Alexa Connected Devices
Create a Smarter Home with Alexa. Learn how to connect Alexa to the Cloud, beta test your Alexa skill in real-time, and integrate your Alexa skills app with other devices.
If you connect your devices to Alexa over the internet, you’ll use the Alexa Skills Kit and the Custom and Smart Home Skill APIs to build your skill. The Smart Home Skill API provides a built-in voice user interface that simplifies the process of enabling customers to control cameras, cooking devices, entertainment devices, lighting, locks, thermostats, and more with Alexa.
Find detailed information about authentication, messaging, directives and other aspects of the Smart Home Skill Kit API.
Visit our Alexa Smart Home Developer forums to get inspired, ask and answer questions, and join our Alexa developer community.
Test your skill's service using the Service Simulator. Simply input text, then view the service input and output on the screen.
Test your user experience using Echosim. This online community tool simulates the experience of an Amazon Echo.
Invite up to 2,000 beta users to test your Alexa skill and provide feedback. You choose the users and supply them with your smart devices.
If you connect your devices to Alexa locally, you’ll use Zigbee with the built-in hub on the all-new Echo Show and Echo Plus, or a protocol supported by a standalone hub. Echo Zigbee Support has details on connecting to Amazon Echo devices with built-in hubs, or refer to manufacturer documentation for other hubs.
If you connect to Alexa on your device, you’ll use the Alexa Connect Kit (Preview) or ACK. ACK is a new way for device makers to connect devices to Alexa without worrying about managing cloud services or complex networking and security firmware. Instead of the ongoing variable cost of running cloud services, with ACK you pay a low, upfront, fixed cost for the lifetime of the device.
If you build a device that connects to an Echo device using Bluetooth, you’ll use the Alexa Gadgets Toolkit — a set of self-service APIs and technical documentation allowing for the creation of Alexa-connected accessory products that are constrained by low-powered, low-memory components—all without the need for device cloud management.