Define Skill Store Details for Publication

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To publish your skill to the Alexa Skills Store and the Alexa app, fill out the required details for your skill on the Distribution page in the Alexa developer console. You define the skill details that educate customers about the value of your skill and how your skill works. You provide links to a privacy policy and terms of use page, and define whether to publish your skill now or later. Amazon uses the skill details to categorize your skill and help interested customers find your content.

After you complete and save the skill information, you can distribute your skill for beta testing or submit it for certification.

Define store preview

In the Skill Preview section you define metadata for your skill in each language that your skill supports. The skill description and logo appear in the Alexa app and on the skill detail page in the Alexa Skills Store on the Amazon retail website.

To enter or update metadata for your skill in the developer console

1. Sign in to the Alexa developer console.
2. From the skill list, locate the development version of your skill under STATUS, and then, in the dropdown under ACTIONS, select Distribute.
3. In the top-left menu, click Skill Preview > English(US), or choose the language that represents the primary locale of your skill.
4. Under Primary Details, enter the details for your skill.
   For help with each field, see skill details.
5. Under Media Details, add icons, images, and video.
   For more details, see Add Rich Media to the Skill Detail Page.
6. To save your skill details, click Save.
7. (Optional) If your skill supports other languages, in the top-left menu under Skill Preview, select the next language, and then enter details for your skill in that language.
8. To update privacy and compliance information, top-left menu, click Privacy & Compliance, and then update the information.
   For more details, see Answer privacy and compliance questions.
9. To save your skill details, click Save.
10. To update availability information, top-left menu, click Availability, and then update the information.
    For more details, see Define skill availability.
11. To save your skill details, click Save.

The following image shows the store preview on the Distribution page.

Skill details

• English (All)
• Hindi (IN)

Skill description examples

A well-written skill description shows what value a skill offers users, and describes the core functionality of the skill with complete sentences, free of grammatical errors and typos. Review the following examples of good skill descriptions.

Skill description example for custom skill  

Skill description example for smart home skill  

Example phrases

The three example phrases show users what to say to invoke your skill. The first phrase displays in the list of skills in the Alexa app and as a "try saying" hint in the account linking flow. All three phrases display on the skill detail card.

Define the example phrases based on the voice interaction model that you chose. For custom models, if you use utterances for an intent, the example phrases must come directly from your sample utterances, and you must fill the slots in the utterance with valid slot values. Don't include utterances defined to collect slot values as part of a dialog model. If your model includes built-in intents, either use the exact phrase provided in the documentation for the intent or a variation of this phrase. Make sure that you fully test the utterance. Verify that the utterance works and your skill returns a valid response.

For pre-built models, use the sample utterances in the documentation for the Alexa interfaces that your skill supports.

The example phrases you enter are automatically validated against several criteria after you enter them. Check for validation errors and warnings after you enter the phrase.

Errors display in red text. You can't submit a skill for certification if any errors exist.Warnings display with a yellow icon in black text. Although you can submit a skill with validation warnings, the skill might fail certification. Amazon recommends that you correct any warnings before you submit.

In the following example, the second phrase generates an error because the example phrase is the same as the default example phrase. The last phrase generates a warning because it contains a spelling error.

You aren't required to include your example phrases within your skill description. However, if you do reference them in the description, word the phrase correctly. Include the wake word if you want your example to show the user how to invoke the skill.

For more details about certification requirements for example phrases, see Review and Test Example Phrases. The See detailed requirements link on the Distribution page under Example Phrases provides additional guidance about good example phrases.

Media details

In the Media Details section, you define icons and optional images that represent your skill. These assets display on the skill detail page on the Amazon retail site and on the Alexa app.

• English (All)
• Hindi (IN)

Answer privacy and compliance questions

In the Privacy & Compliance section you answer privacy questions, certify export compliance, and provide testing instructions for certification.

To answer privacy and compliance questions in the developer console

1. On the Distribution page, on the left menu, click Privacy & Compliance.
2. Answer the following privacy questions:
   • Does this skill allow users to make purchases or spend real money?
   • Does this skill use Alexa Shopping Actions?
   • 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?
3. For Export Compliance, read the export compliance requirements, and then select the box to acknowledge that you read and agree to the terms.
4. For Testing Instructions, enter username and password credentials that the certification team needs to test your skill. In addition, make sure that you include any information needed to test account linking, permissions, or any special hardware. Include credentials for each locale where you plan to publish your skill.
   Important: Only the Alexa certification team uses testing credentials. Maintain the account credentials in a live status until you receive certification feedback or your skill passes the certification process. You can update the credentials at any time.

Define skill availability

In the Availability section you decide if you want to enable your skill for beta testing or publish your skill in the Alexa Skills Store. When you publish your skill to the general public, anyone with an Alexa device can use your skill in the regions and languages that your skill supports. To find your skill in the Alexa app, the skill must be in the same language as the customer set on their Alexa device and be available in the country where the customer is located.

