| title | Kubernetes v1.36 Release Information | |
|---|---|---|
| weight | 98 | |
| slug | release | |
| aliases |
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| description | Information regarding the current release cycle including important dates, Release Team contact information, tracking spreadsheets and more! |
- This document
- Release Team
- Meeting Minutes (members of release-team@ receive meeting invites)
- v1.36 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 v1.36 milestone
The v1.36 release cycle is as follows:
- Monday 12th January 2026: Week 1 — Release cycle begins
- Wednesday 4th February 2026 (AoE) / Thursday 5th February 2026, 12:00 UTC: Week 4 — Production Readiness Freeze
- Wednesday 11th February 2026 (AoE) / Thursday 12th February 2026, 12:00 UTC: Week 5 — Enhancements Freeze
- Thursday 26th February 2026 (AoE) / Friday 27th February 2026, 12:00 UTC: Week 7 — Feature blog freeze
- Wednesday 18th March 2026 (AoE) / Thursday 19th March 2026, 12:00 UTC: Week 10 — Code Freeze and Test Freeze
- Monday 23rd - Thursday 26th March 2026: Week 11 - KubeCon EU
- Wednesday 8th April 2026 (AoE) / Thursday 9th April 2026, 12:00 UTC: Week 13 — Docs Freeze
- Wednesday 22nd April 2026: Week 15 — Kubernetes v1.36.0 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 12th January 2026 | week 1 | master-blocking, master-informing |
| Start Enhancements Tracking | Enhancements Lead | Monday 12th January 2026 | week 1 | |
| Schedule finalized | Lead | Friday 16th January 2026 | week 1 | |
| Team finalized | Lead | Friday 16th January 2026 | week 1 | |
| Begin APAC-friendly meetings | ALL | Wednesday 21st January 2026 | week 2 | |
| Start Release Notes Draft | Docs Lead | Wednesday 28th January 2026 | week 3 | |
| Call for PRR and Enhancement Freeze Exceptions | Lead | Thursday 29th January 2026 | week 3 | |
| v1.36.0-alpha.1 released | Branch Manager | Wednesday 4th February 2026 | week 4 | |
| Begin Production Readiness Freeze | Enhancements Lead | Wednesday 4th February 2026 (AoE) / Thursday 5th February 2026, 12:00 UTC | week 4 | |
| Begin Enhancements Freeze | Enhancements Lead | Wednesday 11th February 2026 (AoE) / Thursday 12th February 2026, 12:00 UTC | week 5 | |
| v1.36.0-alpha.2 released | Branch Manager | Wednesday 18th February 2026 | week 6 | |
| Brace Yourself, Code Freeze is Coming | Comms / Release Signal | Monday 23rd February 2026 | week 7 | |
| Docs deadline — Open placeholder PRs | Docs Lead | Thursday 26th February 2026 (AoE) / Friday 27th February 2026, 12:00 UTC | week 7 | |
| v1.36.0-alpha.3 released | Branch Manager | Wednesday 4th March 2026 | week 8 | |
| Begin Feature blog freeze - Open placeholder PRs | Comms Lead | Thursday 5th March 2026 (AoE) / Friday 6th March 2026, 12:00 UTC | week 8 | |
| Call for Code Freeze Exceptions | Lead | Monday 9th March 2026 | week 9 | |
| v1.36.0-beta.0 released | Branch Manager | Wednesday 11th March 2026 | week 9 | |
| Begin Code Freeze and Test Freeze | Branch Manager | Wednesday 18th March 2026 (AoE) / Thursday 19th March 2026, 12:00 UTC | week 10 | |
| KubeCon EU | Monday 23rd - Thursday 26th March 2026 | week 11 | ||
| Begin Burndown (Meetings on Mon / Wed / Fri) | ALL | Monday 30th March 2026 | week 12 | |
| Deprecations and Removals blog published | Comms Lead | Monday 30th March 2026 | week 12 | |
| Docs deadline — PRs ready for review | Docs Lead | Tuesday 31st March 2026 | week 12 | |
| Release Highlights deadline | Comms Lead | Tuesday 31st March 2026 | week 12 | |
| Feature blogs ready to review | Enhancement Owner / SIG Leads | Monday 6th April 2026 | week 13 | |
| Burndown Meetings daily (Tue & Thu over Slack) | ALL | Monday 6th April 2026 | week 13 | |
| release-1.36 branch created | Branch Manager | Wednesday 8th April 2026 | week 13 | |
| release-1.36 jobs created | Branch Manager | Wednesday 8th April 2026 | week 13 | |
| v1.36.0-rc.0 released | Branch Manager | Wednesday 8th April 2026 | week 13 | 1.36-informing, 1.36-blocking, master-blocking, master-informing |
| Start final draft of Release Notes | Docs Lead | Wednesday 8th April 2026 | week 13 | |
| Docs Freeze | Docs Lead | Wednesday 8th April 2026 (AoE) / Thursday 9th April 2026, 12:00 UTC | week 13 | |
| Release blog ready to review | Comms / Docs | Thursday 9th April 2026 (AoE) / Friday 10th April 2026, 12:00 UTC | week 13 | |
| v1.36.0-rc.1 released | Branch Manager | Tuesday 14th April 2026 | week 14 | |
| Release Notes complete | Docs Lead | Wednesday 22nd April 2026 | week 15 | |
| v1.36.0 released | Branch Manager | Wednesday 22nd April 2026 | week 15 | |
| Release blog published | Comms Lead | Wednesday 22nd April 2026 | week 15 | |
| Thaw | Branch Manager | Wednesday 22nd April 2026 | week 15 | |
| Feature blog publication starts | Comms Lead | Thursday 23rd April 2026 | week 15 |
Please refer to the release phases document.