Launch Your Skill
Use the Launch page to preview how your skill will appear in the skill store and submit the skill for certification or launch a beta test.
- Define Skill Store Metadata
- Complete the Privacy & Compliance Page
- Define Skill Availability
- Prepare for Certification and Submit the Skill
- Revise and Update Your Skill after Publication
- Related Topics
Define Skill Store Metadata
The metadata used in the skill store is language-specific. You need to fill in these fields for each language your skill supports. The data entered here is displayed on the skill detail page in the skill store.
| Field | Description | Applies to Models |
|---|---|---|
|
Public Name |
The name of the skill, displayed at the top of the detail card. |
All |
|
One Sentence Description |
A short description of the skill, displayed in the app when the user views a list of skills. |
All |
|
Detailed Description |
A full description explaining the skill's core functionality and any prerequisites to using it (such as additional hardware, software, or accounts). |
All |
|
Example Phrases |
Three example phrases that illustrate how users can invoke your skill. View the Example Phrase 101 section for detailed help with creating your example phrases. For the custom model, these phrases must come directly from your sample utterances. For pre-built models, see the Example Phrase 101 section for valid utterances. |
|
|
Small Skill Icon / Large Skill Icon |
An icon representing the skill. Provide both large and small versions.
|
All |
|
Mobile App Icon |
An icon representing the skill. This version is displayed in the Alexa App on mobile devices for video skills. The icon should be 55 x 55 pixels. |
Video |
|
Category |
The category that best describes your skill. This helps customers find your skill quickly and easily. |
All |
|
Keywords |
Simple search words that relate to or describe this skill. This helps customers find the skill quickly and easily. Use spaces or commas between each search term. |
All |
|
Privacy Policy URL |
The URL for your privacy policy. This is required for skills that use account linking or collect user information. |
All |
|
Terms of Use URL |
The URL for your terms of use policy. |
All |
Preview the Detail Card in the Alexa App
Once you have entered all of the information for your detail card, be sure to open the Alexa app and preview the card. The app shows both published skills and your own skills currently in development, so you can see how your card will appear to users. You can enter the name of your skill in the search box to filter the list of skills.
Example Phrases for Custom Skills
The three example phrases show users what they need to say to begin using your skill. The first phrase is shown in the list of skills in the Alexa App, and all three are displayed prominently on the detail card. To ensure accuracy, these phrases must meet specific requirements:
-
If you use utterances for an intent you defined, the phrases must come directly from your sample utterances. Slots in the utterance must be filled in with valid slot values.
The phrases must match utterances defined to invoke an intent. User utterances defined to collect slot values as part of a dialog model are not valid as example phrases.
-
If you use utterances for a built-in intent, either use the exact phrase provided in the documentation for the intent or a variation of this phrase. Be sure to fully test the utterance and verify that it works and your skill returns a valid response. If the example utterances you provide fail to return a valid response during certification, your skill will fail certification.
For English-language skills, the example phrases you enter are automatically validated against several criteria after you enter them. Note any validation errors and warnings below the field after you enter the phrase:
- Errors are displayed in red text. You cannot submit a skill for certification if any errors exist.
- Warnings are displayed in black text. Although you can submit a skill with validation warnings, the skill will likely fail certification. It is recommended that you correct any warnings before you submit.
In this example, the first phrase generates two warnings: the phrase is missing the wake word, and the phrase does not match any sample utterances. The last phrase generates an error because it contains special characters not allowed in example phrases.
For more about certification requirements for example phrases, see Functional Testing for a Custom Skill: Review and Test Example Phrases. The Example Phrase 101 section on the Launch page also provides additional detail and examples for creating good example phrases.
Complete the Privacy & Compliance Page
Answer the questions on the Privacy & Compliance page:
- Does this skill allow users to make purchases or spend real money?
- Does this Alexa skill collect users' personal information?
- Is this skill directed to or does it target children under the age of 13?
- Does this skill contain advertising?
Verify that your skill meets the Export Compliance requirements.
Also fill in any instructions for the testers in the Privacy & Compliance > Testing Instructions field. Be sure to include any information needed to test account linking, permissions, or any special hardware. Note that this information is not shown to users.
Define Skill Availability
You can make your skill available to others in three different ways. These options are available in the Availability section:
- Public: Publish the skill to the general public. Anyone with an Alexa device can enable and use your skill, provided it is available in their region and language.
