Works with Alexa Certification Requirements

Products eligible for Works with Alexa (WWA) certification must adhere to stringent requirements. Review the following requirements before you submit your product for certification.

For general guidelines about the Works with Alexa program and how to submit your product for testing, see Works with Alexa Overview.

Works with Alexa program guidelines

To be eligible to apply for WWA certification, your product must comply with the Works with Alexa Program Guidelines.

Mobile app requirements

If your device has a mobile app for set up and account linking, your app must support both iOS and Android. As a best practice, include account linking from your app to the Alexa app. For details, see App-to-App Account Linking.

Alexa skill requirements

If your product connects to Alexa through a skill, your skill must meet the following requirements before you submit your product for WWA certification:

State and change reporting requirements

Reporting the state of your product enables the Alexa app to accurately reflect the status of smart home devices. For general information about state and change reporting, see Understand State and Change Reporting and Send Events to the Event Gateway.

Your skill must implement state and change reporting as follows:

  • Mark all capability properties as retrievable and proactivelyReported in your discovery response. For details, see Alexa.Discovery.
  • Always report the state of all capability properties in the context of an Alexa.Response event when you respond to a control directive, including properties defined by EndpointHealth. For details, see Report state in an Alexa.Response.
  • Respond to ReportState directives with StateReport events. For details, see Report State in a StateReport.
  • Proactively report the state of your device to Alexa by sending ChangeReport events when the device state changes for any reason. For details, see Report State in a ChangeReport.
  • When the state of a reported property changes, you must send a ChangeReport with the new property value within three seconds of the state change. The ChangeReport must also include the current value of the connectivity property, defined by the Alexa.EndpointHealth interface.
  • If the connectivity of the device changes to OK, send the report in three seconds or less.
  • If a ChangeReport event fails with HTTP errors 503, 429, or 401, or the message times out, try to resend the ChangeReport. When you resend, do so at least two more times with a delay of no more than 15-second intervals between each try. For details, see the error section of the Send Events to the Alexa Event Gateway.

Operational requirements

Your skill must meet and maintain the following operational requirements:

  • Latency – After Alexa sends a request to your skill, Alexa must receive a response within 1000 milliseconds 90 percent of the time (P90), and within 800 milliseconds 50 percent of the time (P50).
  • Accuracy rate – The response to a ReportState directive must match the ChangeReport event that you last sent to Alexa at least 97 percent of the time.

If your product falls below these requirements, your product might lose eligibility for the WWA badge. To view your product's performance, visit the Analytics page in the Alexa developer console.

Test your product

Enable your skill for testing in the development portal and test it thoroughly with your device and an Alexa-enabled device and the Alexa app. Your skill must respond quickly and handle error conditions correctly to make it through the WWA certification process. For details, see Debug Your Smart Home Skill. To test and debug device state in the developer console, see View Device State.

Zigbee requirements

If your product connects to Alexa by using the Zigbee protocol, your product must meet the following requirements before you apply for WWA certification. For more details about the Zigbee protocol, see Zigbee Alliance Developer Resources.

Device requirements

Your device must meet the following requirements before you submit your product for WWA certification:

  • Your device must implement the capability interfaces for the features your product supports. To be eligible for certification, your device must support the required interfaces specified for your device category. Some device types have no required capability interfaces. For details, see the required interfaces tables for your device category.
  • All devices must support device discovery and state reporting. For details, see Alexa.Discovery and Understand State Reporting.
  • As a best practice, include manufacturer and model in the additionalAttributes object in the discovery response.
  • To let Alexa know the health of your device, implement EndpointHealth. As a best practice, support as many EndpointHealth properties as you can.

Climate control

The following table shows the required capability interfaces for devices in the climate control category.

Example devices Required functionality Required Alexa capability interfaces
Air conditioner Set temperature, query current temperature ThermostatController
Air filter Turn on power, turn off power PowerController
Air purifier Turn on power, turn off power PowerController
Fan Turn on power, turn off power PowerController
HVAC unit Set temperature, query current temperature ThermostatController
Thermostat Set temperature, query current temperature ThermostatController

If your product supports any of the following optional climate control features, specify the capabilities when you register your product:

Entertainment

The following table shows the required capability interfaces for devices in the entertainment category.

