diff --git a/awxkit/awxkit/api/mixins/has_status.py b/awxkit/awxkit/api/mixins/has_status.py
index 8844e131fa..bd76400baa 100644
--- a/awxkit/awxkit/api/mixins/has_status.py
+++ b/awxkit/awxkit/api/mixins/has_status.py
@@ -1,8 +1,6 @@
 from datetime import datetime
 import json
 
-import six
-
 from awxkit.utils import poll_until
 from awxkit.exceptions import WaitUntilTimeout
 
@@ -50,7 +48,7 @@ class HasStatus(object):
         return self.wait_until_status(self.started_statuses, interval=interval, timeout=timeout)
 
     def assert_status(self, status_list, msg=None):
-        if isinstance(status_list, six.text_type):
+        if isinstance(status_list, str):
             status_list = [status_list]
         if self.status in status_list:
             # include corner cases in is_successful logic
diff --git a/awxkit/awxkit/api/pages/credentials.py b/awxkit/awxkit/api/pages/credentials.py
index d9d039c837..7d3ca009ec 100644
--- a/awxkit/awxkit/api/pages/credentials.py
+++ b/awxkit/awxkit/api/pages/credentials.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import logging
 
-from six.moves import http_client as http
+import http.client as http
 
 import awxkit.exceptions as exc
 from awxkit.api.mixins import DSAdapter, HasCopy, HasCreate
@@ -19,10 +19,7 @@ from awxkit.utils import (
 from . import base, page
 from .page import exception_from_status_code
 
-try:
-    from urllib.parse import urljoin
-except ImportError:
-    from urlparse import urljoin
+from urllib.parse import urljoin
 
 
 log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
diff --git a/awxkit/awxkit/api/pages/page.py b/awxkit/awxkit/api/pages/page.py
index 653974cb71..fb21c26ea2 100644
--- a/awxkit/awxkit/api/pages/page.py
+++ b/awxkit/awxkit/api/pages/page.py
@@ -4,8 +4,7 @@ import json
 import re
 
 from requests import Response
-import six
-from six.moves import http_client as http
+import http.client as http
 
 from awxkit.utils import (
     PseudoNamespace,
@@ -170,10 +169,7 @@ class Page(object):
     def from_json(cls, raw):
         resp = Response()
         data = json.dumps(raw)
-        if six.PY3:
-            resp._content = bytes(data, 'utf-8')
-        else:
-            resp._content = data
+        resp._content = bytes(data, 'utf-8')
         resp.encoding = 'utf-8'
         resp.status_code = 200
         return cls(r=resp)
diff --git a/awxkit/awxkit/cli/client.py b/awxkit/awxkit/cli/client.py
index 6a7c4c3f51..8013523921 100755
--- a/awxkit/awxkit/cli/client.py
+++ b/awxkit/awxkit/cli/client.py
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@ import pkg_resources
 import sys
 
 from requests.exceptions import RequestException
-import six
 
 from .custom import handle_custom_actions
 from .format import (add_authentication_arguments,
@@ -203,15 +202,7 @@ class CLI(object):
             if hasattr(response, 'rc'):
                 raise SystemExit(response.rc)
         else:
-            if six.PY3:
-                self.parser.print_help()
-            elif six.PY2 and not self.help:
-                # Unfortunately, argparse behavior between py2 and py3
-                # changed in a notable way when required subparsers
-                # have invalid (or missing) arguments specified
-                # see: https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/f97c59aaba2d93e48cbc6d25f7ff9f9c87f8d0b2
-                print('\nargument resource: invalid choice')
-                raise SystemExit(2)
+            self.parser.print_help()
 
     def parse_action(self, page, from_sphinx=False):
         """Perform an HTTP OPTIONS request
diff --git a/awxkit/awxkit/cli/custom.py b/awxkit/awxkit/cli/custom.py
index 0f876579bc..b398b68a9a 100644
--- a/awxkit/awxkit/cli/custom.py
+++ b/awxkit/awxkit/cli/custom.py
@@ -1,8 +1,6 @@
 import functools
 import json
 
