Checkbox to enable automerge per PR

[abraham]

What would you like Renovate to be able to do?

Automerge specific PRs after status checks pass.

Describe the solution you'd like

A checkbox similar to the "check to rebase" feature except checking the box will enable automerge for this specific PR.

Describe alternatives you've considered

There is enabling automarege for everything but I usually want to avoid that for non-devDependencies. This could also be handled by GitHub if they were to implement automerge as a feature.

Additional context

#1355 looks related.

Something like this:

[rarkins]

@abraham one challenge is that people with permission to edit a PR body (i.e. collaborators) may not have permissions to write to master. But this feature were opt-in - i.e. someone with master permission would need to enable it via config - then do you think that would suit you?

[abraham]

Interesting I hadn't thought of that. I mean the obvious solution is to parse the diffs of the issue text and make sure the author of the diff that change that checks the bos has write permissions. (I'm kidding).

#1355 might just be the all around better solution. Even if a comment isn't as elegant as a checkbox.

[rarkins]

Proposal:

• Add a new automergeCheckbox option, which defaults to false
• If automergeCheckbox is true, the add a check box below rebase which allows to automerge
• If checked, automerge if the branch is green and unedited. Don't "undo" the check on a run, even if automerge is not possible

This way admins of a repo can still choose to enable this feature, and we don't have to worry about checking permissions.

Alternatively, here's how we could check permissions: https://developer.github.com/v3/repos/collaborators/#review-a-users-permission-level

But this only shows us that a user has write or admin permissions, not necessarily who can write to master. Maybe we could default to allowing only admins to check the box but have a config option to also allow all writers to automerge.

[abraham]

That would work for me.

[fastman]

I think those tickets are about the same thing:

• Automerge label/tag #2645
• Merge using comments #1355

[geraintwhite]

Would the automerge checkbox be reset if the branch is updated with a new version of a package?

[rarkins]

Would the automerge checkbox be reset if the branch is updated with a new version of a package?

Yes, it should be reset

[azu]

Merge using comments #1355

It may be a different context, but #1355 is closed by this issue, and I comment here.

dependabot has this feature.
We can comment @dependabot merge and dependabot merge it.

Merge via comment is useful for me.
GitHub/GitLab supports commenting via email and I can merge the dependabot's PR from email client like gmail.

• Reply to Comments from Email - The GitHub Blog

UseCase: renovatebot/dependabot create same Pull Request to multiple repositories at the same time.
It is hard that open each PRs and clicks the merge button.
Instead of it, I can just reply @dependabot merge from email client.

The checkbox approach may not cover this case.
However, renovatebot can define an auto-merge rule, and This may be an edge case.

[rarkins]

@azu I have reopened #1355 with your comment

[azu]

@rarkins Thanks for reopening.

FYI: GitHub has released auto-merge as a beta.
This feature sounds similar to this solution.

• Pull request auto-merge public beta - GitHub Changelog

[TWiStErRob]

I was about to raise a feature request: "Disable auto-merge when label exists"

Right now there's no way to stop Renovate from auto-merging, except by pushing a commit or closing the PR, but sometimes I want to prevent merges easily upon receiving the email that Renovate raised a PR.

This solution is way better, would be nice to see it through, as it would allow my use-case right from the PR description while I'm looking at it. One tap on my phone, and Renovate will wait until I get home and fix something (e.g.: CI would pass, but I realize something would break based on release notes).

Is there anything I can do right now to control autoMerge without changing config?

[abraham]

My original feature request is resolved with GitHub's built in auto-merge feature.

[TWiStErRob]

Ugh, so should I raise a separate one? Because that checkbox can be toggle off too, not just on, so it would solve a wider problem. Note that there are some tickets duplicated against this one... (that's how I got here) @rarkins any idea what to do here?

Edit: actually, re-reading the spec it would've worked the way I was thinking...

[rarkins]

I'm happy to reopen this but not sure @abraham can unsubscribe himself from his own issue if so?

[viceice]

I'm happy to reopen this but not sure @abraham can unsubscribe himself from his own issue if so?

yes, you can unsubscribe from any issue