FIx invalid config issues created due to intermittent 401 responses from the GitHub API #41174
Description
Discussed in #41119
Originally posted by languitar February 12, 2026
How are you running Renovate?
Self-hosted Renovate CLI
Which platform you running Renovate on?
GitHub.com
Which version of Renovate are you using?
42.92.1
Please tell us more about your question or problem
We have a few users of our renovate CE installation that are using nested presets in a private GitHub repository. We have a token configured that can access the preset repository and that works mostly fine. However, we sometimes see intermittent 401 responses from GitHub when trying to fetch a nested preset. This immediately leads a config validation problem and in turn immediately results in Renovate opening an issue with title "Action Required: Fix Renovate Configuration". All of this happens, because of some intermittent GitHub hiccups.
It would be nice if there was a retry mechanism instead of immediately flooding users with (wrong) config validation GitHub issues.
Logs (if relevant)
Logs
{
"name": "renovate",
"hostname": "renovate-redacted-f6ff89c8d-nkqgz",
"pid": 167788,
"level": 30,
"logContext": "429d6305-4871-4f5a-84ef-1c1b42c71b63",
"repository": "redacted/redacted",
"renovateVersion": "42.92.1",
"msg": "Repository started",
"time": "2026-02-04T23:33:48.848Z",
"v": 0
}
{
"name": "renovate",
"hostname": "renovate-redacted-f6ff89c8d-nkqgz",
"pid": 167788,
"level": 40,
"logContext": "429d6305-4871-4f5a-84ef-1c1b42c71b63",
"repository": "redacted/redacted",
"msg": "github.com token 401 unauthorized",
"time": "2026-02-04T23:33:53.863Z",
"v": 0
}
{
"name": "renovate",
"hostname": "renovate-redacted-f6ff89c8d-nkqgz",
"pid": 167788,
"level": 30,
"logContext": "429d6305-4871-4f5a-84ef-1c1b42c71b63",
"repository": "redacted/redacted",
"validationError": "Cannot find preset's package (local>redcated/redacted-preset-repo//presets/dependency-dashboard#main). Note: this is a *nested* preset so please contact the preset author if you are unable to fix it yourself.",
"msg": "Throwing preset error",
"time": "2026-02-04T23:33:53.877Z",
"v": 0
}