-from six import with_metaclass, PY3
-
 from .stdout import monitor, monitor_workflow
 from .utils import CustomRegistryMeta, color_enabled
 from awxkit import api
@@ -24,7 +22,7 @@ class CustomActionRegistryMeta(CustomRegistryMeta):
         return ' '.join([self.resource, self.action])
 
 
-class CustomAction(with_metaclass(CustomActionRegistryMeta)):
+class CustomAction(metaclass=CustomActionRegistryMeta):
     """Base class for defining a custom action for a resource."""
 
     def __init__(self, page):
@@ -549,11 +547,8 @@ class SettingsModify(CustomAction):
         return resp.from_json({'key': key, 'value': resp[key]})
 
     def is_json(self, data):
-        err = ValueError
-        if PY3:
-            err = json.decoder.JSONDecodeError
         try:
             json.loads(data)
-        except err:
+        except json.decoder.JSONDecodeError:
             return False
         return True
diff --git a/awxkit/awxkit/cli/format.py b/awxkit/awxkit/cli/format.py
index f87afc07d3..ca91a822f4 100644
--- a/awxkit/awxkit/cli/format.py
+++ b/awxkit/awxkit/cli/format.py
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ import locale
 import json
 from distutils.util import strtobool
 
-import six
 import yaml
 
 from awxkit.cli.utils import colored
@@ -81,7 +80,7 @@ def add_output_formatting_arguments(parser, env):
 def format_response(response, fmt='json', filter='.', changed=False):
     if response is None:
         return  # HTTP 204
-    if isinstance(response, six.text_type):
+    if isinstance(response, str):
         return response
 
     if 'results' in response.__dict__:
@@ -115,7 +114,7 @@ def format_jq(output, fmt):
     results = []
     for x in jq.jq(fmt).transform(output, multiple_output=True):
         if x not in (None, ''):
-            if isinstance(x, six.text_type):
+            if isinstance(x, str):
                 results.append(x)
             else:
                 results.append(json.dumps(x))
diff --git a/awxkit/awxkit/cli/options.py b/awxkit/awxkit/cli/options.py
index 6cc784b51d..8b33a0d086 100644
--- a/awxkit/awxkit/cli/options.py
+++ b/awxkit/awxkit/cli/options.py
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@ import sys
 import yaml
 
 from distutils.util import strtobool
-import six
 
 from .custom import CustomAction
 from .format import add_output_formatting_arguments
@@ -182,7 +181,7 @@ class ResourceOptionsParser(object):
                 for k, v in parsed.items():
                     # add support for file reading at top-level JSON keys
                     # (to make things like SSH key data easier to work with)
-                    if isinstance(v, six.text_type) and v.startswith('@'):
+                    if isinstance(v, str) and v.startswith('@'):
                         path = os.path.expanduser(v[1:])
                         parsed[k] = open(path).read()
 
diff --git a/awxkit/awxkit/cli/resource.py b/awxkit/awxkit/cli/resource.py
index 20e08c6f18..6937ab1f95 100644
--- a/awxkit/awxkit/cli/resource.py
+++ b/awxkit/awxkit/cli/resource.py
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 import os
 
-from six import PY3, with_metaclass
-
 from awxkit import api, config
 from awxkit.utils import to_str
 from awxkit.api.pages import Page
@@ -45,7 +43,7 @@ DEPRECATED_RESOURCES_REVERSE = dict(
 )
 
 
-class CustomCommand(with_metaclass(CustomRegistryMeta)):
+class CustomCommand(metaclass=CustomRegistryMeta):
     """Base class for implementing custom commands.
 
