
Kubernetes 1.34: Nova – AI-Native Workloads and Runtime Evolution
Kubernetes 1.34 “Nova” brings AI-aware scheduling, WASM runtime integration, CRI v2, unified observability, and stronger security for edge and data workloads.

Kubernetes 1.34 “Nova” brings AI-aware scheduling, WASM runtime integration, CRI v2, unified observability, and stronger security for edge and data workloads.

Kubernetes 1.33, codenamed 'Orion', delivers 47 enhancements with 15 features graduating to stable, focusing on intelligent autoscaling, cost efficiency, enhanced observability, Gateway API maturity, and advanced security features. This release ushers in a new era of intelligent orchestration with predictive scaling, unified metrics pipeline, and comprehensive network policy improvements.

Kubernetes 1.32, codenamed 'Penelope', commemorates Kubernetes' 10-year anniversary with 44 enhancements including 13 features graduating to stable. This milestone release delivers Dynamic Resource Allocation with Structured Parameters (Beta), Memory-Backed Volumes (GA), enhanced kubelet observability, structured authorization configuration, and improved anonymous access restrictions. This release reinforces Kubernetes as a mature, extensible, and production-ready platform for the next decade of cloud native innovation.

Kubernetes 1.31, codenamed 'Ethereal Elephants', delivers 45 enhancements with 14 features graduating to stable, including Fine-Grained Admission Control (Alpha), CRI v1.2 performance optimizations, Gateway API GRPCRoute (GA), BackendTLSPolicy (Beta), Metrics Stability Framework completion, and enhanced security policies. This release emphasizes runtime performance, observability maturity, and policy precision for modern Kubernetes operations.

Kubernetes 1.30, codenamed 'Uwubernetes', delivers 45 enhancements with 17 features graduating to stable, including Native Sidecar Containers (Beta), Gateway API GA, PodSchedulingReadiness (GA), JobSet API (Beta), enhanced security policies, and improved developer tooling. This release emphasizes developer experience, network traffic management maturity, and workload scheduling predictability.

Kubernetes 1.29, codenamed 'Mandala,' delivers 49 enhancements with 18 features graduating to stable, including Job lifecycle improvements, NodeLogQuery API (Alpha), KMS v2 as default for secret encryption, PodSecurity Admission enhancements, dual-stack IPv4/IPv6 production readiness, and completed CSI migration. This release emphasizes performance optimization, security hardening, and improved observability for large-scale deployments.

Kubernetes 1.28, codenamed 'Planternetes,' focuses on platform stability and sustainability with 45 enhancements including KMS v2 API (GA), VolumeGroupSnapshots (Alpha), Node lifecycle improvements, completed CSI migration, and enhanced Pod readiness gates. This release emphasizes long-term reliability with 19 features graduating to stable, improved storage capacity tracking, and refined networking for dual-stack IPv4/IPv6 support.

Kubernetes 1.27, codenamed 'Chill Vibes and Stable APIs,' introduces Sidecar Containers (Alpha), graduates CRD validation enhancements to GA, expands multi-architecture support, and improves observability with kubectl events GA. This stability-focused release includes 60 enhancements across API improvements, security enhancements, and extended platform compatibility for ARM64, RISC-V, PowerPC, and IBM Z architectures.

Kubernetes 1.26, codenamed 'Electrifying the Core,' graduates Storage Capacity Tracking and Ephemeral Containers to GA. This release completes CSI migration, introduces SeccompDefault for enhanced security, and modernizes APIs with v1beta1 removals and improved CRD validation.

Kubernetes 1.25 graduates PodSecurity Admission to GA, completing the replacement of PodSecurityPolicy. This release finalizes CSI migration for major cloud providers, enhances network policy status tracking, and improves CronJob reliability with better scheduling logic.