Latest Tips on Using the Documentation
Updated July 2019
Welcome to the Alexa Skills Kit (ASK) technical documentation. The technical documentation contains overviews, API reference, and focused code examples. This page provides the latest guidance to help you get the most out of the documentation.
- New and updated documentation for Alexa Presentation Language (APL)
- New documentation for sound library
- Updated documentation for request handling
- Code examples for you to copy
- Utterances in multiple languages
- Quick reference pages to find relevant resources
- Feedback button
- Documentation for new features
- Other Alexa Skills Kit resources
New and updated documentation for Alexa Presentation Language (APL)
Use Alexa Presentation Language (APL) to create visual experiences for your Alexa skill. See the following new and updated documentation for the latest information about APL.
- Build Responsive APL Documents – New documentation about best practices for building responsive APL documents, so your skill's visuals work on different sized devices.
- APL Document (reference) – Reorganized reference documentation to make information easier to find.
- Changes Introduced in APL Version 1.1 – Read about the new features and capabilities introduced in APL 1.1, the latest version of APL.
New documentation for sound library
The documentation page for the Alexa Skills Kit Sound Library now lists all of the available sounds on a single page. The sound library now contains more than 3,000 sounds, and you can use the new documentation page to search, filter, and listen to them. You can also copy the Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML) code to use a sound in your skill.
Updated documentation for request handling
The topics that cover basic request handling and session management have been substantially revised. The docs now include code samples for use with the Node, Java, and Python SDKs. See the updated docs here:
Code examples for you to copy
In the documentation, look for short, focused code examples that demonstrate features using the Alexa Skills Kit SDKs. The code examples focus on specific features that you can incorporate into your own code with minimal modification. The following is a code example from Control Interruption of Alexa's Speech.
If you can't find a code example for the feature that you want to add to your skill, please let us know using the feedback button.
Utterances in multiple languages
When the documentation provides an example of a user utterance, you can often find a language tab for each supported language. The following is an example from Choose the Invocation Name for a Custom Skill.
Quick reference pages to find relevant resources
The quick reference pages provide consolidated lists of various resources – concepts, procedures, API reference, sample code, blog posts, videos, podcasts, webinars, Twitch streams – related to a specific topic, such as selling products in your skill.
Feedback button
You can help us improve our documentation! Provide feedback by using the feedback button that appears on every page.
Documentation for new features
You can find links to the technical documentation for the latest Alexa Skills Kit features at Release Update.
Other Alexa Skills Kit resources
The technical documentation focuses on the nuts and bolts of the Alexa Skills Kit, particularly API reference. The following additional Alexa Skills Kit resources are available to you, outside of the documentation.
- Alexa blog – Feature announcements and tutorials.
- Alexa Design Guide – Best practices for building Alexa-enabled experiences.
- Alexa GitHub repository – Tutorials and end-to-end samples that you can download. Many of the tutorials are within the repository of the corresponding Alexa Skills Kit SDK.
- Alexa Twitch channel – Live streams about building skills for Alexa.
- Alexa Developers YouTube channel – Videos about building skills for Alexa.
