Kubernetes v1.36 Sneak Peek

[Ryota]

Hello Kubernetes community!

We hope everyone enjoyed the Kubernetes releases in 2025, which we wrapped with v1.35 'Timbernetes (The World Tree Release)'[0]. I'm excited to kick off the first Kubernetes release of 2026, v1.36[1]. My name is Ryota Sawada, and I'll be serving as the Release Lead for this cycle.

The release cycle officially began last week, Monday, 12th January (apologies for the delay with this communication!). We are currently targeting Wednesday, 22nd April for the final release cut. The major milestones for the v1.36 release[2] are the following:

• Release Cycle begins: Monday, January 12th, 2026
• Enhancements Freeze: Wednesday, 11th February, 2026 (End of Day, Anywhere on Earth) / 12:00 UTC Thursday, 12th February, 2026
• Code Freeze: Wednesday, 18th March, 2026 (AoE) / 12:00 UTC Thursday, 19th March, 2026
• Release Day: Wednesday, 22nd April, 2026

Joining me on this exciting journey as Release Lead Shadows are:

• Agustina Barbetta
• Dipesh Rawat
• Jenny Shu
• Rayan Das

The v1.36 Release Team has been established[3] and we're privileged to have an
amazing group of subteam leads:

• Sayan Chowdhury as Docs Lead
• Chad M. Crowell as Communications Lead
• Josh Michielsen as Enhancements Lead
• Prajyot Parab as Release Signal

Starting next week, we will be sharing some more detailed communications about the release, so stay tuned!

Please don't hesitate to ping us on #sig-release[4] if you have any comments, concerns, or questions.

Thank you!
Ryota Sawada,
On behalf of the Kubernetes v1.36 Release Team[3] 🎍

[0]: Kubernetes v1.35: Timbernetes (The World Tree Release) https://kubernetes.io/blog/2025/12/17/kubernetes-v1-35-release/
[1]: kubernetes-release-cadence
[2]: sig-release/releases/release-1.36
[3]: sig-release/releases/release-1.36/release-team.md
[4]: #sig-release on Slack