How Many Alexa Skill Reviews Can You Write

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What is the Alexa Skills Kit?

The Alexa Skills Kit (Enquire) is a software development framework that enables you to create content, called skills. Skills are similar apps for Alexa. With an interactive phonation interface, Alexa gives users a hands-complimentary way to interact with your skill. Users tin can apply their voice to perform everyday tasks like checking the news, listening to music, or playing a game. Users tin also use their vocalisation to command cloud-connected devices. For example, users tin can ask Alexa to turn on lights or alter the thermostat. Skills are available on Alexa-enabled devices, such as Amazon Echo and Amazon Burn down Idiot box, and on Alexa-enabled devices congenital by other manufacturers.

How does a user admission skill content?

A user accesses content in a skill past asking Alexa to invoke the skill. Alexa is always ready to invoke new skills. When a user says the wake word, "Alexa," and speaks to an Alexa-enabled device, the device streams the spoken communication to the Alexa service in the deject. Alexa recognizes the speech, determines what the user wants, and then sends a request to invoke the skill that can fulfill the asking. The Alexa service handles the speech recognition and natural language processing. Your skill runs every bit a service on a cloud platform. Alexa communicates with your skill by using a request-response machinery over the HTTPS interface. When a user invokes an Alexa skill, your skill receives a Postal service request containing a JSON body. The request body contains the parameters necessary for your skill to empathize the asking, perform its logic, and then generate a response.

The following diagram shows the voice-activated processing menses to invoke a skill with the Alexa service.

In addition to vocalism interaction, skills might include complementary visuals and touch interactions.

How does a user interact with a skill?

Every Alexa skill has a voice interaction model that defines the words and phrases users can say to make the skill do what they want. This model determines how users communicate with and control your skill. A voice user interface is similar to a graphical user interface in a traditional app. Instead of clicking buttons and selecting options from dialog boxes, users make their requests and reply to questions by voice. Often, the voice interaction is of a much shorter duration than interaction with an app. When a user asks questions and makes requests, Alexa employs the interaction model to interpret and interpret the words into a specific request to the identified skill.

The post-obit table compares a voice user interface skill with a graphical user interface app for making airline reservations.

Action	Vocalization user interface	Typical graphical user interface
Make a request	User says, "Alexa, I want to fly to Denver from Seattle."	User clicks on the app, and then selects the origination and destination airports. User scrolls through the listing of airports to find Seattle, and then scrolls to find Denver.
Collect more data from the user	Alexa replies, "When would you lot like to travel?" and so waits for a answer.	App displays a calendar, and then waits for the user to select a date.
Provide needed information	User replies, "Feb first." The skill makes the reservation and waits for confirmation.	User opens the calendar, selects Feb i, and so chooses OK. User clicks a push button to complete the asking, and so waits for confirmation.
Asking complete	Alexa replies, "Your reservation from Seattle to Denver on Mon, Feb first is all set."	App displays the result of the asking. The user closes the app.

Alexa supports two types of vocalization interaction models:

• Pre-built voice interaction model – In this model, ASK defines the set up of words users say to invoke a skill. For case, a user can say, "Alexa, turn on the low-cal." or "Alexa, turn off the telly." Y'all merely define your skill to have these predefined requests.
• Custom voice interaction model – The custom model gives yous the well-nigh flexibility, but is the most complex. You lot blueprint the unabridged voice interaction. With the custom model, you typically must define every way a user might communicate the same request to your skill. For example, "Alexa, plan a trip from Seattle to Denver," "Alexa, I want to go on a trip to Denver from Seattle," and "Alexa, programme a trip to Denver."

With either type of voice interaction model, you develop your skill to receive voice requests, procedure the asking, and respond appropriately. All skills use natural, phonation-first interactions that accommodate to the ways a user might express meaning through voice communication. For more details, encounter About Vocalization Interaction Models.

What types of skills can you lot develop?

The functionality you want to implement determines how your skill integrates with the Alexa service and what code you develop. Your skill idea might fit ane of the Alexa pre-built vox interaction models, or your idea might crave that you design your ain custom voice interaction model. You can develop game skills, music skills, smart home skills, and many other skill types. For a complete listing, meet Index of Skill Types.

Skill development workflow

Later y'all know what type of skill you desire to develop, familiarize yourself with Alexa skill evolution terminology. For details, see the Glossary.

Follow the Alexa skill development workflow to create your skill.

To develop whatever blazon of Alexa skill, you need an Amazon developer account. Y'all tin employ an existing Amazon business relationship to sign in, or you can create a new Amazon developer account.

Design your skill

Design your Alexa skills to be natural, user-axial, and accompanied by complementary visual design. You lot can design and exam your custom phonation interaction model before you develop your custom skill. For details nigh skill design, see Pattern Your Skill.

