Release notes for version 0.98.0

Release date: 09 Nov 2026

• bump version of VM components to v1.156.0
• bump version of VT components to v0.13.0
• sync-job: add defaultDashboards.dashboards.<name>.variables.<variable> with query to replace a dashboard variable query or add a missing variable, and regex to replace the variable regex (empty string removes it). The cluster picker is now the variable whose label_values() query lists the cluster label, instead of any variable named cluster, so the etcd and VictoriaLogs cluster dashboards, which use a cluster variable for job names, keep it and get a separate k8s_cluster picker. defaultDashboards.dashboards.<name>.clusterMetric is deprecated in favor of variables.<variable>.query: label_values(<metric>, cluster) and ignored when variables is set for the same dashboard; defaults are migrated. See #3331.