Cloud Native Project Monthly (CNPM) January 2026 Newsletter
Welcome to the January 2026 edition of the Cloud Native Project Monthly (CNPM) Newsletter.
In 2025 we saw continued project growth, with the TOC accepting an additional six projects to close out the year. The speed at which projects join the CNCF and advance through levels has improved thanks to better processes, and we've expanded the variety of services available to maintainers through new partnerships with providers. We are committed to serving our 2,000+ maintainers and 300,000+ contributors even better in 2026.
Please take a moment to complete the 2H 2025 Maintainer Survey. Your feedback is vital for us to serve you better this year. The survey will close on January 30th, so please respond as soon as you can!
- Google Summer of Code 2026 opportunities
- Please take the Maintainer Survey
- KubeCon+CloudNativeCon 2026 – Scholarships & Travel Funding Deadlines
- KubeCon+CloudNativeCon 2026 – Maintainer Summit & Travel Info
- Call for Kubernetes AI Conformance applications and reference architectures
- GitHub Copilot guidance
- Docker Hardened Images are now free for projects
- CNCF Projects Calendar Migration
- Help us help you
- See you next month
Google Summer of Code 2026 opportunities
CNCF is planning on being a Mentoring Organization again this year for Google Summer of Code (GSoC) and can help projects looking to participate in the program. This is a fantastic opportunity to increase your project's contributor community and get valuable work done!
In 2026, GSoC is actively looking to bring in more projects in the areas of Security and AI/ML.
GSoC 2026 Announcement
CNCF GSoC 2026 ideas worksheet
Key dates:
- Organizations application period: Monday, Jan 19, to Tuesday, Feb 3, 2026
- CNCF Project proposals submissions recommendation: Wednesday Jan 14, 2026
- Note: the internal recommendation date has passed and we currently only have a handful of proposals. If you're reading this before the org application deadline (Feb 3, 2026), you can still add an idea—the more proposals we have, the stronger our org application will be.
Please take the Maintainer Survey
To help guide the CNCF's efforts in supporting our projects, we regularly collect feedback from maintainers on their experience at the CNCF. Please help us help you by filling out the 2H25 edition of the CNCF Maintainers Survey.
This is your chance to tell us how we're doing, gauge your understanding of the benefits of hosting a project at the CNCF, and influence our priorities in 2026. It should take no more than a couple of minutes of your time. Thanks in advance!
KubeCon+CloudNativeCon 2026 – Scholarships & Travel Funding Deadlines
| Region | Type | Application Deadline | Notifications |
|---|---|---|---|
| Europe | 🎓 Scholarships | 15 Feb, 11:59 PM PT | 23 Feb |
| Europe | ✈️ Travel Funding | 25 Jan, 11:59 PM PT | 9 Feb |
| India | 🎓 Scholarships | 3 May, 11:59 PM PT | 11 May |
| India | ✈️ Travel Funding | 5 Apr, 11:59 PM PT | 8 May |
| Japan | 🎓 Scholarships | 22 June, 11:59 PM PT | 29 June |
| Japan | ✈️ Travel Funding | 31 May, 11:59 PM PT | 15 June |
KubeCon+CloudNativeCon 2026 – Maintainer Summit & Travel Info
Maintainer Summit Europe
Don’t miss the opportunity to connect with fellow maintainers on Sunday, 22 March, for a day of collaboration, knowledge sharing, and community building. Review eligibility requirements & register now for the Maintainer Summit today!
Plan Your Trip to Amsterdam
Book your travel for KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe 2026: Save with Conference Rates.
Observability Summit North America
Don't forget to submit your proposal for Observability Summit North America!
Visit the Observability Summit North America page for additional information on topics, and submission types and submit your session via the CFP by Sunday, January 25 at 11:59 PM CST.
KubeCon + CloudNativeCon India 2026 - Project Benefits now LIVE!
CFPs and Interest Forms are now open for KubeCon + CloudNativeCon India! Don’t miss your chance to participate in Project Lightning Talks, Maintainer Track, Project Tables, and PR Support. Check out the link below for details about each opportunity and to submit.
Project Opportunities + CFP - DUE Sunday 1 March 23:59 IST
Update Your Project Logos!
The CNCF Events Team pulls project logos from the CNCF artwork repository for signage and stickers. Please be sure to upload your project’s high-resolution stacked and horizontal color logos at least 8 weeks before the event. If the required file is unavailable in the repository or is not high resolution, CNCF staff will determine which file to use.
Call for Kubernetes AI Conformance applications and reference architectures
Late last year, the Kubernetes AI Conformance program officially launched and the interest and response has been overwhelming! Many thanks to our initial batch of contributors and conformance program participants.
With Kubernetes 1.35 having launched, it's a perfect time to submit your K8s AI Conformance application here.
Willing to talk about your use of Cloud Native projects in the AI training and inference space? We'd love to hear from you! Please email projects@cncf.io
GitHub Copilot guidance
We are excited to officially roll out GitHub Copilot Enterprise to CNCF project maintainers!
Docker Hardened Images are now free for projects
Docker announced that they are making Docker Hardened Images free to all developers.
DHI provides maintainers of CNCF projects with secure, minimal, continuously maintained, base container images that reduce vulnerabilities and attack surfaces while fitting into existing workflows and improving supply-chain security overall.
Many CNCF projects can already be found in the DHI catalog, and giving the broader community access to secure, well-maintained building blocks helps us strengthen the software supply chain together.
Learn how to get started in this blog post.
CNCF Projects Calendar Migration: Move your project’s meetings to LFX PCC for Self-Service Scheduling
As we head into 2026, we encourage any remaining projects to transition to the LFX Project Control Center (PCC) to take full advantage of our new self-service calendar system. With the legacy Google Calendar system now sunset, moving to PCC is the best way to ensure your community meetings remain visible and organized.
By switching to PCC, maintainers gain direct autonomy over their schedules, including:
- Automatic recording uploads to your project’s YouTube channel.
- Direct control via LFX, removing the need for Service Desk tickets for simple updates.
If you haven’t made the move yet, please reach out via the CNCF Service Desk. We are here to support your transition path and ensure a smooth setup.
For a quick walkthrough, check out this short video tutorial on managing meetings within PCC.
Help us help you
Help us help you: maintainers-survey.cncf.io
See you next month
Please let us know if you have any suggestions for future newsletter content by sending an email to projects@cncf.io.
You can also continue discussions with other maintainers in the #maintainer-circle Slack channel.
🫶 Daniel, Jeefy, Bob, Nate, Jorge, Riaan, Ihor, Robert and the rest of the CNCF staff