Releasesby Glyph(2026-R39) Version updates
GKE cluster versions have been updated. New versions available for upgrades and new clusters. The following versions are now available for new GKE clusters, and for manual control plane upgrades and node upgrades for existing clusters. For more information about versioning and upgrades, see GKE versioning and support and About GKE cluster upgrades .
Also shipped Sep 17, 2026Google Cloud in September 2026 →
Metastore-level ABAC policies are in Beta
Metastore-level ABAC policies are in Beta in Unity Catalog. You can now attach an ABAC policy (row filter, column mask, GRANT, or DENY) at the metastore level, so a single policy applies across every catalog in the metastore, including catalogs created later.
Moonshot AI Kimi K2.7 is scheduled for retirement
Moonshot AI Kimi K2.7 will be retired on October 30, 2026. Kimi K3 is the recommended replacement. See Deprecated and retired models for migration guidance.
HTML generation in Snowflake CoWork (Preview)
HTML generation is now available in preview as part of document generation in Snowflake CoWork. You can ask Snowflake CoWork to generate an HTML file from your analysis, the same way you generate a PDF or PowerPoint. Generation requires the Cortex Agent code execution tool on the associated agent.
Base environments are now supported on classic compute (Beta)
You can now use base environments to manage Python dependencies on classic compute. You can use Databricks-provided environments or custom workspace-level environments. See Manage dependencies using environments .
Snowpark Container Services backup instance types (General availability)
Backup instance types for Snowpark Container Services compute pools are now generally available and are no longer in Preview .
Upcoming changes to legacy Teams and Outlook activities in Fabric Data Factory pipelines
Beginning October 30, 2026, users will no longer be able to add new legacy Teams or legacy Outlook activities to pipelines. These legacy activities will no longer appear as options when users add new activities to a pipeline. Existing legacy activity instances can still be edited and used in existing pipelines.
More from Google Kubernetes EngineEvery Google Kubernetes Engine release →
Note : Your clusters might not have these versions available
Note : Your clusters might not have these versions available. Rollouts are already in progress when we publish the release notes, and can take multiple days to complete across all Google Cloud zones. Version 1.36.4-gke.1247000 is now the default version for cluster creation in the Rapid channel.
(2026-R40) Version updates
GKE cluster versions have been updated. New versions available for upgrades and new clusters. The following versions are now available for new GKE clusters, and for manual control plane upgrades and node upgrades for existing clusters. For more information about versioning and upgrades, see GKE versioning and support and About GKE cluster upgrades .
Note : Your clusters might not have these versions available
Note : Your clusters might not have these versions available. Rollouts are already in progress when we publish the release notes, and can take multiple days to complete across all Google Cloud zones. Version 1.36.4-gke.1391000 is now the default version for cluster creation in the Rapid channel.
Agent Substrate on GKE is now available for evaluation and non-production use
Agent Substrate on GKE is now available for evaluation and non-production use. Production support is offered on an allowlist basis under a limited GA program. Agent Substrate runs agentic workloads at scale on GKE clusters. To reduce resource usage, Agent Substrate suspends idle agents and takes a snapshot of the agent's active memory (RAM) and local files.
GKE ambient networking is now available in Preview through an allowlist
GKE ambient networking is now available in Preview through an allowlist. GKE ambient networking provides a simplified, sidecarless deployment model for a service mesh with Layer 4 capabilities.
GKE Standard clusters now support up to 512 maximum Pods per node, an increase from the previous limit of 256
GKE Standard clusters now support up to 512 maximum Pods per node, an increase from the previous limit of 256. Nodes configured for 257 to 512 Pods will now be allocated a /22 Pod CIDR block (1,024 IP addresses).
(2026-R38) Version updates
GKE cluster versions have been updated. New versions available for upgrades and new clusters. The following versions are now available for new GKE clusters, and for manual control plane upgrades and node upgrades for existing clusters. For more information about versioning and upgrades, see GKE versioning and support and About GKE cluster upgrades .
Note : Your clusters might not have these versions available
Note : Your clusters might not have these versions available. Rollouts are already in progress when we publish the release notes, and can take multiple days to complete across all Google Cloud zones. Version 1.36.4-gke.1082000 is now the default version for cluster creation in the Rapid channel.