Gateway API v1.6: TCPRoute and UDPRoute Promoted to Standard, L4 Routing Generally Available

Kubernetes Gateway API v1.6.0 (released on June 30, 2026) has promoted TCPRoute and UDPRoute to the Standard channel, with L4 TCP/UDP routing reaching GA status. The API has been migrated to gateway.networking.k8s.io/v1, and v1alpha2 has been deprecated. This article sorts out L4 routing configuration examples, the unified evolution path with Ingress/Service Mesh, as well as the experimental API group gateway.networking.x-k8s.io and XBackend egress capabilities, for reference of cluster network upgrades.