     Custom commands represent static code which should run - they are
@@ -153,18 +151,7 @@ def parse_resource(client, skip_deprecated=False):
                 k, help='', **kwargs
             )
 
-    try:
-        resource = client.parser.parse_known_args()[0].resource
-    except SystemExit:
-        if PY3:
-            raise
-        else:
-            # Unfortunately, argparse behavior between py2 and py3
-            # changed in a notable way when required subparsers
-            # have invalid (or missing) arguments specified
-            # see: https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/f97c59aaba2d93e48cbc6d25f7ff9f9c87f8d0b2
-            # In py2, this raises a SystemExit; which we want to _ignore_
-            resource = None
+    resource = client.parser.parse_known_args()[0].resource
     if resource in DEPRECATED_RESOURCES.values():
         client.argv[
             client.argv.index(resource)
diff --git a/awxkit/awxkit/cli/utils.py b/awxkit/awxkit/cli/utils.py
index 3cb2a251b1..d064158859 100644
--- a/awxkit/awxkit/cli/utils.py
+++ b/awxkit/awxkit/cli/utils.py
@@ -5,8 +5,6 @@ import os
 import sys
 import threading
 
-import six
-
 _color = threading.local()
 _color.enabled = True
 
@@ -38,29 +36,6 @@ class CustomRegistryMeta(type):
 
 class HelpfulArgumentParser(ArgumentParser):
 
-    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
-        super(HelpfulArgumentParser, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
-        if six.PY2:
-            # backport parser aliases support to py2
-            # see: https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/fd311a712d5876c3a3efff265978452eea759f85
-            SubParsersAction = self._registries['action']['parsers']
-
-            class _SubParsersAction(SubParsersAction):
-
-                def add_parser(self, name, **kwargs):
-                    aliases = kwargs.pop('aliases', [])
-                    parser = super(_SubParsersAction, self).add_parser(name, **kwargs)
-                    if aliases:
-                        self._choices_actions[-1].metavar = ' '.join([
-                            name,
-                            '({})'.format(', '.join(aliases))
-                        ])
-                    for alias in aliases:
-                        self._name_parser_map[alias] = parser
-                    return parser
-
-            self._registries['action']['parsers'] = _SubParsersAction
-
     def error(self, message):  # pragma: nocover
         """Prints a usage message incorporating the message to stderr and
         exits.
diff --git a/awxkit/awxkit/utils/__init__.py b/awxkit/awxkit/utils/__init__.py
index 2526983817..32f45c3e82 100644
--- a/awxkit/awxkit/utils/__init__.py
+++ b/awxkit/awxkit/utils/__init__.py
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@ import sys
 import re
 import os
 
-import six
 import yaml
 
 from awxkit.words import words
@@ -132,7 +131,7 @@ class PseudoNamespace(dict):
 
 
 def is_relative_endpoint(candidate):
-    return isinstance(candidate, (six.text_type,)) and candidate.startswith('/api/')
+    return isinstance(candidate, (str,)) and candidate.startswith('/api/')
 
 
 def is_class_or_instance(obj, cls):
@@ -321,19 +320,9 @@ def update_payload(payload, fields, kwargs):
 
 
 def to_str(obj):
-    if six.PY3:
-        if isinstance(obj, bytes):
-            return obj.decode('utf-8')
-        return obj
-    if not isinstance(obj, six.text_type):
-        try:
-            return str(obj)
-        except UnicodeDecodeError:
-            try:
-                obj = six.text_type(obj, 'utf8')
-            except UnicodeDecodeError:
-                obj = obj.decode('latin1')
-    return obj.encode('utf8')
+    if isinstance(obj, bytes):
+        return obj.decode('utf-8')
+    return obj
 
 
 def to_bool(obj):
diff --git a/awxkit/awxkit/ws.py b/awxkit/awxkit/ws.py
index 4136b7c278..ee39a5e990 100644
--- a/awxkit/awxkit/ws.py
+++ b/awxkit/awxkit/ws.py
@@ -4,8 +4,8 @@ import atexit
 import json
 import ssl
 
