Have you handed a whole task to a coding agent like Claude Code, Codex, Cursor or Copilot's coding agent and reviewed its pull request?

Coding agents read your repo, make changes across files and run the tests on their own. You give them a ticket-sized task and review the result like a colleague's PR.

Do Dependabot or Renovate open your dependency upgrade PRs automatically?

These bots watch your packages and open small PRs for each update, with release notes. Safe updates can merge themselves when tests pass.

How to automate it

How to automate “upgrade dependencies and fix security alerts in packages”

Here are 2 ways to spend less time on this, best first. Each comes with steps you can follow today and, for AI fixes, a prompt to copy.

60 min

typically, once a week

65%

of the time can be automated

Some setup

to set up

Fix 1 of 2

AutomationBest fix

Let Dependabot or Renovate open upgrade PRs, grouped and auto-merged when safe

Bots open small upgrade PRs with changelogs and auto-merge patch updates that pass tests. A coding agent can handle the breaking ones.

Typically saves about 50% of the time1 h to set up

1Turn on Dependabot (GitHub) or install Renovate.
2Group minor and patch updates into one weekly PR per ecosystem to cut noise.
3Enable auto-merge for patch updates that pass CI.
4For major upgrades, assign the PR to a coding agent to fix breaking changes, then review.

Tools: Dependabot · Renovate · Snyk · Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot agent mode or Devin Desktop (ex-Windsurf)

Fix 2 of 2

Hand well-scoped tasks to a coding agent and review its pull request

Coding agents like Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, Cursor's agent and GitHub Copilot's coding agent can read the repo, make multi-file changes and run the tests. They do best on clear, bounded tasks you can review quickly.

Typically saves about 30% of the time30 min to set up

1Check which coding agent your company approves and that it has access to the repo.
2Add a short instructions file to the repo (CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md or .cursor/rules) with how to build, test and the conventions to follow.
3Give it a ticket-sized task with acceptance criteria, using the prompt below.
4Let it run the tests; read the diff as carefully as a colleague's PR.
5Start with tests, refactors, small features and config changes before larger work.

Prompt to copy

Task: [WHAT TO BUILD OR CHANGE]. Context: [RELEVANT FILES OR MODULES]. Acceptance criteria: [LIST]. Constraints: follow the existing patterns in [EXAMPLE FILE], do not add new dependencies, do not change public APIs unless needed. First read the relevant code and give me a short plan. After I approve, make the change, add or update tests, run the test suite and linter, and summarize what you changed and anything you were unsure about.

Tools: Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot agent mode or Devin Desktop (ex-Windsurf)

Quick wins

Have you tried…

Have you handed a whole task to a coding agent like Claude Code, Codex, Cursor or Copilot's coding agent and reviewed its pull request?: Coding agents read your repo, make changes across files and run the tests on their own. You give them a ticket-sized task and review the result like a colleague's PR.
Do Dependabot or Renovate open your dependency upgrade PRs automatically?: These bots watch your packages and open small PRs for each update, with release notes. Safe updates can merge themselves when tests pass.

Who does this task

Roles in our library that list this as one of their common tasks. Each guide covers the rest of that role’s week.

Software engineer DevOps / Site reliability engineer

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