Define Skill Store Details and Availability


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.

Distribution page
Distribution page

Define skill store metadata

The metadata used in the skill store is language-specific. You need to fill in these fields for each language your skill supports. The data entered here is displayed on the skill detail page in the skill store.

Field Description Applies to Models

Public Name

The name of the skill, displayed at the top of the detail card.

All

One Sentence Description

A short description of the skill.

All

Detailed Description

A full description explaining the skill's core functionality and any prerequisites to using it (such as additional hardware, software, or accounts). This description is displayed in the Alexa app when users browse for skills.

All

What's new?

A description of the changes in this updated version of your skill. You can leave this blank for your initial skill version. Use this field to highlight new features or resolved issues. When you provide "what's new" text, your skill is shown in the Recently Updated section of the Alexa app and users can see your what's new information in the skill detail page.

If you leave this field blank, your skill is not shown in the Recently Updated section.

All

Example Phrases

Three example phrases that illustrate how users can invoke your skill. View the Example Phrase 101 section for detailed help with creating your example phrases.

For the custom model, these phrases must come directly from your sample utterances. For pre-built models, see the Example Phrase 101 section for valid utterances.

  • Custom
  • Smart Home
  • Video

Small Skill Icon / Large Skill Icon

An icon representing the skill. Provide both large and small versions.

  • Small Icon: 108 X 108 PNG with transparency. Recommended 16px padding on all sides.
  • Large Icon: 512 X 512 PNG with transparency. Recommended 75px padding on all sides.

You can use the Alexa Skill Icon Builder to create your skill icon to these specifications. Within Icon Builder, click Download to save a zip file containing png files in both the small and large sizes. Then upload these .png files to your skill.

Note that you cannot edit an existing icon in Icon Builder. You also cannot save the icon directly from Icon Builder to your skill – instead, download the files from Icon Builder and upload to your skill as noted above.

All

Mobile App Icon

An icon representing the skill. This version is displayed in the Alexa App on mobile devices for video skills.

The icon should be 55 x 55 pixels.

Video

Category

The category that best describes your skill. This helps customers find your skill quickly and easily.

All

Keywords

Simple search words that relate to or describe this skill. This helps customers find the skill quickly and easily. Use spaces or commas between each search term.

All

Privacy Policy URL

The URL for your privacy policy. This is required for skills that use account linking or collect user information.

All

Terms of Use URL

The URL for your terms of use policy.

All

For Hindi skills, use Devanagari script for Hindi words and Latin script for English words. This provides a consistent experience when your skill is displayed in the skills store.

Field Description Applies to Models

Public Name

The name of the skill, displayed at the top of the detail card.

Example: मज़ेदार jokes, आज का मौसम

All

One Sentence Description

A short description of the skill.

Example: यह skill आपको आज का सुविचार बताएगा

All

Detailed Description

A full description explaining the skill's core functionality and any prerequisites to using it (such as additional hardware, software, or accounts). This description is displayed in the Alexa app when users browse for skills.

Example: क्या आप bollywood के ताज़ा ख़बरें सुनना पसंद करेंगे …….

All

What's new?

A description of the changes in this updated version of your skill. You can leave this blank for your initial skill version. Use this field to highlight new features or resolved issues. When you provide "what's new" text, your skill is shown in the Recently Updated section of the Alexa app and users can see your what's new information in the skill detail page.

If you leave this field blank, your skill is not shown in the Recently Updated section.

Example: इस नए update में हमने 400 प्रकार के नए recipes add किया हैं.

All

Example Phrases

Three example phrases that illustrate how users can invoke your skill. View the Example Phrase 101 section for detailed help with creating your example phrases.

For the custom model, these phrases must come directly from your sample utterances. For pre-built models, see the Example Phrase 101 section for valid utterances.

  • Custom
  • Smart Home
  • Video

Small Skill Icon / Large Skill Icon

An icon representing the skill. Provide both large and small versions.

  • Small Icon: 108 X 108 PNG with transparency. Recommended 16px padding on all sides.
  • Large Icon: 512 X 512 PNG with transparency. Recommended 75px padding on all sides.

You can use the Alexa Skill Icon Builder to create your skill icon to these specifications. Within Icon Builder, click Download to save a zip file containing png files in both the small and large sizes. Then upload these .png files to your skill.

Note that you cannot edit an existing icon in Icon Builder. You also cannot save the icon directly from Icon Builder to your skill – instead, download the files from Icon Builder and upload to your skill as noted above.

All

Mobile App Icon

An icon representing the skill. This version is displayed in the Alexa App on mobile devices for video skills.

The icon should be 55 x 55 pixels.

Video

Category

The category that best describes your skill. This helps customers find your skill quickly and easily.

All

Keywords

Use a mix of Latin and Devanagari script for simple search words that relate to or describe this skill. This helps customers find the skill quickly and easily. Use spaces or commas between each search term.

Example: food, रसोई, recipes, खान पान, मौसम

All

Privacy Policy URL

The URL for your privacy policy. This is required for skills that use account linking or collect user information.

All

Terms of Use URL

The URL for your terms of use policy.

All

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 of the detail card for a custom skill in the Alexa app
Example of the detail card for a custom skill in the Alexa app
List of skills in the Alexa app
List of skills in the Alexa app

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.

Errors and warnings for example phrases
Errors and warnings for 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.

The Alexa developer console:

Manage skills with the ASK CLI or Skill Management API:


Last updated: May 23, 2023