Dependabot only updated NuGet packages on the default branch. This extends coverage to the maintained release/8.0, release/9.0, and release/10.0 branches, restricted to minor/patch bumps so major upgrades are never proposed on shipped releases.

Changes (.github/dependabot.yml)

• New nuget update blocks for each release branch via target-branch.
• Staggered weekly schedule to avoid same-day PR floods — Monday (default branch) / Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday.
• Per-branch commit prefix (commit-message.prefix: [release/8.0], [release/9.0], [release/10.0]) for clear attribution.
• Minor/patch only — ignore version-update:semver-major for all packages on release branches.
• Reuses the existing dotnet-public registry, area-infrastructure label, PR limit, and Maestro-managed package ignore list (flowed via eng/Version.Details.props).

  - package-ecosystem: "nuget"
    directory: "/"
    target-branch: "release/8.0"
    schedule:
      interval: "weekly"
      day: "tuesday"
    commit-message:
      prefix: "[release/8.0]"
    ignore:
      - dependency-name: "*"
        update-types: ["version-update:semver-major"]
      # ...Maestro-managed packages...

Note for reviewers

Dependabot reads each branch's config from the default branch, so these blocks take effect once merged to the default branch — the entries do not need to be copied onto the release branches themselves.