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By The Linux Camp News, September 22, 2026
Kubernetes v1.37 now includes a Beta feature to track when a PersistentVolumeClaim was last used, helping identify unused PVCs.
Kubernetes v1.37 promotes the PersistentVolumeClaimUnusedSinceTime feature gate to Beta, enabling it by default. This feature allows the PVC protection controller to add an Unused condition to each PersistentVolumeClaim (PVC), indicating whether any running pod currently references it. This eliminates the need for custom tooling or cross-referencing to determine PVC usage. 1
In large-scale Kubernetes clusters, users often create PVCs and delete associated pods without cleaning up the storage, leading to orphaned PVCs. These can accumulate and consume storage capacity, increasing cloud costs. The new feature makes it easier to identify unused PVCs by providing a native status in the PVC conditions. 1
The Unused condition works by setting the status to True if no non-terminal pods reference the PVC, and to False if at least one running or pending pod references it. Terminated pods do not affect the condition, while pending pods do count as using the PVC. 1
The feature also includes a lastTransitionTime field that records when the Unused condition changes from False to True, providing a timestamp for when the PVC became idle. This can help administrators track how long a PVC has been unused. 1