Tasks for v1.13 release cycle

[aman4433]

Cluster API v1.13 – Release Tracking

Please see the corresponding sections of the role-handbooks for documentation of individual tasks.

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Tasks

Notes:

• Weeks are provided only for orientation.
• Dates are included for easier reference.

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Week 1 (Jan 5 – Jan 9, 2026)

• [Release Lead] Finalize release schedule and team
• [Release Lead] Add/remove release team members
• [Release Lead] Prepare main branch for development of the new release
• [Communications Manager] Add docs to collect release notes and migration notes
• [Communications Manager] Update supported versions

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Weeks 1–4 (Jan 5 – Jan 30, 2026)

• [Release Lead] Track removal of previously deprecated code

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Week 3 (Jan 20, 2026)

• [Release Lead] Cut v1.11.x & v1.12.x releases

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Week 7 (Feb 17, 2026)

• [Release Lead] Cut v1.11.x & v1.12.x releases

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Week 11 (Mar 17, 2026)

• [Release Lead] Cut v1.13.0-beta.0 release
• [Release Lead] Cut v1.11.x & v1.12.x releases
• [Communications Manager] Communicate beta to providers
• [Communications Manager] Communicate upcoming code freeze

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Week 12 (Mar 23 – Mar 26, 2026)

• KubeCon EU idle week

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Week 13 (Mar 31, 2026)

• [Release Lead] Cut v1.13.0-beta.x release
• [Release Lead] Create a new GitHub milestone for the next release

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Week 14 (Apr 7, 2026)

• [Release Lead] Create release-1.13 branch (Begin Code Freeze)
• [Release Lead] Cut v1.13.0-rc.0 release
• [CI Manager] Setup jobs and dashboards for the release-1.13 branch
• [Release Lead] Assemble next release team
• [Release Lead] Select release lead for the next release cycle

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Week 15 (Apr 14, 2026)

• [Release Lead] Cut v1.13.0-rc.x release

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Week 16 (Apr 21, 2026)

• [Release Lead] Cut v1.13.0 release
• [Release Lead] Cut v1.11.x & v1.12.x releases
• [Release Lead] Organize release retrospective
• [Communications Manager] Change production branch in Netlify to the new release branch
• [Communications Manager] Update clusterctl links in the quickstart
• [CI Manager] Post-release cleanup

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Continuously

• [Release Lead] Maintain the GitHub release milestone
• [Release Lead] Bump the Go version
• [Communications Manager] Communicate key dates to the community
• [CI Manager] Monitor CI signal
• [CI Manager] Reduce the amount of flaky tests

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If and when necessary

• [Release Lead] Track bump of the Cluster API apiVersion
• [Release Lead] Track bump of the Kubernetes version
• [Release Lead] Track release and improvement tasks

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/priority critical-urgent
/kind feature

[k8s-ci-robot]

This issue is currently awaiting triage.

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Details

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[aman4433]

/assign

[sbueringer]

I'll take a closer look once the Kubernetes release schedule is out and our timeline is final

[sbueringer]

Prepare main branch is done (#13174)