Alexa is one of the most comprehensive smart assistants you’ll find in 2023, making it easy to play your favorite music, catch up on the local news, or check the weather forecast. But beyond all the built-in functionality, did you know that you can create your own Alexa skills? In fact, you can get started today without any prior knowledge of coding.
Alexa skills can be almost anything. From simple call and answer prompts to elaborate trivia games, the only real limit is your imagination. If you’re interested in getting started, here’s what you need to know about creating Alexa skills.
Note: Are you a developer interested in creating Alexa skills that relate to with your product? or service? See the Amazon developer guide for building skills.
Login to Blueprints
Choose your template
Start by selecting a plan. Think of Alexa Blueprints as a collection of templates. There are dozens of options in different categories, such as Greetings & Occasions, Organizations & Business, Fun & Games, Learning & Knowledge, At Home, and Storytelling.
You can do things like create a trivia game, make a story fairy tales, create an exercise routine, make a family chore chart, create a greeting card, or customize Alexa’s responses to your questions. Browse the Featured Blueprints to get an idea of what’s available. Then scroll down and find Blueprints divided into categories.
Read the Blueprint details
After you find an Alexa Blueprint template you like, click on it. Doing so opens a description of the blueprint, including the steps you’ll follow to create the ability. Also notice the Play button and the progress bar. This allows you to hear a sample of a skill created with that blueprint, which can help you get inspired before diving into the rest of the process and give you some useful ideas.
Confirm that you want to start the Blueprinting process by by clicking the Do It Yourself link near the top of the plan description. For greeting cards, click Choose a theme.
Fill in the Blueprint Fields
The next screen you see after clicking Make Your Own (or Pick a Theme) features numerous form fields. All of them already have content filled in, but you can delete any of them and fill in other details to customize the content.
Use the blue Next button in the top right corner to move to the next step after filling in the fields or leave them as they are.
Name your ability
Choosing a name for your ability is one of the last steps to take. Choosing one might seem like a no-brainer, but you have to keep Alexa’s limitations in mind.
For example, Amazon’s assistant still falls short when it comes to recognizing first and last names. So if you use blueprints to make a family trivia game, it’s better to call it something like “The Fun Family Quiz” instead of “The Alexander Family Quiz”. Alexa makes you say certain words (like “our”), so keep that in mind when choosing a name as well.
If you notice that Alexa can’t understand you when you ask her to use the skill, go back and pick a name. name that is a little simpler. You can do this by selecting Skills You’ve Made at the top of the Alexa Blueprints home page. Click a skill to select it, then the Edit button associated with it.
Watch for the skill’s preparation notification message
It only takes a few minutes until your new skill is ready. Alexa skill is ready to go. Look for the notification message that the skill is available and ready to use. Once you are, you can use the skill on any Alexa-enabled device you own that is linked to your Amazon account.
You can also go to the Skills link you created at the top of the screen. . Lists all skills created with blueprints. If it reviews the details and it tells you that your skill is ready to use and edit, you can go ahead and start the skill.
Launch the skill
You can start interacting with the skill by using the voice command “Alexa, open [skill name]”. After activating the ability, you can make sure that it works as expected.If not, you can make changes in the Skills You Created section above.
Share or Publish Your Skill
Once you’ve tested your skill and know it works the right way, way you want, you can share it with friends or family. You can share your skill via email, Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest, or you can get a link to share. To do this, go to Skills you’ve created > Details > Share with others.
You can even post your skill to the Alexa Skill Store for Alexa users in the US to search for, use it and review it. . People can give your skill a rating of up to 5 stars, just like any other skill in the store.
To publish your skill, it will need to go through a review process. Here’s how to post your Alexa skill.
- Go to Skills you’ve created and click the skill you want to post.
- Click Post to the skill store (if you’ve shared your skill, you’ll need to revoke the sharing).
- Enter your Alexa Skill Store name, which is how customers will find you in the Alexa Skill Store . The name of your skill store can be different from the name of your skill and its opening phrase. You will also need to fill in the Created By field, indicating your name or company name.
- Go to the next page and choose which category your skill fits into, choose relevant keywords that will help people find your skill, then add a short description and a detailed description of your skill.
- On the next page, fill in the policy details about your skill and your target audience.
- In the next page, review the information, and submit your skill for review and approval by Amazon.
- Wait for an email notification letting you know if your skill has been approved or rejected.
Removing an Ability
There may come a time when you create some abilities that are not as useful or entertaining as you suspect. The Skills you’ve created section allows you to edit your skill. As an alternative option, you can delete a skill to remove it from your account. You can also remove previously published skills from the Alexa Skills Store by clicking Remove from Store in the menu options.
With its awesome Blueprints region, Amazon makes it simple enough for even Tech-challenged users create Alexa Skills and post their own Alexa Skill concepts. As a result, you can personalize your smart speaker device with the kind of content that’s important to you and everyone else in your home. Plus, you can easily share your creations with the rest of the world.
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