Building skills to make Alexa smarter? Alexa can now help!

We are excited to introduce the new Dev Tips skill for Alexa, your companion for the skill-building journey. This skill is designed to connect you with the news, tips, and resources you need to build your best skill—all via voice. Let me walk you through the skill’s features.

Alexa Skill Development Tips

As you build for voice, you’ll likely have questions about how to add features or enhance existing ones. Simply enable the Dev Tips skill and ask Alexa for help.

Let’s say you’d like to know how to add persistence to your skill. Just say, “Alexa, ask Dev Tips about persistence,” and Alexa will respond with a high-level overview of the concept, then share a shortened URL that directs you to the specific documentation you will need to understand and accomplish your goal. Alexa will write this information to a card in your Alexa app and also show it on devices with a screen like the Echo Show.

If you don’t have a specific question, you can also just say, “Alexa, ask Dev Tips for something cool,” and Alexa will randomly pick something from her knowledge base to help you broaden your development skills.

Here are a few things to try:

• “Alexa, ask Dev Tips about built-in slots.”
• “Alexa, ask Dev Tips about text messaging.”
• “Alexa, ask Dev Tips about beta testing.”

Navigation Help

You can also ask the Dev Tips skill more general questions about building skills with Alexa. For example, you can ask about Office Hours, developer perks, and upcoming webinars. Simply ask Alexa to help you find your way around our programs and offerings.

You can start with things like:

• “Alexa, ask Dev Tips about Dev Days.”
• “Alexa, ask Dev Tips about the cookbook.”
• “Alexa, ask Dev Tips about Jeff Blankenburg.”

Alexa News and Announcements

In addition to developer tips, the Dev Tips skill also delivers the latest news on Alexa tools, devices, and resources. Simply say, “Alexa, ask Dev Tips what’s new” to catch up on news and announcements.

Start Building for Alexa with Alexa

Enable Dev Tips and let Alexa be your co-pilot as you build voice-rich experiences for Alexa. Ever time you use the skill, you’re also helping to make her smarter. We will continue to evolve and enrich this skill with fresh content and new functionality on a frequent basis.

We can’t wait to see what you build!

Build a Skill, Earn Developer Perks 

Got skills? Bring your big idea to life with the Alexa Skills Kit and earn perks through our new tiered rewards system. Publish a skill in October, and receive a limited edition Alexa Skills developer t-shirt. If 100 unique users use your skill in its first 30 days in the Alexa Skills Store, you can also apply to receive a free Echo Dot to help you make Alexa even smarter. Learn more about our promotion and start building today.