A CLI tool that triggers a scoped Dependabot or Renovate update job for a single named dependency on demand
Engineers maintaining multi-dependency repos often need to check one specific dependency for updates without waiting for Dependabot's weekly schedule or re-running the entire dependency graph. No official GitHub CLI command or API endpoint exposes single-dependency scoped triggering. Renovate gets closest via a Dependency Dashboard Issue checkbox, but that is browser UI only and not scriptable. This CLI tool wraps the dependabot-core update-job API and the GitHub REST API to fire a scoped update job for exactly one package name, optionally across one or all ecosystems, and stream the resulting PR URL or a no-update signal back to the terminal. It ships as a gh CLI extension and a standalone binary so it can be dropped into CI pipelines without browser interaction.
Demand Breakdown
Social Proof 1 sources
Gap Assessment
4 tools exist (Dependabot (GitHub native), Renovate (Mend.io), gh-dependabot (steiza), dependabot/cli) but gaps remain: No CLI or API to trigger an update job scoped to a single named package; the UI button runs all dependencies, not one; Dashboard interaction is browser-only and not scriptable from the CLI; webhook triggers a full repo scan, not a scoped single-package job; no gh extension or binary for per-dep triggering.
Features6 agent-ready prompts
Competitive LandscapeFREE
| Product | Does | Missing |
|---|---|---|
| Dependabot (GitHub native) | Automated dependency update PRs on a schedule; manual 'Check for updates' button in the GitHub UI triggers a full ecosystem scan | No CLI or API to trigger an update job scoped to a single named package; the UI button runs all dependencies, not one |
| Renovate (Mend.io) | Dependency Dashboard Issue with per-package checkboxes allows selecting specific packages to update; webhook integration can trigger a full scan on release events | Dashboard interaction is browser-only and not scriptable from the CLI; webhook triggers a full repo scan, not a scoped single-package job; no gh extension or binary for per-dep triggering |
| gh-dependabot (steiza) | gh CLI extension for listing and dismissing Dependabot security alerts from the terminal | Read-only alert management only; cannot trigger an update job for a specific dependency |
| dependabot/cli | Runs full Dependabot update jobs locally for testing and debugging; used in GitHub production internally | Designed for debugging full ecosystem runs, not for CI-scriptable single-dependency scoped triggering against the live GitHub API; no gh extension wrapper, no PR streaming output |
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