Kubernetes 1.37 enables HPA scale-to-zero by default and shields etcd from apiserver overload
On August 26, 2026, Kubernetes shipped version 1.37 "Garhwal", with 67 enhancements and 16 graduates to stable. The HorizontalPodAutoscaler can now idle a workload down to zero pods by default, and the apiserver no longer floods etcd while its watch cache warms up.