Maintainers

Ownership in kubernetes/kubernetes is distributed across Special Interest Groups (SIGs). The authoritative ownership data lives in OWNERS files at every directory level, with named groups defined in OWNERS_ALIASES. This page summarises the major mappings and points at the data sources.

Authoritative sources

• OWNERS_ALIASES at the repo root — defines named groups (e.g. sig-scheduling-approvers).
• OWNERS files in each directory — list approvers (final say) and reviewers (request review).
• The Kubernetes community repo — defines each SIG's charter, leads, and meeting schedule.

The Prow bot uses these to assign reviewers and decide whether a PR has the right /approve to merge.

SIG → directory map

The high-level mapping. Many directories list multiple SIGs as joint owners.

SIG	Owns (selected directories)
SIG API Machinery	staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery, staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver, staging/src/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver, staging/src/k8s.io/kube-aggregator, staging/src/k8s.io/client-go, pkg/registry/, pkg/controlplane, pkg/kubeapiserver, cmd/kube-apiserver
SIG Apps	pkg/controller/{deployment,replicaset,statefulset,daemon,job,cronjob}, pkg/registry/apps, pkg/registry/batch, staging/src/k8s.io/api/apps, …/batch
SIG Auth	staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/authentication, …/authorization, …/admission, pkg/serviceaccount, plugin/pkg/admission, plugin/pkg/auth, staging/src/k8s.io/pod-security-admission, staging/src/k8s.io/kms, pkg/controller/certificates, pkg/registry/rbac, pkg/registry/authentication, pkg/registry/authorization, pkg/registry/admissionregistration, pkg/registry/certificates
SIG Autoscaling	pkg/controller/podautoscaler, pkg/registry/autoscaling, staging/src/k8s.io/api/autoscaling
SIG CLI	cmd/kubectl, cmd/kubectl-convert, staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl, staging/src/k8s.io/cli-runtime, staging/src/k8s.io/sample-cli-plugin
SIG Cloud Provider	staging/src/k8s.io/cloud-provider, cmd/cloud-controller-manager, pkg/controller/nodeipam, pkg/controller/route
SIG Cluster Lifecycle	cmd/kubeadm, staging/src/k8s.io/cluster-bootstrap, cluster/, pkg/controller/bootstrap
SIG Instrumentation	staging/src/k8s.io/component-base/metrics, staging/src/k8s.io/component-base/logs, staging/src/k8s.io/component-base/tracing, staging/src/k8s.io/metrics
SIG Network	pkg/proxy, cmd/kube-proxy, staging/src/k8s.io/kube-proxy, pkg/controller/endpointslice, pkg/controller/endpointslicemirroring, pkg/controller/servicecidrs, pkg/registry/networking, pkg/registry/discovery, staging/src/k8s.io/api/networking, staging/src/k8s.io/api/discovery, staging/src/k8s.io/endpointslice
SIG Node	pkg/kubelet, cmd/kubelet, staging/src/k8s.io/kubelet, staging/src/k8s.io/cri-api, staging/src/k8s.io/cri-client, staging/src/k8s.io/cri-streaming, pkg/registry/node, pkg/controller/nodelifecycle, pkg/controller/tainteviction
SIG Release	build/, hack/release*.sh, CHANGELOG/
SIG Scalability	cross-cutting performance ownership; coordinates with every SIG
SIG Scheduling	pkg/scheduler, cmd/kube-scheduler, staging/src/k8s.io/kube-scheduler, staging/src/k8s.io/component-helpers/scheduling, pkg/registry/scheduling
SIG Storage	pkg/volume, pkg/controller/volume, staging/src/k8s.io/csi-translation-lib, staging/src/k8s.io/dynamic-resource-allocation, staging/src/k8s.io/mount-utils, pkg/registry/storage, pkg/registry/resource, staging/src/k8s.io/api/storage, staging/src/k8s.io/api/resource
SIG Testing	test/integration/framework, test/e2e/framework, test/conformance, test/utils, hack/ginkgo-e2e.sh, hack/test-go.sh
SIG Architecture	staging/publishing/, API conventions enforcement, KEP architecture review

Recent contributors (since 2025-01-01)

The most active human contributors over the last 16 months (excluding the merge bot, who appears as the author on most merges):

Contributor	Commits
Patrick Ohly	431
yongruilin	177
Davanum Srinivas	159
Benjamin Elder	156
Dan Winship	151
Joe Betz	140
carlory	123
Tim Hockin	117
Natasha Sarkar	106

These names show up in many OWNERS files at the SIG-approver level. The full list of SIG owners and emeritus contributors is in OWNERS_ALIASES.

How to find owners for a path

# What OWNERS files apply to pkg/scheduler/framework/plugins/dynamicresources?
git ls-files | grep -E "(^|/)OWNERS$" | grep -E "(pkg/scheduler|^OWNERS$)"

The Prow bot's /owners plugin can also be invoked in any PR comment to surface the resolved owner set.

Becoming a reviewer / approver

The path is documented in community/contributors/devel/sig-architecture/ and in each SIG's charter. The summary:

1. Consistently land high-quality PRs in the area for at least a few months.
2. Be nominated by an existing approver via a PR adding you to the relevant OWNERS file.
3. The SIG leads approve.

For SIG-level approver status, the bar is higher and usually requires sustained ownership of a subsystem plus active community participation.