| title | Kubernetes v1.35 Release Information | |
|---|---|---|
| weight | 98 | |
| slug | release | |
| aliases |
|
|
| description | Information regarding the current release cycle including important dates, Release Team contact information, tracking spreadsheets and more! |
2025 began in the shimmer of Octarine: The Color of Magic (v1.33) and rode the gusts of Of Wind & Will (v1.34). With the v1.35 release, we close the year with our hands on the World Tree, inspired by Yggdrasil, the tree of life that binds many realms. Like any great tree, Kubernetes grows ring by ring and release by release, shaped by the care of a global community.
At its center sits the Kubernetes wheel wrapped around the Earth, grounded by the resilient maintainers, contributors and users who keep showing up. Between day jobs, life changes, and steady open-source stewardship, they prune old APIs, graft new features and keep one of the world’s largest open source projects healthy.
Three squirrels guard the tree: a wizard holding the LGTM scroll for reviewers, a warrior with an axe and Kubernetes shield for the release crews who cut new branches, and a rogue with a lantern for the triagers who bring light to dark issue queues.
Together, they stand in for a much larger adventuring party. Kubernetes v1.35 adds another growth ring to the World Tree, a fresh cut shaped by many hands, many paths and a community whose branches reach higher as its roots grow deeper.
- This document
- Release Team
- Meeting Minutes (members of release-team@ receive meeting invites)
- v1.35 Release Calendar
- Contact: #sig-release on slack, release-team on e-mail
- Internal Contact Info (accessible only to members of release-team@)
- Enhancements Tracking Board
- Feature blog Tracking Board
- Bug Triage Tracking Board
- CI Signal Project Board & Issue Tracking
- Retrospective Document
- kubernetes/kubernetes v1.35 milestone
The v1.35 release cycle is as follows:
- Monday 15th September 2025: Week 1 — Release cycle begins
- Thursday 9th October 2025 (AoE) / Friday 10th October 2025, 12:00 UTC: Week 4 — Production Readiness Freeze
- Thursday 16th October 2025 (AoE) / Friday 17th October 2025, 12:00 UTC: Week 5 — Enhancements Freeze
- Thursday 30th October 2025 (AoE) / Friday 31st October 2025, 12:00 UTC: Week 7 — Feature blog freeze
- Thursday 6th November 2025 (AoE) / Friday 7th November 2025, 12:00 UTC: Week 8 — Code Freeze and Test Freeze
- Monday 10th - Thursday 13th November 2025: Week 9 - KubeCon NA
- Tuesday 2nd December 2025 (AoE) / Wednesday 3rd December 2025, 12:00 UTC: Week 12 — Docs Freeze
- Wednesday 17th December 2025: Week 14 — Kubernetes v1.35.0 released
Deadlines are expressed in “Anywhere on Earth” (AoE) time. This means the date ends when the calendar day finishes in the last timezone on Earth (UTC−12). Example: A deadline of Thursday, Oct 16 (AoE) gives contributors their full Thursday everywhere in the world. The cutoff therefore would be Friday, Oct 17 at 12:00 UTC.
| What | Who | When | Week | Release Signal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Start of Release Cycle | Lead | Monday 15th September 2025 | week 1 | master-blocking, master-informing |
| Start Enhancements Tracking | Enhancements Lead | Monday 15th September 2025 | week 1 | |
| Schedule finalized | Lead | Friday 19th September 2025 | week 1 | |
| Team finalized | Lead | Friday 19th September 2025 | week 1 | |
| Begin APAC-friendly meetings | Lead | Wednesday 24th September 2025 | week 2 | |
| Start Release Notes Draft | Docs Lead | Wednesday 1st October 2025 | week 3 | |
| Call for PRR and Enhancement Freeze Exceptions | Lead | Thursday 2nd October 2025 | week 3 | |
| v1.35.0-alpha.1 released | Branch Manager | Wednesday 8th October 2025 | week 4 | |
| Begin Production Readiness Freeze | Enhancements Lead | Thursday 9th October 2025 (AoE) / Friday 10th October 2025, 12:00 UTC | week 4 | |
| Begin Enhancements Freeze | Enhancements Lead | Thursday 16th October 2025 (AoE) / Friday 17th October 2025, 12:00 UTC | week 5 | |
| v1.35.0-alpha.2 released | Branch Manager | Wednesday 22nd October 2025 | week 6 | |
| Brace Yourself, Code Freeze is Coming | Comms / Release Signal | Monday 27th October 2025 | week 7 | |
| Docs deadline — Open placeholder PRs | Docs Lead | Thursday 23th October 2025 | week 6 | |
| Begin Feature blog freeze - Open placeholder PRs | Comms Lead | Thursday 30th October 2025 (AoE) / Friday 31st October 2025, 12:00 UTC | week 7 | |
| Call for Code Freeze Exceptions | Lead | Friday 31st October 2025 | week 7 | |
| v1.35.0-alpha.3 released | Branch Manager | Wednesday 5th November 2025 | week 8 | |
| Begin Code Freeze and Test Freeze | Branch Manager | Thursday 6th November 2025 (AoE) / Friday 7th November 2025, 12:00 UTC | week 8 | |
| KubeCon NA | Monday 10th - Thursday 13th November 2025 | week 9 | ||
| Begin Burndown (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday meetings) | Lead | Monday 17th November 2025 | week 10 | |
| Deprecations and Removals blog published | Comms | Monday 17th November 2025 | week 10 | |
| Docs deadline — PRs ready for review | Docs Lead | Tuesday 18th November 2025 | week 10 | |
| Release Highlights deadline | Comms | Tuesday 18th November 2025 | week 10 | |
| v1.35.0-beta.0 released | Branch Manager | Wednesday 19th November 2025 | week 10 | |
| Release blog ready to review | Comms / Docs | Thursday 20th November 2025 (AoE) / Friday 21st November 2025, 12:00 UTC | week 10 | |
| Feature blogs ready to review | Enhancement Owner / SIG Leads | Monday 24th November 2025 | week 11 | |
| Burndown Meetings daily (Tuesday & Thursday over Slack) | Lead | Monday 24th November 2025 | week 11 | |
| release-1.35 branch created | Branch Manager | Tuesday 2nd December 2025 | week 12 | |
| release-1.35 jobs created | Branch Manager | Tuesday 2nd December 2025 | week 12 | |
| Start final draft of Release Notes | Docs Lead | Tuesday 2nd December 2025 | week 12 | |
| Docs Freeze | Docs Lead | Tuesday 2nd December 2025 (AoE) / Wednesday 3rd December 2025, 12:00 UTC | week 12 | |
| v1.35.0-rc.0 released | Branch Manager | Tuesday 2nd December 2025 | week 12 | 1.35-informing, 1.35-blocking, master-blocking, master-informing |
| Release Highlights complete | Docs Lead | Tuesday 9th December 2025 | week 13 | |
| v1.35.0-rc.1 released | Branch Manager | Tuesday 9th December 2025 | week 13 | |
| Release Notes complete — reviewed & merged to https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes | Docs Lead | Wednesday 17th December 2025 | week 14 | |
| v1.35.0 released | Branch Manager | Wednesday 17th December 2025 | week 14 | |
| Release blog published | Comms | Wednesday 17th December 2025 | week 14 | |
| Thaw | Comms | Thursday 18th December 2025 | week 14 | |
| Feature blog publication starts | Comms | Thursday 18th December 2025 |
Please refer to the release phases document.