[ANNOUNCEMENT] ❄️ v1.36 Enhancements Freeze in Effect / Upcoming Key Dates

[Josh Michielsen]

Hi Kubernetes community! 👋 

Enhancements Freeze began today, Thursday 12th February 2026, at 12:00 UTC. 

Enhancements stats for v1.36: 

▶️ Enhancements opted-in for v1.36: 102

▶️ Enhancements tracked for v1.35: 80

⏹️ Enhancements removed from milestone after freeze: 11

Any KEPs that wish to join the v1.36 release must now have an approved Exception. Once approved, Enhancements will be entered into the tracking board by the Enhancements team. If you plan to submit an Exception request, please submit it as soon as possible.

For those with accepted Enhancements, please continue linking all k/k and k/website PRs to your k/enhancements tracking issue.

Upcoming Key Dates:

• 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

If you have any questions, please reach out to the Enhancements team at #enhancements or Release Team at #sig-release

Thank you! 

Josh Michielsen,

v1.36 Enhancements Lead