In August, we started giving customers an early look at some of the Alexa skills built by developers like you. If you own an Alexa-enabled device, such as Amazon Echo, you have probably seen some of these skills become available within in your Alexa app. Today we are announcing automatic publishing for any of your Alexa skills that have passed certification. This update makes it quicker and easier for you to add new voice capabilities to Alexa that customers can begin to enable with their own Alexa devices.
If you're thinking writing a new skill for Alexa, now is the time to submit it for certification. Once certified, your skills will be available to customers on Alexa-enabled devices, like Amazon Echo and Amazon Fire TV, just in time for the holiday season. If this is your first time using the Alexa Skills Kit, we recommend you review the following materials in this order:
Ready to submit your skill? Check out the Alexa Skills Kit Submission checklist, and click here to learn more about submitting your skill for certification.
Don’t forget to check out the Alexa developer forums! There are now over 3,000 messages posted by developers like you sharing their latest creations, troubleshooting issues, and submitting feedback. We want to hear from you!
The Alexa community has been creating some great projects and resources. Here are a few we want to give a shout out to:
In the coming weeks I will be hosting a couple of Alexa webinars on getting started with the Alexa Skills Kit and an overview of Voice Design. You can sign up for the webinars here:
Voice Design 101
Register for 7 am PT/ 10 am ET on Thursday November 12th
Register for 1 pm PT/ 4 pm ET on Thursday November 12th
Introduction to the Alexa Skills Kit
Register for 7 am PT/ 10 am ET on Tuesday, November 17th
Register for 1 pm PT/ 4 pm ET on Tuesday, November 17th
Our Alexa sessions from AWS re:Invent 2015 are also now available online, free and on demand. These sessions include everything you need to get started as an Alexa developer, real world tips and advice, as well as first hand Alexa Skill creation experiences told directly from Capital One and BMW. Read my AWS re:Invent wrap up post for links to all the recordings and slides.
-Dave (@TheDaveDev)
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