Container restart rules to customize the pod restart policy

[SergeyKanzhelev]

Enhancement Description

• One-line enhancement description (can be used as a release note):

  Container restart rules declares the container-specific logic to customize the restart behavior of the container when it exited or crashed.

• Kubernetes Enhancement Proposal: https://github.com/kubernetes/enhancements/blob/master/keps/sig-node/5307-container-restart-policy/README.md

• Discussion Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/13fQu343OBEM2ICHLXfWHrApmzskd4nY3xWI27EbMJyI/edit?tab=t.0

• Primary contact (assignee): @yuanwang04

• Responsible SIGs: node

• Enhancement target (which target equals to which milestone):

  • Alpha release target (x.y): 1.34
  • Beta release target (x.y):
  • Stable release target (x.y):

• [ ] Alpha

  • [x] KEP (k/enhancements) update PR(s):
    • [x] https://github.com/kubernetes/enhancements/pull/5308
  • [ ] Code (k/k) update PR(s):
  • [ ] Docs (k/website) update PR(s):

Please keep this description up to date. This will help the Enhancement Team to track the evolution of the enhancement efficiently.

[SergeyKanzhelev]

/sig node

[SergeyKanzhelev]

/alpha

[kannon92]

/wg batch

[kannon92]

JobSet is a motivating example for this so tagging it with wg batch.

[yuanwang04]

/assign @yuanwang04

[haircommander]

/label lead-opted-in /milestone v1.34

[jenshu]

Hello @yuanwang04 👋, v1.34 Enhancements team here.

Just checking in as we approach enhancements freeze on 21:00 UTC Friday 20th June 2025 / 14:00 PST Friday 20th June 2025.

This enhancement is targeting stage alpha for v1.34 (correct me, if otherwise)

Here's where this enhancement currently stands:

• [x] KEP readme using the latest template has been merged into the k/enhancements repo.
• [ ] KEP status is marked as implementable for latest-milestone: v1.34.
• [x] KEP readme has up-to-date graduation criteria
• [x] KEP has a production readiness review that has been completed and merged into k/enhancements. (For more information on the PRR process, check here). If your production readiness review is not completed yet, please make sure to fill the production readiness questionnaire in your KEP by the PRR Freeze deadline on Thursday 12th June 2025 so that the PRR team has enough time to review your KEP.

For this KEP, we would just need to update the following:

• [x] Need to merge https://github.com/kubernetes/enhancements/pull/5308
• [ ] In your kep.yaml, the status needs to be set to implementable

The status of this enhancement is marked as At risk for enhancements freeze. Please keep the issue description up-to-date with appropriate stages as well.

If you anticipate missing enhancements freeze, you can file an exception request in advance. Thank you!

[SergeyKanzhelev]

@jenshu I believe we are now green to be tracked

[SergeyKanzhelev]

fixing some metadata: https://github.com/kubernetes/enhancements/pull/5421

After this can be tracked

[jenshu]

Hi @yuanwang04 @SergeyKanzhelev,

With all the requirements fulfilled, this enhancement is now marked as tracked for the upcoming enhancements freeze 🚀

/label tracked/yes

[cloudmelon]

Hi @SergeyKanzhelev @yuanwang04 👋 -- this is Mélony (@cloudmelon) from the 1.34 Communications Team!   For the v1.34 release, we are currently in the process of collecting and curating a list of potential feature blogs, and we'd love for you to consider writing one for your enhancement!   As you may be aware, feature blogs are a great way to communicate to users about features which fall into (but not limited to) the following categories:

• This introduces some breaking change(s)
• This has significant impacts and/or implications to users
• ...Or this is a long-awaited feature, which would go a long way to cover the journey more in detail 🎉   To opt in to write a feature blog, could you please let us know and open a "Feature Blog placeholder PR" (which can be only a skeleton at first) against the website repository by Friday 11th July? For more information about writing a blog, please find the blog contribution guidelines 📚  

[!Tip] Some timeline to keep in mind:

• 02:00 UTC Friday 11th July 2025: Feature blog PR freeze
• Friday 8th August 2025: Feature blogs ready for review
• You can find more in the release document

 

[!Note] In your placeholder PR, use XX characters for the blog date in the front matter and file name. We will work with you on updating the PR with the publication date once we have a final number of feature blogs for this release.

[rashansmith]

Hello @SergeyKanzhelev @yuanwang04 👋, 1.34 Docs Shadow here!

Does this enhancement work planned for 1.34 require any new docs or modification to existing docs? If so, please follows the steps here to open a PR against dev-1.34 branch in the k/website repo. This PR can be just a placeholder at this time and must be created before Thursday 3rd July 2025 18:00 PDT.

Also, take a look at Documenting for a release to get yourself familiarize with the docs requirement for the release.

Thank you!

[lmktfy]

This PR definitely requires new text for the (existing) Pod lifecycle documentation.

[yuanwang04]

/cc @rashansmith @lmktfy Thanks, just created draft PR for doc change: https://github.com/kubernetes/website/pull/51467

[aibarbetta]

Hi @SergeyKanzhelev @yuanwang04 👋, v1.34 Communications Team here again!

This is a gentle reminder for the feature blog deadline mentioned above, which is 02:00 UTC Friday 11th July. To opt in, please let us know and open a Feature Blog placeholder PR against k/website by the deadline. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to us!

[!Tip] Some timeline to keep in mind:

• 02:00 UTC Friday 11th July 2025: Feature blog PR freeze
• Friday 8th August 2025: Feature blogs ready for review
• You can find more in the release document

[!Note] In your placeholder PR, use XX characters for the blog date in the front matter and file name. We will work with you on updating the PR with the publication date once we have a final number of feature blogs for this release.

[jenshu]

Hey again @yuanwang04 @SergeyKanzhelev 👋, v1.34 Enhancements team here.

Just checking in as we approach code freeze and test freeze at 02:00 UTC Friday 25th July 2025 / 19:00 PDT Thursday 24th July 2025.

Here's where this enhancement currently stands:

• [x] All PRs to the Kubernetes repo that are related to your enhancement are linked in the above issue description (for tracking purposes).
• [ ] All PRs are ready to be merged (they have approved and lgtm labels applied) by the code freeze deadline. This includes tests.

Per the issue description, these are all of the implementation (code-related) PRs for 1.34, some of which are not merged yet:

• https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/132642

Please let me know (and keep the issue description updated) if there are any other PRs in k/k that we should track for this KEP, so that we can maintain accurate status.

If the implementation work for this enhancement is occurring out-of-tree (i.e., outside of k/k), please link the relevant PRs in the issue description for visibility. Alternatively, if you're unable to provide specific PR links, a confirmation that all out-of-tree implementation work is complete and merged will help us finalize tracking and maintain accuracy.

The status of this enhancement is marked as At risk for code freeze.

If you anticipate missing code freeze, you can file an exception request in advance.

[rashansmith]

Hello @yuanwang04 @SergeyKanzhelev , 👋 please take a look at Documenting for a release - PR Ready for Review to get your PR ready for review before Tuesday July 29th 2025 18:00 PST. Thank you!

[jenshu]

Hi @yuanwang04 @SergeyKanzhelev, Just a quick reminder of the upcoming code freeze and test freeze this week at 02:00 UTC Friday 25th July 2025 / 19:00 PDT Thursday 24th July 2025. All code and test PRs to k/k must have the approved and lgtm labels by the deadline. Thanks!

[jenshu]

@yuanwang04 @SergeyKanzhelev are there any more k/k code/test PRs required for 1.34? I see that https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/132923 was closed without merging.

[jenshu]

With all the implementation (code-related) PRs merged per the issue description, this enhancement is now marked as Tracked for code freeze for the v1.34 Code Freeze!

Additionally, please let me know if there are any other PRs in k/k that we should track for this KEP, so that we can maintain accurate status.

[SergeyKanzhelev]

/beta /milestone v1.35

[rayandas]

Hi @SergeyKanzhelev :wave:, v1.35 Enhancements Lead here.

I am closing the v1.34 milestone now.

If you'd like to work on this enhancement in v1.35, please have the SIG lead opt-in by adding the lead-opted-in label, which ensures it gets added to the tracking board.

Thanks!

/remove-label lead-opted-in /remove-label tracked/yes

[SergeyKanzhelev]

/label lead-opted-in

[fykaa]

Hello @yuanwang04 👋, v1.35 Enhancements team here.

This is a reminder of the upcoming PRR freeze on Thursday 9th October 2025 (AoE) / Friday 10th October 2025, 12:00 UTC.

