Skill Rollback

Note: Sign in to the developer console to build or publish your skill.

The skill rollback feature reverts your skill to a previous live version without having to resubmit the skill for manual recertification. This process helps you move between development cycles. For example, you might choose to roll back a skill if your new skill version introduces a bug or any other unintended behaviors.

You roll back a skill by using the Alexa Skills Kit (ASK) Command Line Interface (CLI), SMAPI APIs or the Alexa developer console.

Note: To enable skill builders to benefit from the new skill rollback capability, we began tracking the live version of certain custom and music skills that met the initial eligibility requirements in mid-July 2020. This system update occurred automatically. If your live skill met the eligibility requirements, the date of your live skill was updated, which you can see under the Modified column for your skill on the landing page of the developer console. We made no other changes to these skills. Use the list-versions CLI command to confirm whether a version of your skill is available for rollback.

Eligibility criteria for skill-version rollback

Version eligibility for skill rollback ensures that your skill version adheres to Amazon policy testing requirements and won't cause problems if it's rolled back.

The following list might not be exhaustive, depending on the specific features you support. In all cases, skills must also pass Amazon's certification criteria, including adhering to Amazon's content guidelines. For more details on these content guidelines, see Policy Requirements.

Note: Skills that use certain features aren't eligible for rollback. For example, skills that support changes between versions of Account Linking aren't eligible for rollback.

The following list shows the criteria to roll back your skill version:

Only custom skills and music skills are eligible.
Your skill development cycle uses versions. For more details, see Version your skill and submit an optional version message.
The previous skill version you're reverting to isn't suppressed, rejected, or withdrawn.
Your skill didn't add any new locales between versions.
Your skill didn't add or change In-Skill Purchasing (ISP) or Account Linking between versions.
Your paid skill didn't change payment details between versions.
Your skill didn't change its invocation name between versions.
Your skill didn't change from a child directed skill to a regular skill between versions.
Your skill doesn't implement custom tasks.
Your skill isn't currently 'In Review' or in the publishing stage. This also includes updating your custom skill to live instantly.

Roll back your skill by using the developer console

You roll back a skill by using the Version History tab on the Certification page.

Note: You can only rollback a skill version if your skill development cycle uses versions and has an associated version message. For more details on how to submit a version message, see Version your skill and submit an optional version message.

To roll back to a previously published version of your skill

Sign in to the ASK developer console.
Click the Certification tab and then click the Version History tab.

Every time you submit a skill for certification, the submitted version appears in the table displayed on the Version History page.
In the table, find the skill version you want to roll back.

You can verify you're looking at the correct skill by reading the message in the VERSION MESSAGE column. These are the same messages you wrote when you submitted a version message with your skill.
In the ACTIONS column, click Rollback.
In the confirmation box, select Rollback.

Rollback statuses

If the rollback is successful, a Rollback Succeeded message displays in the table.
If the rollback failed, a Rollback Failed message displays in the table.

Roll back your skill by using CLI

For details about how to use rollback with the CLI, see the following CLI references, rollback-skill and get-rollback-for-skill.

Roll back your skill by using SMAPI APIs

For details about how to use rollback with SMAPI API's, see Rollback a Skill.

Frequently asked questions

What types of skills support rollback?: For now, custom skills and music skills support skill rollback. All skills must meet the minimum eligibility criteria. For details about how to identify eligible versions for rollback, see the Eligibility criteria for skill-version rollback.
When I roll back a skill, what skill assets change?: Rollback works on the skill level, not the skill resource level. The following skill assets roll back: Manifest data and Interaction Model. Amazon owned artifacts – for example, built-in intents, slots, formatters, and tokenizers – aren't rolled back to their previous version.
Can skill rollback change a skill that's still in the development stage?: No, skill rollback can't make any changes to a skill that's in the development stage.
Why is the Rollback button in the developer console greyed out for a certified version?: This means your skill version is ineligible for rollback. For more details how to identify eligible versions for rollback, see the Eligibility criteria for skill-version rollback.
I rolled back my skill version. Why does the Alexa Skills Store still show the previous version I was using before the rollback?: After rollback is complete and the skill version is Live on the Version History page, customers that have already enabled your skill are automatically rolled back to a new live version. These changes are reflected in the Skills Store shortly after.

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Last updated: Jul 15, 2024