Example devices Required functionality Required Alexa capability interfaces
Amplifier Set and adjust volume, mute, unmute, select input Speaker, InputController
Projector Turn on power, turn off power PowerController
Receiver Set and adjust volume, mute, unmute, select input Speaker, InputController
Remote control Set channel, set and adjust volume, mute, unmute, turn on power, turn off power ChannelController, InputController, PowerController
Set-top box Set channel, set and adjust volume, mute, unmute, turn on power, turn off power ChannelController, InputController, PowerController
Sound bar Play device, stop device, pause device, set and adjust volume, mute, unmute PlaybackController, Speaker
Speaker Play device, stop device, pause device, set and adjust volume, mute, unmute PlaybackController, Speaker
Subwoofer Set equalizer bands, set sound modes EqualizerController
Television Set channel, set and adjust volume, mute, unmute, turn on power, turn off power ChannelController, InputController, PowerController


The following table shows the recommended capability interfaces for devices in the entertainment category. Use of these interfaces is a best practice to receive certification.

Example devices Recommended functionality Recommended Alexa capability interfaces
Set-top box Search and display, search and play, launch apps and shortcuts, and state reporting RemoteVideoPlayer Search and Display, RemoteVideoPlayer Search and Play, LaunchTarget, PlaybackStateReporter
Television Search and display, search and play, launch apps and shortcuts, and state reporting RemoteVideoPlayer Search and Display, RemoteVideoPlayer Search and Play, LaunchTarget, PlaybackStateReporter

If your product supports any of the following optional entertainment features, specify the capabilities when you register your product:

Home office

The following table shows the required capability interfaces for devices in the home office category.

Example devices Required functionality Required Alexa capability interfaces
Router Enable network access, disable network access NetworkAccessController

If your product supports any of the following optional home office features, specify the capabilities when you register your product:

Home security

The following table shows the required capability interfaces for devices in the home security category.

Example devices Required functionality Required Alexa capability interfaces
Camera Retrieve camera stream CameraStreamController
Doorbell Capture doorbell events DoorbellEventSource
Door lock Set lock, unlock LockController
Garage door opener Open garage door, close garage door ModeController with semantics
Security panel Arm security system, disarm security system SecurityPanelController

If your product supports any of the following optional security features, specify the capabilities when you register your product:

Household and personal care

The following table shows the required capability interfaces for devices in the household and personal care category.

Example devices Required functionality Required Alexa capability interfaces
Aroma diffuser Turn on power, turn off power PowerController
Vacuum Turn on power, turn off power, return to charging base, PowerController,
Implement return to base with PowerController TurnOff directive or ModeController with semantics

Kitchen and cooking appliances

The following table shows the required capability interfaces for devices in the kitchen and cooking appliances category.

Example devices Required functionality Required Alexa capability interfaces
Microwave Start and stop cooking, change cooking mode, cook by time, pause cooking, resume cooking Cooking.TimeController, TimeHoldController

Lighting and power

The following table shows the required capability interfaces for devices in the lighting and power category.

Example devices Required functionality Required Alexa capability interfaces
Dimmer Turn on power, turn off power PowerController
Lamp Turn on power, turn off power PowerController
Light bulb Turn on power, turn off power PowerController
Light strip Turn on power, turn off power PowerController
Power strip Turn on power, turn off power PowerController
Plug Turn on power, turn off power PowerController
Switch Turn on power, turn off power PowerController

If your product supports any of the following optional features, specify the capabilities when you register your product:

Sensors

The following table shows the required capability interfaces for devices in the sensors category.

Example devices Required functionality Required Alexa capability interfaces
Contact sensor Detect and report contact ContactSensor
Motion sensor Detect and report motion MotionSensor

Badge requirements

WWA badges are for products intended to be sold on Amazon.com. Before you request the WWA badge, apply the relevant updates and fixes found during the WWA certification process to your product.

To receive a WWA badge, your product must meet the following requirements:

  1. Your product has an ASIN.
  2. The ASIN must be available on Amazon.com, in the country requested, and can't be unavailable, invalid, or suppressed.
  3. The model number for the ASIN must match the product model number listed on the ASIN detail page.
  4. If your product connects to Alexa with a hub, the hub ASIN must be the same as the hub tested during WWA certification.
  5. If your product has an Alexa skill, the skill must be available on Amazon.com, in the country requested, and cannot be unavailable, invalid, or suppressed.

If your product doesn't meet these requirements, Amazon will reject your badge request and you must correct the issues and resubmit your product for certification. For submission instructions, see Submit your product for certification.