Migrating a config

There is no converter. A renovate.json is usually a handful of presets and a few rules, and most of those presets turn out to be the Count's defaults already. Translating by hand, or asking an agent to, takes minutes and leaves you with a config you understand.

Start from the defaults

config:recommended, :semanticCommits, :dependencyDashboard, :pinAllExceptPeerDependencies, helpers:pinGitHubActionDigests and docker:pinDigests mostly describe what the Count does without being asked: exact pins, digest pins for actions and images, semantic commit prefixes and one PR per update. Turn the dashboard on and you are close.

// .github/patchula.pkl
amends "../Patchula.pkl"

prs { dashboard = true }

Read through the defaults and keep what you actually rely on.

Option by option

Renovate	Count Patchula
extends	amends "org.pkl" or import
enabledManagers	managers (Renovate names differ: gomod is go, docker-compose is compose, pip_requirements is requirements, pep621 and poetry are pyproject, helmv3 is helm)
ignoreDeps	ignore, with globs and regexes
ignorePaths	exclude
managerFilePatterns	files
packageRules	rules
matchPackageNames	select { packages { ... } }
matchDepNames	select { dependencies { ... } }
matchManagers, matchDatasources	select { managers }, select { sources }
matchFileNames	select { files }
matchUpdateTypes	select { updates } (pinDigest is pin)
matchDepTypes	select { kinds }
matchCurrentVersion	select { current = "semver:..." }
allowedVersions	apply { permitted = "semver:..." }
enabled: false	apply { active = false }
groupName	apply { group = "..." }
automerge	apply { merge = true }
rangeStrategy	apply { versions = "exact" | "preserve" | "widen" }
pinDigests: false	apply { digest = false }
minimumReleaseAge	apply { waitHours = 72 }
schedule, timezone	windows { new Window { cron { ... } zone = "..." } }
labels, addLabels	labels
semanticCommitType, commitMessagePrefix	commitPrefix
prBodyNotes	bodyNotes
fetchChangeLogs: "off"	releaseNotes = false
prConcurrentLimit, prHourlyLimit	prs { concurrent; perHour }
branchPrefix	prs { branch }
rebaseWhen	prs { rebase = "conflicts" | "behind" }
dependencyDashboard	prs { dashboard = true }
lockFileMaintenance	lockfiles { refresh = true }
postUpdateOptions: ["gomodTidy"]	lockfiles { tidyGo = true }
customManagers (regex)	extractors
regexManagers capture depName	capture dependency
currentValue	current
extractVersion	extract
datasourceTemplate, depNameTemplate, packageNameTemplate, versioningTemplate	source, dependency, package, scheme

Rules apply in order, and a later rule's value replaces an earlier one's, lists included. Empty group means separate PRs. Zero is never "unlimited"; use null.

A worked example

{
  "extends": ["config:recommended"],
  "schedule": ["before 6am on monday"],
  "packageRules": [
    {
      "matchUpdateTypes": ["minor", "patch"],
      "matchCurrentVersion": "!/^0/",
      "automerge": true
    },
    {
      "matchPackageNames": ["/^@vitest//", "vitest"],
      "groupName": "vitest"
    }
  ]
}

becomes

amends "../Patchula.pkl"

defaults {
  windows {
    new Window { cron { "* 0-5 * * 1" } }
  }
}
rules {
  new Rule {
    select {
      updates { "minor"; "patch" }
      current = "!semver:<1"
    }
    apply { merge = true }
  }
  new Rule {
    select { packages { "vitest"; "glob:@vitest/*" } }
    apply { group = "vitest" }
  }
}

Then check it:

patchula config schema > Patchula.pkl
patchula config check .
patchula run --dry-run owner/repo

The examples directory has a dozen real configs translated this way.

Things that do not carry over

Presets, onboarding, config migration, hostRules, private registries, postUpgradeTasks, vulnerability alerts, replacement PRs and platforms other than GitHub have no equivalent. The compatibility matrix lists everything. A # renovate: comment used by a regex manager can stay in your files: it is only text, and your Pkl extractor can match it.