**⚠️ ACTION REQUIRED: the breaking change in this release likely affects you ⚠️**
* [1001](https://github.com/stripe/stripe-python/pull/1001) [#1008](https://github.com/stripe/stripe-python/pull/1008) Remove support for Python 2.
* The last version of stripe-python that supports Python 2 is 5.5.0. [The Python Software Foundation (PSF)](https://www.python.org/psf-landing/) community [announced the end of support of Python 2](https://www.python.org/doc/sunset-python-2/) on 01 January 2020. To continue to get new features and security updates, please make sure to update your Python runtime to Python 3.6+.
* [987](https://github.com/stripe/stripe-python/pull/987) ⚠️⚠️Pin to the latest API version⚠️⚠️
In this release, Stripe API Version `2023-08-16` (the latest at time of release) will be sent by default on all requests.
The previous default was to use your [Stripe account's default API version](https://stripe.com/docs/development/dashboard/request-logs#view-your-default-api-version).
To successfully upgrade to stripe-python v6, you must either
1. **(Recommended) Upgrade your integration to be compatible with API Version `2023-08-16`.**
Please read the API Changelog carefully for each API Version from `2023-08-16` back to your [Stripe account's default API version](https://stripe.com/docs/development/dashboard/request-logs#view-your-default-api-version). Determine if you are using any of the APIs that have changed in a breaking way, and adjust your integration accordingly. Carefully test your changes with Stripe [Test Mode](https://stripe.com/docs/keys#test-live-modes) before deploying them to production.
You can read the [v6 migration guide](https://github.com/stripe/stripe-python/wiki/Migration-guide-for-v6) for more detailed instructions.
2. **(Alternative option) Specify a version other than `2023-08-16` when initializing `stripe-python`.**
If you were previously initializing stripe-python without an explicit API Version, you can postpone modifying your integration by specifying a version equal to your [Stripe account's default API version](https://stripe.com/docs/development/dashboard/request-logs#view-your-default-api-version). For example:
diff
import stripe
stripe.api_key = "sk_test_..."
+ stripe.api_version = '2020-08-27'
If you were already initializing stripe-python with an explicit API Version, upgrading to v6 will not affect your integration.
Read the [v6 migration guide](https://github.com/stripe/stripe-python/wiki/Migration-guide-for-v6) for more details.
Going forward, each major release of this library will be *pinned* by default to the latest Stripe API Version at the time of release.
That is, instead of upgrading stripe-python and separately upgrading your Stripe API Version through the Stripe Dashboard, whenever you upgrade major versions of stripe-python, you should also upgrade your integration to be compatible with the latest Stripe API version.
* [1013](https://github.com/stripe/stripe-python/pull/1013) ⚠️Removed test_helper decorator
* This is technically breaking but unlikely to affect most users.
* [1015](https://github.com/stripe/stripe-python/pull/1015) ⚠️Assert types of pagination responses
* Pagination will raise an exception if the API response is not of the correct type. This should never happen in production use but may break tests that use mock data.