Test and Submit Your Skill for Certification
Use the Certification page to verify that your skill is ready, then submit it for certification.
- Validate Your Skill
- Run the Functional Tests for Your Skill
- Review the Submission Checklists
- Submit the Skill
- Revise and Update Your Skill after Publication
- Related Topics
Validate Your Skill
The Validation section verifies that all required skill store fields are complete. To do these tests, navigate to Certification > Validation and click Run.
The validation tests are run for all locales that your skill supports. Issues are listed by locale.
You must resolve all validation issues before you can run the functional tests or submit the skill.
Run the Functional Tests for Your Skill
The Functional Test section performs a set of pre-certification tests on your skill. These tests provide immediate feedback for common certification failures. These tests send requests to your skill's endpoint. To do these tests, navigate to Certification > Functional Test and click Run. You cannot run the functional tests if the Validation tests report any errors.
You can start the functional tests and then navigate away from the page. Return to the page to check the status and test results.
For a smoother certification process, fix any issues reported by the functional tests. Tests are run for all locales that your skill supports. Issues are listed by locale.
The functional tests are also automatically run when you submit your skill.
Review the Submission Checklists
The Validation and Functional Test sections can help you find issues that would cause your skill to fail certification. However, they do not do the full set of testing performed as part of certification. To ensure your skill passes certification, review the relevant submission checklists for your skill's interaction model and use of any special features:
- Certification Requirements for Custom Skills
- Flash Briefing Skill Certification Checklist
- Smart Home Skill Publishing Guide
- Video Skill Testing Guide
- Certification Guide for List Skills
- Echo Button Skill Functional Tests
- In-Skill Purchase Certification Guide
Submit the Skill
When you are ready to submit the skill, navigate to Certification > Submission. If the skill passes the validation tests, you can 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 certification 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: