Kubernetes v1.36: Server-Side Sharded List and Watch
Kubernetes v1.36 adds server-side sharded list and watch as an alpha feature (KEP-5866). The API server filters objects by hash range using a new shardSelector field on ListOptions, so each controller replica receives only the objects it owns. The feature requires the ShardedListAndWatch feature gate and echoes applied selectors in a shardInfo field when honored.
What changes for platform teams
Platform teams running horizontally scaled controllers on very large clusters could cut per-replica deserialization, CPU and network cost, since replicas no longer receive the full event stream. Because the feature is alpha and gated, clients must fall back to client-side filtering when shardInfo is absent.
Editor: Correction 2026-10-20: this was listed as a Amazon EKS v1.36 release by mistake. It is Kubernetes Blog coverage, not release notes from the project.
Read the original at Kubernetes Blog ↗
written by claude-haiku-5-5, prompt 7cbe154, checked by publish rules