Implementing Dependabot security updates in monorepo with npm workspaces

[girishlade111]

Select Topic Area

Question

Body

We've recently migrated to a monorepo structure using npm workspaces for our Node.js application suite. The repository contains 15+ packages with interdependencies, and we're trying to implement a robust automated security patching strategy using Dependabot.

Current setup:

• Root-level package.json with workspaces configuration
• Individual packages in /packages/* directory
• Shared dependencies across multiple packages
• Some packages using different versions of the same dependency

Challenges we're facing:

1. Dependabot PR organization: Dependabot is creating separate PRs for each workspace package, which leads to 20-30 PRs when a widely-used dependency needs updating. This becomes difficult to manage and review.

2. Dependency version conflicts: When Dependabot updates a dependency in one workspace, it sometimes creates version mismatches with other workspaces that depend on the same package.

3. Testing strategy: We need to ensure that security updates in one package don't break dependent packages within the monorepo before merging.

4. Grouped updates: We've tried using dependabot.yml grouping features, but we're not sure if we're configuring it optimally for our monorepo structure.

Questions:

• What's the recommended dependabot.yml configuration for npm workspaces in a monorepo? Should we have one configuration or separate ones per workspace?
• How do you handle the scenario where a security update needs to be applied across multiple workspaces simultaneously?
• Are there best practices for configuring update schedules and grouping rules to minimize PR noise while maintaining security?
• What CI/CD strategies work well for validating cross-package dependencies after Dependabot updates?

Would appreciate any insights from teams managing security updates in similar monorepo architectures!