anmkShellparameter rather than a pin, so
:gowould manage nothing. Matchesexample/renovate.json,which is what consumers are told to copy.
DEV_KIT_VERSION := vX.Y.Z,while this repo's
Makefilehasmainandexample/Makefilehasrefs/heads/main.addressed as
./.github/workflows/…, which always exercises the version in the branch andavoids a self-reference needing a release's own SHA before that commit exists.
update-action-pinsalready skips./references, and the other workflows here use them forthe composite actions.
A documentation bug found by doing this
The README and the workflow's own header both describe the trigger as
pull_request. Thatdefaults to
[opened, reopened, synchronize]— and the workflow reacts to labels: Renovateusually adds the
automergelabel after opening the PR, and the revoke path fires when a PRgains the block label or loses the automerge one.
A stub written from the documentation silently never approves anything. Solar's working stub
has the full
types:list; the docs did not. Both now name the types, and the header shows theon:block instead of leaving it implied.Testing
make lintclean; both new files parse. The acceptance criteria are not verifiable beforemerge — they need Renovate to run against this config:
automergeis approved by the stub; one labelledsecurityis not.Worth watching the first onboarding PR: 10 actions at once may arrive as several grouped PRs,
and
lockFileMaintenanceis enabled fornix, so aflake.lockrefresh will appear separately.Checklist
Summary by CodeRabbit