To define skill availability in the developer console

1. On the Distribution page, from the left menu, click Availability.
2. If you want to make your skill available to a set of beta testers, under Beta Test, enter the email addresses.
   For more details, see Skill Beta Testing for Alexa Skills.
3. If you want to make your skill public and enable automated locale distribution, review the guidelines, and then select the box to acknowledge that you want to opt in. Then, for each language, choose the locale to use as the source for distribution to other locales of the same language. For more details, see Opt in to automated locale distribution.
4. For Where would you like this skill to be available?, to make your skill available worldwide, click In all countries and regions where Amazon distributes skills. For more details, see Should your skill be available everywhere?
   Or, to limit your skill to specific countries, click Selected countries and regions, and then select the countries where you want to make your skill available. For more details, see Select countries and regions for the skill.
   Note: To distribute to the selected countries, your skill must support the primary language for each of the selected countries. For details about how to add a language to your skill, see Develop Skills in Multiple Languages.

Opt in to automated locale distribution

To expand the distribution of your skill to more locales, you can opt in to automated locale distribution. If you opt in, when you submit your skill, the Amazon certification team assess whether your skill is eligible for distribution to all locales of a given language. For example, if you support English (US), automated locale distribution can enable your skill to support additional locales like English (UK) and English (India). Amazon supports automated locale distribution for some, but not all, languages. For more details, see Add Additional Locales of the Same Language to Custom Skills. To further control the distribution of your skill, you can select specific countries. Otherwise, Amazon defaults to distributing the skill to all countries for the given language.

Make sure to update your privacy policy and terms of use for your skill to meet the requirements for all countries and regions where your want to make your skill available.

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 your customers can enable and use your custom skill. Your customers can access all skills that meet all of the following conditions:

• You distribute your skill in the customers' country or region.
• Your skill supports the language your customers selected for their Alexa-enabled devices.
• Your skill supports the primary language for the country or region in which the customers registered their devices. This language support determines whether the skill is available in the Alexa Skills Store; for example:
  • A skill must have an English (US) or Spanish (US) version to be available to customers who registered their devices with the .com site.
  • A skill must have a German version to be available to customers who registered their devices with the .de site.

The distribution applies to the skill, not to individual languages. Amazon makes available all language versions of the skill in the specified countries and regions, barring content-policy restrictions.

Should your skill be available everywhere?

To choose how broadly you want your custom skill distributed to customers and users, make your selection under Where would you like this skill to be available? Here, you can select from the following two options:

• Select In all countries and regions where Amazon distributes skills when the following factors apply to your skill:

  • You want your skill available to customers worldwide who have configured their devices to use a language that your skill supports.
  • You want the largest possible customer and user base.
  • You think your skill can be useful to customers in other countries or regions. For example, a trivia game skill can be entertaining regardless of where the customer might live, especially if you can add additional languages.

• Select Selected countries and regions, and then select the applicable countries, when the following factors apply:

  • You want to limit the availability of your skill to a particular country or region.
  • You want your skill available just to customers in the specified country or region who have configured their devices to use a language that your skill supports.
  • You think your skill can be useful to customers only in particular geographic areas. For example, a skill that provides food delivery for major US cities, but not in Europe, wouldn't be useful in countries or regions other than the United States.

For more about developing skills for multiple languages and countries, see Develop Skills in Multiple Languages.

Preview the detail card in the Alexa app

After you have entered all the information for your development skill, open the Alexa app and preview the card. The app shows both published skills and your own skills in development. You can see how your card will appear to users. To find your skill, enter your skill name in the search box.

Verify that you provided links to a privacy policy and terms of use page, and make sure that all clickable links open and display properly on iOS, Android, and desktop devices.

In the following image, the utterances shown under "Try Saying" are the example phrases. The description shown under "About this Skill" is the full skill description.

Update skill metadata

After you publish your skill, you can't make changes to the skill details for the live version of the skill. Instead, you make updates to the development version, and then submit your skill for certification.

To update metadata for your skill in the developer console

1. Sign in to the Alexa developer console.
2. From the skill list, locate the development version of your skill under STATUS, and then, in the dropdown under ACTIONS, select Distribute.
3. In the top-left menu, click Skill Preview, and then choose the language that represents the language that you want to update.
4. Under Primary Details, enter the new details for your skill.
   For help with each field, see skill details.
5. Under Media Details, add icons, images, and video.
   For more details, see Add Rich Media to the Skill Detail Page.
6. To save your skill details, click Save.
7. (Optional) If your skill supports other languages, in the top-left menu under Skill Preview, select the next language, and then enter details for your skill in that language.
8. To update privacy and compliance information, top-left menu, click Privacy & Compliance, and then update the information.
   For more details, see Answer privacy and compliance questions.
9. To save your skill details, click Save.
10. To update availability information, top-left menu, click Availability, and then update the information.
    For more details, see Define skill availability.
11. To save your skill details, click Save.
12. After you make the updates, preview the detail card in the Alexa app, and then submit your skill for certification.

Related topics

• 8 Tips for Effective Skill Description And Metadata Writing
• Create and Manage Skills in the Alexa Developer Console
• Build Skills in the Alexa Developer Console
• Test Skills in the Alexa Developer Console
• Add Rich Media to the Skill Detail Page
• Submit Alexa Skills for Certification
• Skill Rollback
• View Skill Metrics
• View Your Payments and Earnings
• Community Guidelines for Reviews

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Last updated: Jun 04, 2024