Let Users Enable Your Skill without Account Linking

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Account linking and the user experience in the Alexa app

Scenario	Users allowed to enable without account linking (default)	Users *must* account link to enable the skill
Skill detail card in the store	The detail card shows that account linking is available for the skill.	The detail card for the skill shows that account linking is required for the skill.
User enables the skill	The skill is enabled immediately and the user is not presented with account linking flow.	The Alexa app displays your log-in page to start the normal account linking flow.
User interacts with the skill	The user interacts with the skill normally. Requests that do not require account linking should be fulfilled normally. Requests that do require account linking should tell the user they need to link accounts, and return a link account card. The user can return the Alexa app at any time to complete the account linking process. The user can start this process either from the link account card or from the skill detail card.	The user interacts with the skill normally. If the user successfully linked their accounts when the skill was enabled, requests should be fulfilled normally. If the user canceled the account linking process or the process failed, requests should tell the user they need to link accounts, and return a link account card.

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When to let users enable the skill without account linking

• Text-to-speech explaining that account linking is required for the feature. The text should also direct the user to the Alexa app to link their account.
• The LinkAccount card.

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Configure your skill to require or not require account linking

• Alexa Developer console: Navigate to the TOOLS > Account Linking section of the developer console and select the Allow users to enable skill without account linking option.
• ASK CLI: Use the create-account-linking subcommand and specify YES when prompted to “Allow users to enable skill without account linking”. Make sure you have the latest version of the ASK CLI to use this option. You can make sure you have the latest version by running the command:
  $ npm update -g ask-cli
  
• Skill Management API: Set the skipOnEnablement option to true in your account linking schema and send an update account linking request.
  The following example shows an account linking schema configured with skipOnEnablement set to true.

{
    "accountLinkingResponse": {
        "skipOnEnablement": true,
        "accessTokenScheme": "HTTP_BASIC",
        "accessTokenUrl": "https://api.amazon.com/auth/o2/token",
        "authorizationUrl": "https://www.amazon.com/ap/oa",
        "clientId": "amzn1.application-oa2-client.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
        "domains": [],
        "scopes": [
            "Profile"
        ],
        "type": "AUTH_CODE",
        "voiceForwardAccountLinking": "DISABLED"
    }
}

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Update your code and metadata

• Intents that do not require account linking handle the user’s request directly.
• Intents that require account linking validate the token and return a link account card if the token is missing or invalid. For a better user experience, save any relevant user data in a persistent data store so that the user can pick up where they left off after they link the account and return to the skill.

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Related topics

• Add Account Linking for Alexa
• Account Linking Concepts
• Account Linking Schema