release channel

• RAPID — newest Kubernetes minor versions and patches first, shortest soak time. Highest risk of hitting new bugs, useful for testing upcoming features early.

• REGULAR — GKE's default. Balances new features with stability; versions have been in RAPID for a while before promotion here.

• STABLE — most soak time, slowest to get new versions. Prioritizes stability over freshness.

• UNSPECIFIED — opts out of release channels entirely. You control the Kubernetes version and upgrade timing directly (via min_master_version and the node pool's own management.auto_upgrade), which is what would actually make the auto_upgrade = false you just set take full effect rather than being overridden by a channel's schedule.

release_channel {
   channel = "STABLE"
}

Related

• Terraform plan (GKE using Terraform) 2022
• auto_upgrade

See also

• gke.tf, google_container_cluster, google_container_engine_versions
• google_container_cluster, enable_private_nodes, location, release_channel, workload_identity_config, ip_allocation_policy, private_cluster_config, master_authorized_networks_config