Kubernetes v1.35 Release Information

Timbernetes v1.35 - World Tree Release

2025 began in the shimmer of Octarine: The Color of Magic (v1.33) and rode the gusts of Of Wind & Will (v1.34). With the v1.35 release, we close the year with our hands on the World Tree, inspired by Yggdrasil, the tree of life that binds many realms. Like any great tree, Kubernetes grows ring by ring and release by release, shaped by the care of a global community.

At its center sits the Kubernetes wheel wrapped around the Earth, grounded by the resilient maintainers, contributors and users who keep showing up. Between day jobs, life changes, and steady open-source stewardship, they prune old APIs, graft new features and keep one of the world’s largest open source projects healthy.

Three squirrels guard the tree: a wizard holding the LGTM scroll for reviewers, a warrior with an axe and Kubernetes shield for the release crews who cut new branches, and a rogue with a lantern for the triagers who bring light to dark issue queues.

Together, they stand in for a much larger adventuring party. Kubernetes v1.35 adds another growth ring to the World Tree, a fresh cut shaped by many hands, many paths and a community whose branches reach higher as its roots grow deeper.

Links

• This document
• Release Team
• Meeting Minutes (members of release-team@ receive meeting invites)
• v1.35 Release Calendar
• Contact: #sig-release on slack, release-team on e-mail
• Internal Contact Info (accessible only to members of release-team@)

Tracking docs

• Enhancements Tracking Board
• Feature blog Tracking Board
• Bug Triage Tracking Board
• CI Signal Project Board & Issue Tracking
• Retrospective Document
• kubernetes/kubernetes v1.35 milestone

Guides

• Targeting Issues and PRs to This Milestone
• Triaging and Escalating Test Failures

Summary

The v1.35 release cycle is as follows:

• Monday 15th September 2025: Week 1 — Release cycle begins
• Thursday 9th October 2025 (AoE) / Friday 10th October 2025, 12:00 UTC: Week 4 — Production Readiness Freeze
• Thursday 16th October 2025 (AoE) / Friday 17th October 2025, 12:00 UTC: Week 5 — Enhancements Freeze
• Thursday 30th October 2025 (AoE) / Friday 31st October 2025, 12:00 UTC: Week 7 — Feature blog freeze
• Thursday 6th November 2025 (AoE) / Friday 7th November 2025, 12:00 UTC: Week 8 — Code Freeze and Test Freeze
• Monday 10th - Thursday 13th November 2025: Week 9 - KubeCon NA
• Tuesday 2nd December 2025 (AoE) / Wednesday 3rd December 2025, 12:00 UTC: Week 12 — Docs Freeze
• Wednesday 17th December 2025: Week 14 — Kubernetes v1.35.0 released

Note on AoE deadlines:

Deadlines are expressed in “Anywhere on Earth” (AoE) time. This means the date ends when the calendar day finishes in the last timezone on Earth (UTC−12). Example: A deadline of Thursday, Oct 16 (AoE) gives contributors their full Thursday everywhere in the world. The cutoff therefore would be Friday, Oct 17 at 12:00 UTC.

Timeline

Phases

Please refer to the release phases document.