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
- Mobile app requirements
- Alexa skill requirements
- Zigbee requirements
- Device requirements
- Badge requirements
- Related topics
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.
- Use the smart home model and include code in a Lambda function to provide communication between Alexa and your product. For details, see Understand the Smart Home Skill API and Steps to Build a Smart Home Skill.
-
Target version 3 of the Smart Home API. In device discovery, describe the payload version as 3, and specify each capability listed as version 3. For details, see Alexa.Discovery.
As a best practice, include
manufacturerandmodelin the additionalAttributes object in the discovery reponse. - Implement the required capability interfaces for the features your product supports. Return all supported capabilities in the discovery response. For details about the required capabilities, see Device requirements.
- Follow the state and change reporting requirements.
- Implement EndpointHealth.
- Support account linking. For details, see Understand Account Linking.
- Support proactive management. For details, see How to Proactively Manage Endpoints.
- Receive skill certification and publish in the Alexa skill store. For details, see Smart Home Skill Publishing Guide.
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
retrievableandproactivelyReportedin your discovery response. For details, see Alexa.Discovery. - Always report the state of all capability properties in the context of an
Alexa.Responseevent when you respond to a control directive, including properties defined byEndpointHealth. For details, see Report state in an Alexa.Response. - Respond to
ReportStatedirectives withStateReportevents. For details, see Report State in a StateReport. - Proactively report the state of your device to Alexa by sending
ChangeReportevents 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
ChangeReportwith the new property value within three seconds of the state change. TheChangeReportmust also include the current value of theconnectivityproperty, defined by the Alexa.EndpointHealth interface. - If the
connectivityof the device changes toOK, send the report in three seconds or less. - If a
ChangeReportevent fails with HTTP errors 503, 429, or 401, or the message times out, try to resend theChangeReport. 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.
Test your product
Enable your skill for testing in the development portal and test it thoroughly with your device and an Alexa-enabled device or 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.
- Your product must support Zigbee 3.0.
- Your product must support Works with All Hubs (WWAHu) cluster. For details, see the All Hubs Initiative.
- You must test your Zigbee integration with an Echo Plus device.
- You must test your Works with All Hubs cluster using the test harness tool.
Note: WWA honors certification test results for the WWAHu cluster performed by Element Materials Technology. All additional test cases still apply.
Device requirements
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. All devices must support device discovery and state reporting. For details, see Alexa.Discovery and Understand State Reporting. Some device types have no required capability interfaces.
As a best practice, include manufacturer and model in the additionalAttributes object in the discovery response.
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:
- ChannelController
- EqualizerController
- InputController
- PlaybackController
- PowerController
- RecordController
- SeekController
- Speaker
- VideoRecorder
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:
- Your product has an ASIN.
- The ASIN must be available on Amazon.com, in the country requested, and can't be unavailable, invalid, or suppressed.
- The model number for the ASIN must match the product model number listed on the ASIN detail page.
- If your product connects to Alexa with a hub, the hub ASIN must be the same as the hub tested during WWA certification.
- 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.
