TypeError: managerFilePatterns is not iterable after upgrade

[azegheru]

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After upgrading renovate from 39.x to 40.x and after that to 41.x, I get the following error:
I am not using any custom managers in my config. Currently the renovate version I am using is 41.30.5

"err":{"message":"managerFilePatterns is not iterable","stack":"TypeError: managerFilePatterns is not iterable\n at getMatchingFiles (/usr/local/renovate/lib/workers/repository/extract/file-match.ts:59:25)\n at tryConfig (/usr/local/renovate/lib/workers/repository/extract/index.ts:21:46)\n at extractAllDependencies (/usr/local/renovate/lib/workers/repository/extract/index.ts:38:7)\n at processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:105:5)\n at extract (/usr/local/renovate/lib/workers/repository/process/extract-update.ts:165:28)\n at extractDependencies (/usr/local/renovate/lib/workers/repository/process/index.ts:163:26)\n at Object.renovateRepository (/usr/local/renovate/lib/workers/repository/index.ts:77:9)\n at attributes.repository (/usr/local/renovate/lib/workers/global/index.ts:184:11)\n at start (/usr/local/renovate/lib/workers/global/index.ts:169:7)\n at /usr/local/renovate/lib/renovate.ts:19:22"},"msg":"Repository has unknown error

Logs (if relevant)

Logs

Replace this text with your logs, between the starting and ending triple backticks

[volker-raschek]

I have the same problem. The documentation mention that managerFilePatterns is by default empty and will only be adapted for specific managers. They name as example the go manager to add the go.mod file.

As well I don't use managerFilePatterns, but I use fileMatch for a customManager. Here an excerpt:

{
  "customManagers": [
    {
      "customType": "regex",
      "fileMatch": [
        "(^|/)(workflow-templates|\\.(?:github|gitea|forgejo)/(?:workflows|actions))/.+\\.ya?ml$",
        "(^|/)action\\.ya?ml$",
        "(^|/)Makefile$",
        "(^|/)[\\w-]*\\.sh$"
      ],
      "matchStrings": [
         "(?:=|:\\s)\"?(?<currentValue>[^\"\\n]*)\"? # renovate:(?:[\\s]+datasource=[\"']*(?<datasource>[^\\s\"']*)['\"]*|[\\s]+depName=['\"]*(?<depName>[^\\s'\"]*)['\"]*|[\\s]+registryUrl=['\"]*(?<registryUrl>[^\\s'\"]*)['\"]*|[\\s]+versioning=['\"]*(?<versioning>[^\\s'\"]*)['\"]*|[\\s]+extractVersion=['\"]*(?<extractVersion>[^\\s'\"]*)['\"]*)*"
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Could it be possible, that during the migration from fileMatch: [] to managerFilePatterns: [] the type has been changed from an array ([]) to another type and this leads than to the issue?

I hope @viceice could help us here. He seems to be very familiar with the renovate bot :)

[github-actions[bot]]

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[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.
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4. Work on the minimal reproduction in your own repository.
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If you need help with running Renovate on your minimal reproduction repository, please refer to our Running Renovate guide.
Good luck,

The Renovate team

[vvyzor]

Facing the same problem as well... I've been switching from version to version and have found that this error message starts to show up from Renovate version 40.52.0

[RahulGautamSingh]

Please create a minimal reproduction. We have been asking for one for a while, but no one seems to be interested in creating one.
We cannot debug without it.

[vvyzor]

We have been using version 39.x and Renovate runner works as expected. However, once we updated it to 40.56.1 and higher (tried with 41.x) the error mentioned earlier occurred in logs. We didn't change anything in our configuration - only updated the version.

We are using self-hosted Renovate on Gitlab platform.

Reproduction:

1. Set Renovatebot version to 40.52.0 or higher.
2. Create a minimal trivial gitlab project
3. Onboard the project to renovate, add the default trivial renovate.json file:

{
"$schema": "https://docs.renovatebot.com/renovate-schema.json",
"extends": [
"config:recommended"
]
}

4. Try to execute the renovate run and the error mentioned earlier in this discussion will show up in logs

Logs:
{ "name": "renovate", "hostname": "renovate-group-bot-s8p26-renovate-runner-2543460139", "pid": 18, "level": 30, "logContext": "d2GsUX0blYHnCsmIWNyDm", "loggerErrors": [{ "name": "renovate", "level": 50, "logContext": "d2GsUX0blYHnCsmIWNyDm", "repository": "renovate/examples/flasker", "err": { "message": "managerFilePatterns is not iterable", "stack": "TypeError: managerFilePatterns is not iterable\n at getMatchingFiles (/usr/local/renovate/lib/workers/repository/extract/file-match.ts:59:25)\n at tryConfig (/usr/local/renovate/lib/workers/repository/extract/index.ts:21:46)\n at extractAllDependencies (/usr/local/renovate/lib/workers/repository/extract/index.ts:38:7)\n at processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:105:5)\n at extract (/usr/local/renovate/lib/workers/repository/process/extract-update.ts:165:28)\n at extractDependencies (/usr/local/renovate/lib/workers/repository/process/index.ts:163:26)\n at Object.renovateRepository (/usr/local/renovate/lib/workers/repository/index.ts:73:9)\n at attributes.repository (/usr/local/renovate/lib/workers/global/index.ts:184:11)\n at start (/usr/local/renovate/lib/workers/global/index.ts:169:7)\n at /usr/local/renovate/lib/renovate.ts:19:22" }, "msg": "Repository has unknown error", "trace_id": "7ada009a52a51272717d64b2d9f68bf4", "span_id": "e211b8a750604334", "trace_flags": "01" }], "msg": "Renovate is exiting with a non-zero code due to the following logged errors", "time": "2025-08-19T11:45:40.070Z", "v": 0, "trace_id": "7ada009a52a51272717d64b2d9f68bf4", "span_id": "26a30ca21104091d", "trace_flags": "01" }

Please let me know if more info is needed from our side.

[vvyzor]

Any updates on that?

[viceice]

no, that's still not a reproduction. please read the automated message for how to create the reproduction repo

[viceice]

#37058 (comment)

☝️

[simon-wessel]

I had an included config with the old config setting regexManagers which was renamed to customManagers. After replacing it, the error was gone.

[yx135790]

If you are extending a customManager of regex , the customManager should have the managerFilePatterns defined

[viceice]

#37058 (comment)

☝️