This enhancement is targeting stage beta for v1.35 (correct me, if otherwise)

Here's where this enhancement currently stands:

• [x] PR open or merged with the KEP's PRR questionnaire filled out.
• [ ] PR open or merged with kep.yaml updated with the stage, latest-milestone, and milestone struct filled out.
• [ ] PR open or merged with a PRR approval file with the PRR approver listed for the stage the KEP is targeting.

For this KEP, we would just need to update the following:

• update latest information in kep.yaml and prr approver file

Note that the PRs are not required to be approved or merged by the PRR freeze deadline. Having the PRR questionnaire filled out by the deadline will help ensure that the PRR team has enough time to review your KEP before enhancements freeze on Thursday 16th October 2025 (AoE) / Friday 17th October 2025, 12:00 UTC. For more information on the PRR process, see here.

The status of this enhancement is marked as At risk for PRR freeze. Please keep the issue description up-to-date with appropriate stages as well.

If you anticipate missing PRR freeze, you can file an exception request in advance. Thank you!

[Priyankasaggu11929]

Hello @fykaa, I'm pinging on behalf of SIG Node wrangler group.

PR https://github.com/kubernetes/enhancements/pull/5575 addresses the requested updates in kep.yaml and PRR approver file.

With that, Could this KEP be moved to Tracked for PRR Freeze based on the above PR in Release Team Tracking board? Thanks so much!

[rayandas]

Hello @SergeyKanzhelev 👋, v1.35 Enhancements team here.

With all the requirements fulfilled, this enhancement is now marked as tracked for the PRR freeze 🚀

/label tracked/yes

[rayandas]

Hello @SergeyKanzhelev 👋, v1.35 Enhancements team here.

Just checking in as we approach enhancements freeze on Thursday 16th October 2025 (AoE) / Friday 17th October 2025, 12:00 UTC.

This enhancement is targeting stage Beta for v1.35 (correct me, if otherwise)

Here's where this enhancement currently stands:

• [x] KEP readme using the latest template has been merged into the k/enhancements repo.
• [ ] KEP status is marked as implementable for latest-milestone: v1.35.
• [ ] KEP readme has up-to-date graduation criteria.
• [ ] KEP has a production readiness review that has been completed and merged into k/enhancements. (For more information on the PRR process, check here).

For this KEP, we would just need to update the following:

• Merging this PR https://github.com/kubernetes/enhancements/pull/5575 will mark this KEP as tracked.

The status of this enhancement is marked as At risk for enhancements freeze. Please keep the issue description up-to-date with appropriate stages as well.

If you anticipate missing enhancements freeze, you can file an exception request in advance. Thank you!

[fykaa]

I notice that the PR is now merged and that addresses the requirements for tracking this in enhancements freeze! thanks!

[SwathiR03]

Hi @yuanwang04 @SergeyKanzhelev 👋, this is Swathi (@SwathiR03 ) from the 1.35 Communications Team!

For the 1.35 release, we are currently in the process of collecting and curating a list of potential feature blogs, and we'd love for you to consider writing one for your enhancement!

As you may be aware, feature blogs are a great way to communicate to users about features which fall into (but are not limited to) the following categories:

• This introduces some breaking change(s)
• This has significant impacts and/or implications to users
• ...Or this is a long-awaited feature, where the blog would go a long way to cover the journey in more detail 🎉

To opt in to write a feature blog, could you please let us know and open a "Feature Blog placeholder PR" (which can be only a skeleton at first) against the website repository by Friday, the 31st of October? For more information about writing a blog, please find the blog contribution guidelines 📚

[!Tip] Some timelines to keep in mind:

• 12:00 UTC Friday, 31st October: Feature blog PR freeze
• Friday, 21st November: Feature blogs ready for review
• You can find more in the release document

[!Note] In your placeholder PR, use XX characters for the blog date in the front matter and file name. We will work with you on updating the PR with the publication date once we have a final number of feature blogs for this release.

[Urvashi0109]

Hello @yuanwang04 @SergeyKanzhelev 👋, v1.35 Docs Lead here.

Does this enhancement work planned for v1.35 require any new docs or modification to existing docs? If so, please follow the steps here to open a PR against dev-1.35 branch in the k/website repo. This PR can be just a placeholder at this time and must be created before Thursday 23th October 2025. Also, take a look at Documenting for a release to get yourself familiarize with the docs requirement for the release.

Thank you!