-from six.moves.queue import Queue, Empty
-from six.moves.urllib.parse import urlparse
+from queue import Queue, Empty
+from urllib.parse import urlparse
 
 from awxkit.config import config
 
diff --git a/awxkit/requirements.txt b/awxkit/requirements.txt
index dd2d30b1de..6c9fdba970 100644
--- a/awxkit/requirements.txt
+++ b/awxkit/requirements.txt
@@ -1,3 +1,2 @@
 PyYAML
 requests
-six
diff --git a/awxkit/setup.py b/awxkit/setup.py
index 2c972162b1..2f304f2600 100644
--- a/awxkit/setup.py
+++ b/awxkit/setup.py
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ setup(
     },
     include_package_data=True,
     install_requires=requirements,
-    python_requires=">=2.7,!=3.0.*,!=3.1.*,!=3.2.*,!=3.3.*,!=3.4.*",
+    python_requires=">=3.6",
     extras_require={
         'formatting': ['jq'],
         'websockets': ['websocket-client>0.54.0'],
diff --git a/awxkit/test/cli/test_options.py b/awxkit/test/cli/test_options.py
index 3eb5e51f47..83bb4ac36a 100644
--- a/awxkit/test/cli/test_options.py
+++ b/awxkit/test/cli/test_options.py
@@ -1,10 +1,7 @@
 import argparse
 import json
 import unittest
-try:
-    from StringIO import StringIO
-except ImportError:
-    from io import StringIO
+from io import StringIO
 
 import pytest
 from requests import Response
diff --git a/awxkit/test/test_credentials.py b/awxkit/test/test_credentials.py
index bd1331016d..714550119e 100644
--- a/awxkit/test/test_credentials.py
+++ b/awxkit/test/test_credentials.py
@@ -1,7 +1,4 @@
-try:
-    from unittest.mock import patch
-except ImportError:
-    from mock import patch
+from unittest.mock import patch
 import pytest
 
 
diff --git a/awxkit/test/test_utils.py b/awxkit/test/test_utils.py
index 20efa2c640..5f497d2e93 100644
--- a/awxkit/test/test_utils.py
+++ b/awxkit/test/test_utils.py
@@ -2,12 +2,8 @@
 from datetime import datetime
 import sys
 
-try:
-    from unittest import mock
-except ImportError:
-    import mock
+from unittest import mock
 import pytest
-import six
 
 from awxkit import utils
 from awxkit import exceptions as exc
@@ -83,7 +79,7 @@ def test_load_invalid_json_or_yaml(inp):
     reason='this is only intended to be used in py3, not the CLI'
 )
 def test_random_titles_are_unicode(non_ascii):
-    assert isinstance(utils.random_title(non_ascii=non_ascii), six.text_type)
+    assert isinstance(utils.random_title(non_ascii=non_ascii), str)
 
 
 @pytest.mark.parametrize('non_ascii', [True, False])
diff --git a/awxkit/test/test_ws.py b/awxkit/test/test_ws.py
index ea55ba8ffa..afc6b42fc5 100644
--- a/awxkit/test/test_ws.py
+++ b/awxkit/test/test_ws.py
@@ -1,10 +1,7 @@
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 from collections import namedtuple
 
-try:
-    from unittest.mock import patch
-except ImportError:
-    from mock import patch
+from unittest.mock import patch
 import pytest
 
 from awxkit.ws import WSClient
diff --git a/awxkit/tox.ini b/awxkit/tox.ini
index 7931be5491..42c72bd608 100644
--- a/awxkit/tox.ini
+++ b/awxkit/tox.ini
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ skip_missing_interpreters = true
 # skipsdist = true
 
 [testenv]
+basepython = python3.6
 passenv = TRAVIS TRAVIS_JOB_ID TRAVIS_BRANCH
 setenv =
     PYTHONPATH = {toxinidir}:{env:PYTHONPATH:}:.
@@ -21,7 +22,6 @@ deps =
 commands = coverage run --parallel --source awxkit -m pytest --doctest-glob='*.md' --junit-xml=report.xml {posargs}
 
 [testenv:lint]
-basepython = python3.6
 deps =
     {[testenv]deps}
     flake8
@@ -32,7 +32,6 @@ commands =
     - coverage erase
 
 [testenv:coveralls]
-basepython = python3.6
 commands=
     - coverage combine
     - coverage report -m
@@ -43,4 +42,4 @@ max-line-length = 120
 
 [pytest]
 addopts = -v --tb=native
-junit_family=xunit2
\ No newline at end of file
+junit_family=xunit2