Certify and Publish Your Skill
After you design, build, and test your skill, you're ready to certify and publish your skill. To receive certification, your skill must meet Amazon requirements and pass a certification process. During the certification review, the certification team evaluates your skill based on criteria that includes functionality, skill interaction, policy, and security. After your skill receives certification, you can publish your skill in the Alexa Skills Store.
Review certification requirements and guidelines
Amazon recommends that you review the submission checklist as you build your skill. All Alexa skills must meet the Certification Requirements to be eligible to apply for certification and publication to the Alexa Skills Store. Your skill must also comply with the following guidelines based on your skill type:
- Smart Home and Video Skill Certification Guide
- Flash Briefing Skill Certification Checklist
- In-Skill Purchase Certification Guide
Submit your skill for certification and track progress
After you review the certification requirements and guidelines, you can define Skills Store details for publication and submit your skill for certification. During the certification process, you can track the review progress of your skill in the Alexa developer console or follow the progress by using the Get certification review REST API.
The certification process includes policy, security, functional, and voice user interface testing. Allow at least five business days for the certification process to complete. Certification turnaround time varies based on the type of skill and the type of test plan that the skill requires.
After the certification review completes, you receive an email at the company email address associated with your Amazon developer account. The company email is what the account owner sets on the Settings > Company Profile page. If you don't receive an email, check your spam folder or update the email address associated with your company profile.
If the skill doesn’t pass the certification process, you have the opportunity to fix the issues in question and resubmit the skill. The certification team lets you know why the skill didn’t pass and the changes to make to correct the failure.
To view the progress of certification testing in the Alexa developer console
- Sign in to the Alexa developer console.
- From the skill list, under STATUS, locate the development version of your skill, and then, in the dropdown under ACTIONS, select Edit.
- Open the Certification tab, and then from the left menu, select Submission.
- Here you can view the skill status, an estimated date of certification, and the countries that your skill will be available in.
Additional resources
Use the following additional resources to help you learn how to certify and publish an Alexa skill. For questions about certification of Alexa skills and features, you can contact Amazon.
For smart home skills and devices, you can also submit your product for Works with Alexa Certification.
Concepts and procedures
- Define Skill Store Details for Publication
- Submit Skills for Certification in the Alexa Developer Console
- Skill Certification REST API Reference
Blog posts
- First steps to a successful skill certification
- Five common errors why Alexa skills don’t get certified — and how to fix them
- How to Create a Child-Directed Skill
- 8 Tips for Effective Skill Description And Metadata Writing
- Five Benchmarks for Writing Dialog that Sounds Great to Alexa Customers
- Best Practices for Controlling Devices Successfully with Your Smart Home Skill
- Five insights to boost skill quality from the Alexa Skills Insights Team
- Top 5 questions from new Alexa developers
- Three ways for you to build skills with Alexa
Related topics
- Troubleshooting Common Certification Failures
- Design Your Skill
- Build Your Skill
- Test Your Skill
- Monitor Your Skill and Metrics
- Tools to Create and Manage Skills
- Rollback a Skill
Last updated: Sep 10, 2024