Build your skill

Build a skill that can have requests from the Alexa service and send back the appropriate responses based on the skill type and voice interaction model. For details about skill development for each model, come across Build Your Skill.

To build a skill past using one of the pre-congenital vocalization interaction models, you need the following resource:

• An Internet-accessible endpoint for hosting your cloud-based service. Provision your skill on Amazon Web Services (AWS) Lambda using your personal AWS resources. You demand an AWS account in addition to your Amazon developer account. About skill types that use the pre-built voice interaction model must use AWS Lambda.

• A evolution environment appropriate for the programming linguistic communication you plan to use to lawmaking your skill. Y'all can writer a Lambda part in Node.js, Java, Python, C#, Go, Cherry, or PowerShell.

To build a skill with a custom voice interaction model, you need:

• An Cyberspace-accessible endpoint for hosting your cloud-based service.

  Ask provides the Alexa-hosted option for custom skills to build, store, and host your skill and skill resources on AWS. Use this option to get started edifice skills apace.

  Another option is to provision your ain backend resources on AWS. You can host your skill as an AWS Lambda office past using your personal AWS resource.

  Or, you can build and host your custom skill as an HTTPS spider web service.

• A evolution surroundings appropriate for the programming linguistic communication you plan to employ to code your skill. You can writer a Lambda function in Node.js, Java, Python, C#, Become, Ruby, or PowerShell. Yous can writer a spider web service in any language advisable for web services. If you choose the Alexa-hosted skill option, you write your code in Node.js and Python.

Test your skill

During skill evolution, you can test your skill without a device by using the Alexa simulator in the developer panel or in Visual Studio Code. Earlier you submit your skill for certification, follow the recommendations in the testing guides for your skill type. Earlier you publish your skill, you have the option to make your skill available to a limited grouping of testers for beta testing. For details about testing, come across Test Your Skill.

Certify and publish your skill

Before yous can publish your skill in the Amazon Alexa Skills Shop, Amazon must certify the skill to brand certain it meets quality, security, and policy guidelines. For details about certifying and publishing your skill, run across Certify and Publish Your Skill.

Monitor your skill and metrics

After you publish your skill, you tin monitor your live skill for usage, run analytics, and view payments and earnings in the developer console. If you notice problems with your live skill, yous can rollback to a previous live version. For details, see Monitor Your Skill and Metrics.

What's in Inquire?

Ask includes APIs, tools, lawmaking samples, and technical documentation to create and manage skills throughout their lifecycle. These libraries, tools, and training materials can assistance you successfully develop and publish an Alexa skill. For more details, see Tools to Create and Manage Skills.

Development software and tools

ASK provides multiple options to support the development lifecycle, including the Alexa programmer console, the Alexa extension for Visual Studio Lawmaking, and the Enquire Command Line Interface (CLI). The ASK Software Development Kits (SDKs) include development tools and libraries that give you admission to Alexa features. These SDKs are bachelor in Node.js, Java, and Python. Alternatively, you tin can develop your skill in whatever linguistic communication and have requests from and send responses to the Alexa service.

Testing tools

ASK includes tools to exam your skill. The Alexa skill simulator, the Alexa app, and the Enquire Command Line Interface (CLI) are available to test your skill logic and voice interactions. Yous tin can likewise troubleshoot speech recognition and natural linguistic communication processing by using the evaluation tools included with the Alexa developer console.

Help with skill certification

Before yous tin can publish your skill for public use, your skill must pass certification testing. ASK provides guidelines and tools to certify and publish skills.

Skill monitoring tools

ASK includes tools to manage and monitor live skills, including the power to run analytics. If y'all implement in-skill purchasing, you can view and manage your payments and earnings.

Design techniques for custom skills

ASK includes an Alexa Pattern Guide for all-time practices to follow when you blueprint a custom vocalization interaction model, pattern the buy menses for in-skill purchasing, and add visuals to your skill. ASK also provides a library of congenital-in intents for common utterances.

Tutorials and code samples

Ask includes a complete set up of technical documentation, tutorials, and code samples to jump start the skill development process. For links to these resources, run into Build Your Skill/Additional Resources.

• If you want to integrate Alexa straight into your product, consider the Alexa Voice Service (AVS).
• If you lot want Alexa to control your device, merely don't desire to develop a skill, consider the Alexa Connect Kit (ACK).
• To deploy and manage Alexa-enabled devices at calibration, in properties such every bit hotels, apartments, and senior living, consider Alexa Smart Properties.

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Source: https://developer.amazon.com/en-US/docs/alexa/ask-overviews/what-is-the-alexa-skills-kit.html

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