Troubleshooting General Certification Failures

Having trouble with certification for your Alexa skill? If your skill failed certification, review the information in this guide for possible resolutions to common issues with skill metadata.

To publish your skill to the Alexa Skills Store and the Alexa app, you fill out the metadata 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. The certification process verifies that the information that you entered accurately reflects the functionality of your skill.

Skill description

The skill description provides relevant information about the core functionality of the skill and helps the customer understand what the skill does. When you provide skill details for publication, you enter a short description and a detailed description. The skill description should include an overview of the functionality, examples of how and why to use the skill, and answers to common questions about the skill. To update your skill description, edit your skill details in the developer console.

Issue: Incomplete description

Symptoms

Your skill description fails certification due to one or more of the following errors:

  • Doesn't accurately describe the functionality or features supported in the skill.
  • Missing information required to use the skill.
  • Lists features that aren't available in the skill.
  • Uses incomplete sentences, or contains spelling or other grammatical errors.
  • Phrases in the description don't include the wake word or correct invocation name.

Try this

To correct your skill description, update the detailed description to add information about how to use the skill. Keep the short description as a short sentence that states what the skill is about.

Example of problem Example of correction

Short Description: This skill provides a single random fact about space.

Detailed Description: Simply say, "Alexa, open Space Information" to launch the skill.

Short Description: This skill provides one random fact about space.

Detailed Description: Each time you launch the skill, the skill gives you one random fact about space. Simply say, "Alexa, open Space Information" to launch the skill.

Try this

To verify that the skill description doesn't describe features that aren't in the skill, test your skill by voice to make sure that the skill details are correct. If a feature doesn't exist or differs from what you initially wrote, change the description to match the core functions of the skill.

In the following example, the developer changed the skill after development.

Example of problem Example of correction

Short Description: This skill quizzes you on history facts ranging from the 1800s to 1900s.

Problem: The skill includes quizzes for the 1800s and not the 1900s

Short Description: This skill quizzes you on history facts from the 1800s.

Try this

To verify that the skill description doesn't contain a typo or other grammatical errors, read the description aloud and fix any errors you find. In the following example, the description incorrectly describes the skill as "an app."

Example of problem Example of correction

Detailed Description: To use the app, say "Alexa, Open My Horoscopes."

Detailed Description: To use the skill, say "Alexa, Open My Horoscopes."

Issue: Description contains invalid keywords

Symptoms

Your skill description or skill prompt contains invalid keywords, such as trial, sample, or test.

Try this

Remove any invalid keywords, such as those that state the skill is trial, sample, or test.

Example of problem Example of correction

Detailed Description: This skill is for test purposes. This skill checks your knowledge of trains in Japan! Just launch the skill and the quiz begins, Enjoy.

Detailed Description: This skill is for test purposes This skill checks your knowledge of trains in Japan! Just launch the skill and the quiz begins, Enjoy.

Prompt:
User: "Alexa, open color picker."

Skill: "Welcome! I will help you pick a color."

User: "Help."

Skill: "This skill is for internal testing purposes. If you want a color, say 'pick my color.'"

Prompt:
User: "Alexa, open color picker."

Skill: "Welcome! I will help you pick a color."

User: "Help."

Skill: "This skill is for internal testing purposes. If you want a color, say 'pick my color.'"

Example phrases

You define three example phrases that illustrate how users can 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. The certification team verifies that the information in the example phrases is accurate. For more details, see Example phrases.

For custom skills, your example phrases must match the sample utterances defined in your custom interaction model. For smart home and video skills, use the sample utterances in the documentation for the Alexa interfaces that your skill supports.

Issue: Missing wake word

Symptoms

An example phrase doesn't include a wake word at the beginning of the phrase. Valid wake words are "Alexa," "Computer," "Echo," or "Amazon."

Try this

To add the wake word to your example phrase, edit your skill details in the developer console.

The following example shows an example phrase with a missing wake word.

Example of problem Example of correction

"Open Space Information."

"Alexa, Open Space Information."

Issue: Missing invocation name

The invocation name must follow the wake word in example phrases. Without the invocation name, user requests route to the Alexa service rather than to your skill. To invoke a skill, an invocation name is required.

Symptoms

The example phrase doesn't include the invocation name of the skill.

Try this

To update your example phrases to add the invocation name after the wake word, edit your example phrases in the developer console.

In the following example, the invocation name defined in the developer portal is Zip Code Finder.

Example of problem Example of correction

"Alexa, find the zip code for Seattle Washington."

"Alexa, ask Zip Code Finder to find the zip code for Seattle Washington."

Issue: Incorrect invocation name

Symptoms

The invocation name in the example phrase is different from the invocation name defined on Build > Invocations > Skill Invocation Name in the developer console.

Try this

To correct the invocation name in the example phrases, edit your example phrases in the developer console.

In the following example, the invocation name defined in the developer console is My Horoscopes.

Example of problem Example of correction

"Alexa, Open The Horoscopes."

"Alexa, Open My Horoscopes."

Test instructions

When you submit a skill for certification, you must provide the certification team with valid instructions to test your skill. If your skill uses account linking, include credentials for the account in your system. If your skill requires a car or smart home device, the test account also needs to have a device associated with it.

Issue: Test accounts not provided

Symptoms

The certification team can't test account linking for your skill, due to a lack of valid credentials for your linked account.

Try this

To provide testing credentials, edit the testing instructions in the developer console. Make sure to enter username and password credentials that the certification team needs to test your skill, including credentials for linking your Amazon account to an external account and credentials to access external content. In addition, make sure that you include any information needed to test account linking, skill permissions, or any special hardware. Include credentials for each locale where you plan to publish your skill. As long as the content remains the same across all supported locales, you can provide identical testing credentials. If the account requires two-step verification, make sure to disable two-step verification.

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Last updated: May 23, 2024