Publishing Alexa skill
Certify and Publish Alexa skill
When the Alexa skill is created and configured, it can be enabled with the admin account of the skill. This is the account using which Alexa skill was created and configured. The skill can be shared with limited users for a limited period of time using beta testing feature.
To make the Alexa skill available publicly, it is required to certify and publish the skill. After testing your skill and ensuring it is working as expected, you can submit the skill for certification.
This section provides the steps to certify and publish the Alexa skill in the Alexa skills store.
Required details
Keep the following details ready before we publish the skill.
- Privacy Policy and Terms of use URL for your skill
- Languages that skill should be supported in.
- Short description - one-line description.
- Long description.
- Small Skill Icon - 108*108 pixels png/jpg.
- Large skill icon - 512*512 png/png.
- Keywords - Simple search words that relate to or describe this skill.
- Example phrases (examples of supported voice commands).
- Public name of your skill.
- A test account with at least one test device.
Adding Languages and locales
When you create an Alexa skill, you specify the default language for your skill. You can add more languages after skill creation. To add different languages and locales, follow the given steps:
- Go to the Alexa developer console and select your skill.
- On the build tab, you will be able to see the drop-down list of all languages on the left side.
- Click on Language Settings.
- Select all required languages. Please refer to Alexa documentation for details on the skill availability for customers according to selected locales.
- Click on Save.
Note: Consider that supported locales will affect the availability. Please check Alexa documentation for details on Alexa skill availability according to supported locales.
Filling in the distribution details
- Login to the Alexa developer console and open the smart home skill which is to be certified.
- Go to the distribution tab.
- Fill out all the details.
- Click on "Save and Continue".
- If your skill supports more than one locale, fill out the details for each locale.
- On the "Privacy and Compliance" section choose the below options:
- Does this skill allow users to make purchases or spend real money? -> No
- Does this skill use Alexa Shopping Actions? -> No
- Does this Alexa skill collect users' personal information? (e.g., anything that can identify the user) -> No
- Is this skill directed to or does it target children under the age of 13? -> No
- Does this skill contain advertising? -> No
- Tick on Export Compliance.
- Add the testing instructions. Please check Sample Testing Instructions. The testing instructions will change according to your product, application name, setup steps, and credentials.
- On the Availability tab, enter the following:
- Who should have access to this skill?: Public
- Where would you like this skill to be available?: In all countries and regions where Amazon distributes skills
Submitting Alexa skill for certification
- Ensure that your test device is online and associated with your test account and that the voice commands for your device are working fine.
- Select the Certification option from the top side menu bar.
- Run the validations.
- If the validation result shows any error, fix it by filling in the missing fields in the distribution/build tab.
- Once the validation result is successful, go to the Submission option, and click on "Certify and publish now". If you want to wait before publishing the skill after the certification you can select "Certify now and publish later".
- Once submitted, keep your test device online and keep it mapped to your test account until the Alexa skill is certified, as the Alexa team will use the test device for manual testing.
- You will receive an email regarding the certification status on your verified email address.