Add instructions for renovate.json

Author: JohT

.github/instructions/renovate.instructions.md

@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+---
+applyTo: "renovate.json"
+---
+# Renovate Config Conventions
+
+## Valid JSON
+
+File must be strictly valid JSON. No trailing commas. Validate with:
+
+```shell
+npx --yes --package renovate -- renovate-config-validator
+```
+
+## $schema
+
+Top-level field must include schema reference:
+
+```json
+{
+  "$schema": "https://docs.renovatebot.com/renovate-schema.json"
+}
+```
+
+## customManagers
+
+Each entry requires:
+
+- `"customType": "regex"` — mandatory for all regex managers
+- `"description"` — short human-readable string. State what updated, where.
+
+Example:
+
+```json
+{
+  "description": "Update NEO4J_VERSION constant in shell scripts",
+  "customType": "regex",
+  "fileMatch": ["^scripts/[^/]*\\.sh$"],
+  "matchStrings": ["NEO4J_VERSION:-\\\"?(?<currentValue>.*?)\\\""]
+}
+```
+
+## packageRules
+
+Each entry requires:
+
+- `"description"` — short human-readable string. Clarifies rule purpose.
+
+Example:
+
+```json
+{
+  "description": "Keep Python ML libraries in sync",
+  "matchDatasources": ["pypi"],
+  "matchPackageNames": ["scikit-**", "umap-learn"],
+  "groupName": "python-machine-learning-libs"
+}
+```
+
+## Escaping
+
+Use `\\` in `matchStrings` and `fileMatch`. Single `\` → invalid JSON.
+
+- `.` → `\\.`
+- `"` → `\\\"`

AGENTS.md

@@ -87,6 +87,7 @@ Instruction files auto-applied per file type:
 | `CYPHER.md`, `SCRIPTS.md`, `ENVIRONMENT_VARIABLES.md` | [.github/instructions/generated-reference-docs.instructions.md](./.github/instructions/generated-reference-docs.instructions.md) |
 | `.github/skills/`, `.github/instructions/`, `AGENTS.md` | [.github/instructions/agent-files.instructions.md](./.github/instructions/agent-files.instructions.md) |
 | `.github/workflows/*.yml` | [.github/instructions/github-workflows.instructions.md](./.github/instructions/github-workflows.instructions.md) |
+| `renovate.json` | [.github/instructions/renovate.instructions.md](./.github/instructions/renovate.instructions.md) |
 
 ---
 

renovate.json

@@ -202,7 +202,7 @@
     {
       "description": "Update conda packages in conda-environment.yml (conda packages only, pip block excluded)",
       "customType": "regex",
-      "fileMatch": ["(^|/)conda-environment\.yml$"],
+      "fileMatch": ["(^|/)conda-environment\\.yml$"],
       "matchStrings": [
         "\\s+-\\s+(?<depName>[\\w-]+)=(?<currentValue>[^\\s#=]+)[\\s#]+"
       ],
@@ -212,6 +212,7 @@
     },
     {
       "description": "DISABLED Update pip nested packages inside conda-environment.yml.",
+      "customType": "regex",
       "fileMatch": ["(^|/)conda-environment-temporarily-disabled\\.yml$"],
       "matchStrings": [
         "\\s+-\\s+(?<depName>[\\w-]+)==(?<currentValue>[^\\s#=]+)[\\s#]+"