Kubernetes 1.36 (scheduled April 2026) introduces 20 new alpha features across nodes, scheduling, API, apps, and storage. Key highlights include: DRA device attributes exposed via Downward API as mounted JSON files; a new kubelet gRPC API for local pod information without hitting the API server; CRI list streaming to bypass gRPC's 16 MB message limit on busy nodes; workload-aware preemption treating PodGroups as atomic units for AI/ML jobs; topology-aware scheduling for co-locating related pods; server-side sharded LIST/WATCH using FNV-1a hashing to reduce redundant data delivery; manifest-based admission control loaded before the API server accepts traffic; HPA scaling to zero using external/object metrics; native Prometheus histogram support; and graceful leader transitions for control-plane components. Non-alpha highlights include DRA device taints/tolerations and partitionable devices promoted to beta, OCI VolumeSource and user namespaces reaching stable, and removal of the gitRepo volume plugin for security reasons.
