❄️🧊THIS WEEK: 1.35 Code Freeze and Test Freeze Deadlines!

[Drew Hagen]

Greetings Kubernetes Community!

The Code Freeze and Test Freeze milestone for Kubernetes 1.35 release cycle is approaching, starting at end of day AoE Thursday 6 November 2025 (Friday 7 November 2025, 12:00 UTC / 04:00 PST).

Please make sure your kubernetes/kubernetes pull requests for KEPs and any major changes targeting v1.35 are merged by then.

If you think you may miss the deadline, you are highly encouraged to file an exception request ahead of time!

Pull requests that have the “approved” label at the deadline will *not need* to file exceptions.

Also a friendly reminder that this year, KubeCon / CloudNativeCon North America 2025 takes place shortly after Code Freeze. When submitting an exception, please factor in that reviewer and approver availability may be limited during the conference, given folks who will be in attendance.
Submitting exception requests early will help us keep reviews moving smoothly, as PR turnaround can be slower while much of the community is at KubeCon.

Please reach out to us on Slack in the #sig-release channel if you have any questions.

Much appreciated! Take care,
Drew Hagen

Kubernetes 1.35 Release Team Lead
On behalf of the Release Team

[1] https://everytimezone.com/s/6488f786
[2] https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pulls
[3] https://github.com/kubernetes/sig-release/blob/master/releases/EXCEPTIONS.md
[4] https://events.linuxfoundation.org/kubecon-cloudnativecon-north-america/
[5] https://kubernetes.slack.com/archives/C2C40FMNF