diff --git a/.github/renovate.json5 b/.github/renovate.json5
index 398468ea..529e9dcb 100644
--- a/.github/renovate.json5
+++ b/.github/renovate.json5
@@ -1,42 +1,94 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
 {
   "$schema": "https://docs.renovatebot.com/renovate-schema.json",
-  extends: ["config:base"],
+  extends: [
+    "config:base",
+    // Required to not pin dependencies to _exact_ versions (pip)
+    ":preserveSemverRanges",
+    "group:monorepos",
+    "helpers:pinGitHubActionDigests",
+    ":semanticPrefixFixDepsChoreOthers",
+    ":dependencyDashboard",
+  ],
+
+  // Added for posterity how to let Renovate manage version-branches, assuming that release branches
+  // have the `release/` prefix.
+  // BE CAREFUL WITH THIS OPTION and make sure that the changes work.
+  baseBranches: [
+    "main",
+  ],
 
-  "labels": ["dependencies"],
+  pip_requirements: {
+    // fileMatch default: (^|/)([\\w-]*)requirements\\.(txt|pip)$
+    "fileMatch": ["(^|/)([\\w-]*)requirements.*\\.txt$"],
+  },
 
   packageRules: [
-    // Check for updates, merge automatically
+    // Check for updates, do not merge automatically. This rule does effectively nothing, but serves as a
+    // reference for the kinds of managers used in Polaris.
     {
-      matchManagers: ["maven", "gradle", "gradle-wrapper"],
-      matchUpdateTypes: ["minor", "patch"],
-      automerge: true,
-      platformAutomerge: true,
+      matchManagers: [
+        "gradle", "gradle-wrapper",
+        "pip_requirements", "pip_setup", "poetry", "setup-cfg",
+        "dockerfile", "devcontainer", "docker-compose",
+        "github-actions"],
+      automerge: false, // just be explicit (false is the default)
     },
 
-    // Special rule for Iceberg and related artifacts
+    // Reduce update frequency for a few dependencies that have a quite high release frequency.
+    //   awssdk (release frequency: daily)
     {
-      matchManagers: ["maven", "gradle"],
-      matchUpdateTypes: ["minor", "patch"],
-      matchPackagePatterns: [
-        "^org[.]apache[.]hadoop:hadoop-aws$",
-        "^org[.]apache[.]hadoop:hadoop-common$",
-        "^org[.]apache[.]hive:.*$",
-        "^org[.]apache[.]iceberg:.*",
-        "^software[.]amazon[.]awssdk:.*",
-      ],
-      automerge: false,
-      prBodyNotes: [":warning: Only update org.apache.iceberg with org.apache.hadoop + software.amazon.awssdk:warning:"]
+      matchManagers: ["gradle"],
+      matchPackagePrefixes: ["software.amazon.awssdk"],
+      extends: ["schedule:weekly"],
+    },
+    //   boto3 (release frequency: multiple times per week)
+    {
+      matchManagers: ["pip_requirements", "pip_setup", "poetry"],
+      matchPackagePrefixes: ["boto3"],
+      extends: ["schedule:weekly"],
     },
 
-    // Check for major updates, but do not merge automatically
+    // Quarkus platform + plugin together
     {
-      matchManagers: ["maven", "gradle", "gradle-wrapper"],
-      matchUpdateTypes: ["major"],
-      automerge: false,
+      groupName: "Quarkus Platform and Group",
+      matchManagers: ["gradle"],
+      matchPackageNames: [
+        "io.quarkus.platform:quarkus-bom",
+        "io.quarkus.platform:quarkus-amazon-services-bom",
+        "io.quarkus.platform:quarkus-google-cloud-services-bom",
+        "io.quarkus:io.quarkus.gradle.plugin",
+      ],
     },
+    {
+      matchPackageNames: ["openapi-generator-cli"],
+      enabled: false
+    }
   ],
 
-  // Max 50 PRs in total, 10 per hour
+  // Max 50 PRs in total, 5 per hour.
+  // Renovate rebases PRs automatically when the renovate bot "visits" (scans) the repo, hence the hourly and
+  // concurrent PRs limit.
   prConcurrentLimit: 50,
-  prHourlyLimit: 10,
+  prHourlyLimit: 5,
+
+  // add renovate-polaris label to easily filter PRs/email
+  labels: ["renovate-polaris"],
 }