--- title: "Kubernetes v1.38 Release Information" weight: 98 slug: "release" aliases: [ "/release" ] description: | Information regarding the current release cycle including important dates, Release Team contact information, tracking spreadsheets and more! --- # Kubernetes v1.38 #### Links * [This document](https://git.k8s.io/sig-release/releases/release-1.38/README.md) * [Release Team](https://github.com/kubernetes/sig-release/blob/master/releases/release-1.38/release-team.md) * [Release Links](https://github.com/kubernetes/sig-release/blob/master/releases/release-1.38/links.md) * [v1.38 Release Calendar](https://rel.k8s.io/release-team-cal) * [kubernetes/kubernetes v1.38 milestone](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/milestone/71) * Contact: [#sig-release](https://kubernetes.slack.com/archives/C2C40FMNF) on slack, [release-team](mailto:release-team@kubernetes.io) on e-mail #### Guides * [Targeting Issues and PRs to This Milestone](https://git.k8s.io/community/contributors/devel/sig-release/release.md) * [Triaging and Escalating Test Failures](https://git.k8s.io/community/contributors/devel/sig-testing/testing.md#troubleshooting-a-failure) ## Summary The v1.38 release cycle is proposed as follows: - **Monday 31st August 2026**: Week 1 — Release cycle begins - **Monday 7th - Wednesday 9th September 2026**: Week 2 — KubeCon China - **Tuesday 22nd September 2026 (AoE) / Wednesday 23th September 2026, 12:00 UTC**: Week 4 — [KEP Readiness Deadline][KEP Readiness Deadline] - **Tuesday 29th September 2026 (AoE) / Wednesday 30th September 2026, 12:00 UTC**: Week 5 — [Enhancements Freeze][Enhancements Freeze] - **Wednesday 4th November 2026 (AoE) / Thursday 5th November 2026, 12:00 UTC**: Week 10 — [Feature blog freeze][Feature blog freeze] - **Monday 9th - Thursday 12th November 2026**: Week 11 — KubeCon NA - **Monday 16th November 2026 (AoE) / Tuesday 17th November 2026, 12:00 UTC**: Week 12 — [Code Freeze][Code Freeze] and [Test Freeze][Test Freeze] - **Thursday 3rd December 2026 (AoE) / Friday 4rd December 2026, 12:00 UTC**: Week 14 — [Docs Freeze][Docs Freeze] - **Wednesday 16th December 2026**: Week 16 — Kubernetes v1.38.0 released > [!NOTE] > 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 | **What** | **Who** | **When** | **Week** | **Release Signal** | |---------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Start of Release Cycle | Lead | Monday 31st August 2026 | week 1 | [master-blocking], [master-informing] | | Start Enhancements Tracking | Enhancements Lead | Monday 31st August 2026 | week 1 | | | Schedule finalized | Lead | Friday 4th September 2026 | week 1 | | | Team finalized | Lead | Friday 4th September 2026 | week 1 | | | KubeCon China | | Monday 7th - Wednesday 9th September 2026 | week 2 | | | Begin APAC-friendly meetings | ALL | Wednesday 9th September 2026 | week 2 | | | Call for KEP Readiness Deadline and Enhancement Freeze [Exceptions] | Lead | Thursday 17th September 2026 | week 3 | | | v1.38.0-alpha.1 released | Branch Manager | Wednesday 23rd September 2026 | week 4 | | | Start Release Notes Draft | Docs Lead | Wednesday 23rd September 2026 | week 4 | | | **Begin enforcing [KEP Readiness Deadline]** | Enhancements Lead | Tuesday 22nd September 2026 (AoE) / Wednesday 23th September 2026 12:00 UTC | week 4 | | | **Begin [Enhancements Freeze]** | Enhancements Lead | Tuesday 29th September 2026 (AoE) / Wednesday 30th September 2026 12:00 UTC | week 5 | | | v1.38.0-alpha.2 released | Branch Manager | Wednesday 7th October 2026 | week 6 | | | v1.38.0-alpha.3 released | Branch Manager | Wednesday 21st October 2026 | week 8 | | | Brace Yourself, Code Freeze is Coming | Comms / Release Signal | Monday 26th October 2026 | week 9 | | | Docs deadline — Open placeholder PRs | Docs Lead | Thursday 29th October 2026 (AoE) / Friday 30th October 2026 12:00 UTC | week 9 | | | v1.38.0-beta.0 released | Branch Manager | Wednesday 4th November 2026 | week 10 | | | Begin [Feature blog freeze] - Open placeholder PRs | Comms Lead | Wednesday 4th November 2026 (AoE) / Thursday 5th November 2026 12:00 UTC | week 10 | | | Call for Code Freeze [Exceptions] | Lead | Friday 6th November 2026 | week 10 | | | KubeCon NA | | Monday 9th - Thursday 12th November 2026 | week 11 | | | **Begin [Code Freeze] and [Test Freeze]** | Branch Manager | Monday 16th November 2026 (AoE) / Tuesday 17th November 2026 12:00 UTC | week 12 | | | **Begin [Burndown]** (Meetings on Mon / Wed / Fri) | ALL | Monday 23rd November 2026 | week 13 | | | Deprecations and Removals blog published | Comms Lead | Monday 23rd November 2026 | week 13 | | | Docs deadline — PRs ready for review | Docs Lead | Tuesday 24th November 2026 | week 13 | | | Release Highlights deadline | Comms Lead | Tuesday 24th November 2026 | week 13 | | | Feature blogs ready to review | Enhancement Owner / SIG Leads | Monday 30th November 2026 | week 14 | | | **Burndown Meetings daily (Tue & Thu over Slack)** | ALL | Monday 30th November 2026 | week 14 | | | release-1.38 branch created | Branch Manager | Thursday 3rd December 2026 | week 14 | | | release-1.38 jobs created | Branch Manager | Thursday 3rd December 2026 | week 14 | | | v1.38.0-rc.0 released | Branch Manager | Thursday 3rd December 2026 | week 14 | [1.38-informing], [1.38-blocking], [master-blocking], [master-informing] | | Start final draft of Release Notes | Docs Lead | Thursday 3rd December 2026 | week 14 | | | **[Docs Freeze]** | Docs Lead | Thursday 3rd December 2026 (AoE) / Friday 4th December 2026 12:00 UTC | week 14 | | | v1.38.0-rc.1 released | Branch Manager | Wednesday 9th December 2026 | week 15 | | | Release blog ready to review | Comms / Docs | Thursday 10th December 2026 (AoE) / Friday 11th December 2026 12:00 UTC | week 15 | | | Final Release Notes complete / PR Merged | Docs Lead | Monday 14th December 2026 (AoE) / Tuesday 15th December 2026 12:00 UTC | week 16 | | | **v1.38.0 released** | Branch Manager | Wednesday 16th December 2026 | week 16 | | | Release blog published | Comms Lead | Wednesday 16th December 2026 | week 16 | | | [Thaw] | Branch Manager | Wednesday 16th December 2026 | week 16 | | | Feature blog publication starts | Comms Lead | Thursday 17th December 2026 | week 16 | | ## Phases Please refer to the [release phases document](../release_phases.md). [KEP Readiness Deadline]: ../release_phases.md#kep-readiness-deadline [Enhancements Freeze]: ../release_phases.md#enhancements-freeze [Burndown]: ../release_phases.md#burndown [Code Freeze]: ../release_phases.md#code-freeze [Exceptions]: ../release_phases.md#exceptions [Thaw]: ../release_phases.md#thaw [Test Freeze]: ../release_phases.md#test-freeze [Docs Freeze]: ../release_phases.md#docs-freeze [Feature blog freeze]: ../release_phases.md#feature-blog-freeze [master-blocking]: https://testgrid.k8s.io/sig-release-master-blocking#Summary [master-informing]: https://testgrid.k8s.io/sig-release-master-informing#Summary [1.38-blocking]: https://testgrid.k8s.io/sig-release-1.38-blocking#Summary [1.38-informing]: https://testgrid.k8s.io/sig-release-1.38-informing#Summary [release-team@]: https://groups.google.com/a/kubernetes.io/g/release-team [k/k]: https://code.k8s.io