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Publishing Alexa Skills

Certify and Publish Alexa Skills​

Once the Alexa skill is created and configured, it can be enabled using the admin account—the same account used to create and configure the skill. The skill can be shared with limited users for a limited time using the beta testing feature.

To make the Alexa skills 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 skills in the Alexa Skills Store.

Required Details​

Make sure you have the following information ready before publishing the skill:

  • The privacy policy URL 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:

  1. Go to the Alexa developer console and select your skill.

  2. On the Build tab, you will be able to see the drop-down list of all languages on the left side.

    Skill Locales

  3. Click Language Settings.

  4. Select all required languages. Refer to the Alexa documentation to select countries and regions for the skill.

  5. Click Save.

note

The selected locales will affect the availability of your skill. Please check Alexa documentation to decide where to distribute your skill.

Filling in the Distribution Details​

  1. Log in to the Alexa developer console and open the smart home skill which is to be certified.
  2. Go to the Distribution tab.
  3. Fill out all the details.
  4. Click Save and Continue.
  5. If your skill supports more than one locale, fill out the details for each locale.
  6. 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
  7. Tick on Export Compliance.
  8. Add the testing instructions. Please check Sample Testing Instructions. The testing instructions will change according to your product, application name, setup steps, and credentials.
  9. 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 Skills for Certification​

  1. Ensure that your test device is online and associated with your test account and that the voice commands for your device are working fine.
  2. Select the Certification option from the top side menu bar.
  3. Run the validations.
  4. If the validation result shows any error, fix it by filling in the missing fields in the Distribution or Build tab.
  5. Once the validation result is successful, go to the Submission option, and click Certify and publish now. If you want to wait before publishing the skill after the certification, you can select Certify now and publish later.
  6. 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.
  7. You will receive an email regarding the certification status on your verified email address.

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