❄️🧊 Upcoming Code Freeze and Test Freeze Deadlines for Kubernetes v1.37

[Agustina Barbetta]

Hi Kubernetes Community! 👋

The Code Freeze [1] and Test Freeze [2] milestone for the Kubernetes v1.37 release cycle is a week away, on Wednesday 22nd July 2026 (Anywhere-on-Earth) / Thursday 23rd July 2026, 12:00 UTC. 

Please make sure your kubernetes/kubernetes pull requests [3] for KEPs and any major changes targeting v1.37 are merged by then.

[ 🚥 Exception Requests ]
If you think you may miss the deadline, you are highly encouraged to file an exception request [4] ahead of time. Pull requests that have the "approved" label at the deadline will not need to file exceptions.

Also a friendly reminder that KubeCon Japan 2026 [5] overlaps with Docs ready-to-review deadline on Tuesday 28th July 2026. Finalizing Doc PRs 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 [6] channel if you have any questions!

Thanks all,
Agustina Barbetta
Kubernetes v1.37 Release Lead Shadow
On behalf of the v1.37 Release Team

[1] https://github.com/kubernetes/sig-release/blob/master/releases/release_phases.md#code-freeze
[2] https://github.com/kubernetes/sig-release/blob/master/releases/release_phases.md#test-freeze
[3] https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pulls
[4] https://github.com/kubernetes/sig-release/blob/master/releases/EXCEPTIONS.md
[5] https://events.linuxfoundation.org/kubecon-cloudnativecon-japan
[6] https://kubernetes.slack.com/archives/C2C40FMNF