Build your own personal Alexa skills to truly customize your experience with this virtual assistant. If you choose, you can even share or publish the Alexa skills you create, so other users might benefit from them, as well.
What Are Alexa Skills Blueprints?
Essentially, Alexa Skills Blueprints are templates you can customize to teach Alexa to perform a certain task. There are currently seven blueprint types from which to choose.
At Home: Includes blueprints such as Whose Turn, Task Tracker, and Chore Chart. Learning and Knowledge: Includes blueprints such as Quiz, Flashcards, and Facts. Fun and Games: Includes blueprints such as Game Show, Family Jokes, and Fortune Teller. Storyteller: Includes blueprints such as Fairy Tale, Sci-Fi, and Adventure. Greetings and Occasions: Includes blueprints such as Celebrate, Thinking of You, and Birthday Wishes. Communities and Organizations: Includes blueprints such as Flash Briefing, Blog, and Spiritual Talks. Business: Includes blueprints such as Business Q&A and Onboard Guide.
There are dozens of blueprints across these categories and potentially more to come. No coding or special skills are required to create a skill using the templates.
By default, any skills you create using blueprints are only available to the Echo devices associated with your account. However, you can make them public if you choose (more on that below).
How to Create an Alexa Skill
After logging in to the Alexa Skill Blueprint website, you can browse templates, read the details and create a skill-based on the blueprint that best suits your needs.
To launch the skill, simply say, “Alexa, open (your skill name).”
You can access the skill at any time to check on or edit your skill by selecting Skills You’ve Made at the top of the home screen on the Alexa Skill Blueprints page.
Make a Skill Available to Others
If you would like to make your skill available for others to use, you can share it via email and social media, or publish it to the Alexa Skills Store.
Share a Skill
Share the skill with people you know.
Select Skills You’ve Made at the top of the home screen on the Alexa Skill Blueprints page. Select Details next to the skill you want to share. Select Share with Others. Answer Yes or No on the prompt window asking if the skill is intended for kids under 13. Select how you want to share the skill. Copy the link to share the skill or post it on social media.
Publish a Skill
When you publish a skill, you make it available to all Alexa users.
Select Skills You’ve Made at the top of the home screen on the Alexa Skill Blueprints page. Select Details next to the skill you want to publish. Select Publish to Skills Store. If you previously shared a skill, you must revoke sharing before you can publish it. In Step 1: Name and Test, enter the Opening phrase. That’s the phrase users will say to initiate the skill. You may have already entered this information when you created the skill, but this is your chance to change it if you like. Enter the Alexa Skills Store name. This is how customers will find skills you have created and published in the Alexa Skills Store. The name of your Skills Store can be different from the name of your skill. Then enter the Create by name you would like to appear as the owner of the skill and click Next: Details. In Step 2: Details elect the Category for your skill as well as Keywords that will help people find it. Next, click Create in the Skill icon section to make a skill icon that will display in the Alexa Skills Store. Use the icon creator to build an icon that is representative of the Alexa Skill you have created. You can choose the image, color, fill, border, shadow, and size of the icon you’re creating. When you’ve finished creating the icon, click Save. Finally, add both a Short description of the skill and a Detailed description of the skill. Then, select Next: Policy. In Step 3: Policy Details, review the policy details and answer the questions about age and advertising. If you have a Terms of use URL enter it in the field provided, and then select Next: Review. In Step 4: Review and Submit, review the information you entered during the first three steps of the process, and then click Publish To Store. You will receive a notification email when your skill has been approved. You can delete a skill or revoke sharing at any time by selecting the appropriate option on the details page for that skill.
