diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..78f339c4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+---
+name: build
+on: push
+jobs:
+  tox:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-18.04
+    strategy:
+      fail-fast: false
+      matrix:
+        tox:
+          - py27
+          - py36
+          - py37
+          - pre-commit
+          - mypy
+          - docs
+          # TODO: benchmark blocked on https://github.com/actions/toolkit/issues/399
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
+      - uses: actions/setup-python@v2
+        with:
+          python-version: 3.7
+      - run: pip install tox
+      - run: tox -e ${{ matrix.tox }}
diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index 1148ae41..00000000
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,26 +0,0 @@
-language: python
-os: linux
-
-python: "3.7"
-
-jobs:
-  include:
-  - python: "2.7"
-  - python: "3.6"
-  - python: "3.7"
-    env: PUBLISH_COVERAGE=y
-  - env: TOXENV=docs
-  - env: TOXENV=pre-commit
-  - env: TOXENV=benchmark
-  - env: TOXENV=mypy
-  allow_failures:
-  - env: TOXENV=benchmark
-  fast_finish: true
-
-install: pip install tox tox-travis coveralls
-script: tox
-after_success: |
-  if [ "${PUBLISH_COVERAGE:-n}" == "y" ]; then coveralls; fi
-  if [ "${TOXENV}" == "benchmark" ]; then
-    echo $(ls .benchmarks/*/0001_benchmark.json) $(cat .benchmarks/*/0001_benchmark.json | nc termbin.com 9999)
-  fi
diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index 6f70aa15..f4b90319 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-.. image:: https://img.shields.io/travis/Yelp/bravado-core/master.svg?label=Linux+Build
-  :target: https://travis-ci.org/Yelp/bravado-core?branch=master
+.. image:: https://github.com/Yelp/bravado-core/workflows/build/badge.svg?branch=master
+  :target: https://github.com/Yelp/bravado-core/actions?query=workflow%3Abuild
 
 .. image:: https://img.shields.io/coveralls/Yelp/bravado-core.svg
   :target: https://coveralls.io/r/Yelp/bravado-core
diff --git a/tests/exception/__init__.py b/tests/exception/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e69de29b
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index 876aa910..ce08dbb2 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -29,8 +29,7 @@ commands =
 
 [testenv:docs]
 deps =
-    # we're getting an error on travis with Sphinx 1.8.0, so we use a lower version
-    sphinx < 1.8.0
+    sphinx
     sphinx-rtd-theme
 changedir = docs
 commands = sphinx-build -b html -d build/doctrees source build/html