Since Kubernetes v1.36, image volumes are stable. They allow Kubernetes to pull an OCI image or artifact and mount its filesystem into a container. At first glance, this looks like a small storage feature, but it enables a much more interesting concept: platform-managed runtimes.

In this model, the application team publishes the application artifact, while the platform team provides and maintains the environment required to run it. Kubernetes combines both when the Pod starts, so the application team no longer needs to package Java, operating system libraries, and CA certificates into every application image.