- Alexa for Business Organizations: Publish the skill as a private skill available to just select businesses. For details, see Create and Publish Private Skills.
- Beta Test: Make the skill available to a set of beta users that you can manage. For details about running a beta test, see Skills Beta Testing for Alexa Skills.
Select Countries and Regions for the Skill
The Where would you like this skill to be available? option determines the countries and regions in which customers can enable and use your skill. Customers can access all skills that meet all of the following:
- The skill is distributed in their country or region.
- The skill supports the language selected for their Alexa-enabled device.
- The skill supports the primary language for the country in which the customer's device is registered. This determines whether the skill is available in the skill store. For example:
- A skill must have an English (US) version to be available to customers who registered their devices with the
.comsite. - A skill must have a German version to be available to customers who registered their devices with the
.desite.
- A skill must have an English (US) version to be available to customers who registered their devices with the
The distribution applies to the skill, not to individual languages. All language versions of the skill are made available to customers in the specified countries and regions, barring content policy restrictions.
It is important to remember that customers can choose the language they want to use for their devices, and they are not constrained by their location when choosing the language. For instance, a customer using a .de account can choose to use a different language, such as English (UK), for their Alexa devices. However, changing the language does not affect the skill catalog available to the .de account in the skill store. Therefore, to make a skill available to customers who use .de accounts, you need to include a German version in the skill store.
Should Your Skill be Available Everywhere?
Distributing your skill everywhere Amazon has a presence expands your potential customer and user base. Selecting In all countries and regions where Amazon distributes skills is often the best option unless there is a good reason to limit your skill's availability.
- When you distribute a skill globally, it is available to users worldwide who have configured their devices to use a language that your skill supports.
- When you limit the availability of the skill to a particular country or region, it is available just to users in the specified country / region who have configured their devices to use a language that your skill supports.
When deciding on your skill's availability, consider whether the skill can be useful to customers in other countries. For example, a trivia game skill can be entertaining regardless of where the user may live, especially if you can add additional languages. In contrast, some skills are useful only in particular geographic areas. A skill that provides food delivery for major US cities, but not in Europe, would not be useful in countries other than the United States.
For more about developing skills for multiple languages and countries, see Develop Skills in Multiple Languages.
Prepare for Certification and Submit the Skill
When you are ready to submit your skill for certification, click Submission in the sidebar to validate your skill. This displays missing fields and other issues that you must fix before you submit.
In addition, review the relevant submission checklists for your skill's interaction model to ensure that the skill will pass certification:
- Certification Requirements for Custom Skills
- Flash Briefing Skill Certification Checklist
- Smart Home Skill Publishing Guide
- Video Skill Testing Guide
When you are ready to submit the skill, click Submit for review to submit the skill.
Once you have submitted the skill, it shows "In Certification" in the Status column on list of skills. While it is in the certification process, you cannot make any further edits to the configuration. If you change your mind, you can select the skill, then click the Withdraw from Certification button.
After Amazon completes the review, you will receive an email at the address associated with your Amazon developer account:
- If the skill has been certified, the email will provide an estimate for when it will become available to end users.
- If the skill could not be certified, the email provides information about the issues you need to correct. You can make any necessary changes and then re-submit.
Publication Status
The current publication status for a skill is displayed in the developer console on your list of skills, in the Status column:
- In Development The skill is available only to you. If you have enabled it for testing, you can test it on devices registered to your developer account.
- In Certification Amazon is currently reviewing the skill for publication. During this time, you cannot edit the configuration.
- Live The skill has been published and is available to users. You cannot edit the configuration for live skills. To start development on an updated version, make your changes on the development version instead.
Revise and Update Your Skill after Publication
Once your skill is published to end users, your skill's status changes to live. You cannot change the configuration for a live skill. A new development version is automatically created in the developer console. This version has the same information as the original live version. You can use it to continue to work on your skill to improve it and add features.
The live and development versions are displayed together in the list of skills.
You can work on the new version independently of the original. For instance, for a custom skill, you can add more intents and sample utterances to the interaction model. If you make code changes in your service, you should use a different endpoint or Lambda function to test those changes so you do not disrupt users who are using the live version.
When you submit your new version for certification, both versions remain in your list until the new version is certified. Once the new version is certified, it becomes live and replaces the previous live version. A new development version is then created so that you can continue making updates.
For a better user experience, maintain backward compatibility with the previous version of your skill. For example, if you add new intents, continue to support the previous intents that users are already using.
Related Topics
The developer console: