diff --git a/datadog_checks_base/datadog_checks/base/checks/base.py b/datadog_checks_base/datadog_checks/base/checks/base.py
index <HASH>..<HASH> 100644
--- a/datadog_checks_base/datadog_checks/base/checks/base.py
+++ b/datadog_checks_base/datadog_checks/base/checks/base.py
@@ -90,6 +90,9 @@ class __AgentCheckPy3(object):
                 # new-style init: the 3rd argument is `instances`
                 self.instances = args[2]
 
+        # Agent 6+ will only have one instance
+        self.instance = self.instances[0] if self.instances else None
+
         # `self.hostname` is deprecated, use `datadog_agent.get_hostname()` instead
         self.hostname = datadog_agent.get_hostname()
 
@@ -457,6 +460,9 @@ class __AgentCheckPy2(object):
                 # new-style init: the 3rd argument is `instances`
                 self.instances = args[2]
 
+        # Agent 6+ will only have one instance
+        self.instance = self.instances[0] if self.instances else None
+
         # `self.hostname` is deprecated, use `datadog_agent.get_hostname()` instead
         self.hostname = datadog_agent.get_hostname()
Expose the single check instance as an attribute (#<I>)