Define Skill Store Details and Availability

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Use the Distribution page to preview how your skill will appear in the Alexa Skills Store and determine the skill's availability.

Note that the above video refers to the "Publishing" tab. This is now the "Distribution" page in the developer console.

Define skill store metadata

• All Other Locales
• Hindi (IN)

Preview the detail card in the Alexa app

After you have entered all of the information for your detail card, be sure to open the Alexa app and preview the card. The app shows both published skills and your own skills currently in development, so you can see how your card will appear to users. You can enter the name of your skill in the search box to filter the list of skills.

In the following image, the utterances shown under "Try Saying" are the example phrases. The description shown under "About this Skill" is the full skill description.

Example phrases for custom skills

The three example phrases show users what they need to say to begin using your skill. The first phrase is shown in the list of skills in the Alexa App. It is also shown as a "try saying" hint in the account linking flow. All three phrases are displayed prominently on the detail card.

To ensure accuracy, these phrases must meet specific requirements:

• If you use utterances for an intent you defined, the phrases must come directly from your sample utterances. Slots in the utterance must be filled in with valid slot values.

  The phrases must match utterances defined to invoke an intent. User utterances defined to collect slot values as part of a dialog model are not valid as example phrases.

• If you use utterances for a built-in intent, either use the exact phrase provided in the documentation for the intent or a variation of this phrase. Be sure to fully test the utterance and verify that it works and your skill returns a valid response. If the example utterances you provide fail to return a valid response during certification, your skill will fail certification.

The example phrases you enter are automatically validated against several criteria after you enter them. Note any validation errors and warnings below the field after you enter the phrase:

• Errors are displayed in red text. You cannot submit a skill for certification if any errors exist.
• Warnings are displayed in black text. Although you can submit a skill with validation warnings, the skill will likely fail certification. It is recommended that you correct any warnings before you submit.

In this example, the first phrase generates two warnings: the phrase is missing the wake word, and the phrase does not match any sample utterances. The last phrase generates an error because it contains special characters not allowed in example phrases.

Note that you are not required to include your example phrases within the description for your skill. However, if you do choose to reference them in the description, word the phrase correctly. Include the wake word if your example is intended to show how the user invokes the skill.

For more about certification requirements for example phrases, see Functional Testing for a Custom Skill: Review and Test Example Phrases. The Example Phrase 101 section on the Distribution page also provides additional detail and examples for creating good example phrases.

Complete the privacy and compliance page

Answer the questions on the Privacy & Compliance page:

• Does this skill allow users to make purchases or spend real money?
• Does this Alexa skill collect users' personal information?
• Is this skill directed to or does it target children under the age of 13?
• Does this skill contain advertising?

Verify that your skill meets the Export Compliance requirements.

Also fill in any instructions for the testers in the Privacy & Compliance > Testing Instructions field. Be sure to include any information needed to test account linking, permissions, or any special hardware. Note that this information is not shown to users.

Define skill availability

You can make your skill available to others in three different ways. These options are available in the Availability section:

• Public: Publish the skill to the general public. Anyone with an Alexa device can enable and use your skill, provided the skill is available in their region and language.
• Beta Test: Make the skill available to a set of beta users that you can manage. For details about running a beta test, see Skills Beta Testing for Alexa Skills.

Opt in to automated locale distribution

To expand the distribution of your skill to more locales, you can opt in to automated locale distribution. If you opt in, when you submit your skill we assess whether your skill is eligible for distribution to all locales of a given language. For example, if you support English (US), automated locale distribution can enable your skill to support additional locales like English (UK) and English (India).

To opt in to automated locale distribution

1. In the Availability section, select the Opt in to automated locale distribution check box.
2. For each language, choose the locale to use as the source for distribution to other locales of the same language.

We support automated locale distribution for some, but not all, languages. The Unsupported languages section shows the languages that your skill supports where we currently do not support automated locale distribution.

For more details and a list of frequently asked questions about automated locale distribution, see Distribute Your Skill to Additional Locales of the Same Language.

Make sure to update your privacy policy and terms of use for your skill to meet the requirements for all countries and regions where your skill will be available.

To further control the distribution of your skill, you can specify the countries to make your skill available in. Otherwise, we will default to distributing the skill to all countries for the given language.

Select countries and regions for the skill

The Where would you like this skill to be available? option determines the countries and regions in which your customers can enable and use your custom skill. Your customers can access all skills that meet all of the following conditions:

• You distribute your skill in the customers' country or region.
• Your skill supports the language your customers selected for their Alexa-enabled devices.
• Your skill supports the primary language for the country or region in which the customers registered their devices. This support determines whether the skill is available in the skills store; for example:
  • A skill must have an English (US) or Spanish (US) version to be available to customers who registered their devices with the .com site.
  • A skill must have a German version to be available to customers who registered their devices with the .de site.

The distribution applies to the skill, not to individual languages. Amazon makes available all language versions of the skill in the specified countries and regions, barring content-policy restrictions.

Should your skill be available everywhere?

You must decide how broadly you want your custom skill available to customers and users. You do this when you choose the In all countries and regions where Amazon distributes skills selection or leave the selection blank. To make this determination, consider your two options:

• Choose the In all countries and regions where Amazon distributes skills selection if the following factors are important:

  • You want your skill available to customers worldwide who have configured their devices to use a language that your skill supports.
  • You want the largest possible customer and user base.
  • You think your skill can be useful to customers in other countries or regions. For example, a trivia game skill can be entertaining regardless of where the customer might live, especially if you can add additional languages.

• Don't choose the In all countries and regions where Amazon distributes skills selection if the following factors are important:

  • You want to limit the availability of your skill to a particular country or region.
  • You want your skill available just to customers in the specified country or region who have configured their devices to use a language that your skill supports.
  • You think your skill can be useful to customers only in particular geographic areas. For example, a skill that provides food delivery for major US cities, but not in Europe, wouldn’t be useful in countries or regions other than the United States.

For more about developing skills for multiple languages and countries, see Develop Skills in Multiple Languages.

Related topics

The Alexa developer console:

• Manage Skills in the Developer Console
• Create a Skill and Choose the Interaction Model
• Build Your Skill
• Test Your Skill
• Test and Submit Your Skill for Certification
• View Skill Usage Analytics
• View Your Payments and Earnings

Manage skills with the ASK CLI or Skill Management API:

• ASK CLI Command Reference
• Skill Manifest REST API Reference
• Skill Manifest Schemas

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Last updated: May 23, 2023