[URGENT] Final call for v1.36 Enhancements
Dipesh Rawat
Greetings Kubernetes Community! 👋
We are less than a few days away[0] from the v1.36 Production Readiness Review Freeze.
The PRR Freeze deadline is Wednesday 4th February 2026 end of day Anywhere on Earth [1], which corresponds to Thursday 5th February 2026 at 12:00 UTC. This message serves as the FINAL REMINDER for new enhancements to be included in the v1.36 release.
Since the Enhancements project board sync will be disabled at PRR Freeze[2], this is the final opportunity to opt new enhancements into the release without an approved exception[3]. After the PRR freeze, no additional KEPs can be added to the Enhancements tracking board. If you plan to include an enhancement in v1.36 that is not yet on the board[4], please reach out to your sponsoring SIG as a matter of urgency to have them opt it in.
By PRR Freeze, each opted-in enhancement must have an open PR in kubernetes/enhancements that fulfills all three of the following requirements:
1) PRR questionnaire filled out in the KEP, with no obvious “TBD/N/A” where an answer is clearly applicable[5].
2) kep.yaml is updated with the stage, latest-milestone, and milestone struct filled out like so:
stage:
latest-milestone: v1.36
milestone:
: v1.36
3) PRR approver listed for the targeted stage in
keps/prod-readiness/<sig>/<kep-number>.yaml
e.g.,
alpha.approver: @gh-handle,
beta.approver: @gh-handle
Not required at PRR Freeze:
PRR approval and merge are not required at PRR Freeze. Those can still land before Enhancements Freeze[6].
The Enhancements team[7] is actively going through the tracking board and reviewing opted in KEPs. If an enhancement already satisfies the PRR Freeze requirements, its status will be updated accordingly. If information is missing or unclear, the enhancement will be marked “At Risk for PRR freeze” until it is addressed. If your KEP is already tracked for PRR Freeze, please begin working now to ensure it is fully in shape for Enhancements Freeze next week (Wednesday 11th February 2026 (AoE) / Thursday 12th February 2026, 12:00 UTC), including completing all remaining requirements and addressing any open feedback.
Enhancements that do not meet PRR Freeze requirements and do not have an approved exception[2] will be removed from the v1.36 milestone post PRR Freeze deadline. Any new opt-ins or re-additions after this point will require an approved exception.
If you have questions or need clarification, please reach out in #release-enhancements or #sig-release on the Kubernetes Slack workspace[8].
Yours sincerely,
Dipesh Rawat
Kubernetes v1.36 Release Lead Shadow
On behalf of the Kubernetes Release Team
[2]: Release Phases - About PRR Freeze
[4]: v1.36 Enhancements Tracking Board
[5]: PRR Questionnaire Template
[6]: Release Phases - About Enhancements Freeze
[7]: sig-release/releases/release-1.36/release-team.md
[8]: https://kubernetes.slack.com/archives/C02BY55KV7E