Google Cloud publishes release notes covering major updates across GKE, Vertex AI, BigQuery, Gemini, Spanner, and Cortex Framework from late February 2026.
•GKE (2026-R8) updates default cluster versions across all channels: Rapid defaults to 1.35.0-gke.3047001, Regular and Extended to 1.34.3-gke.1318000, Stable to 1.33.5-gke.2228001.
•Gemini 3.1 Flash Image (gemini-3.1-flash-image) is available in public preview with improved pricing and latency for image generation.
•Vertex AI Agent Engine reaches General Availability (GA).
•BigQuery will restrict legacy SQL usage starting June 1, 2026, based on usage patterns between November 2025 and June 2026.
•Cortex Framework 6.3.4 adds Airflow v3 support, upgrades Meta API from v21 to v25, and fixes SAP CDC table name handling with forward slashes.
•Cloud Trace introduces configurable default settings for observability buckets including location and Cloud KMS key (public preview).
Google Cloud Platform (GCP) - Release notes