Who says you need to be a developer to develop skills for Amazon Alexa? Certainly not Amazon. On April 19, the firm launched Alexa Skill Blueprints, heralded as a new and easy way for anyone and everyone to create customized Alexa functions and responses. The feature is available now in the U. S.
Who says you need to be a developer to develop skills for Amazon Alexa? Certainly not Amazon. On Thursday, April 19, the company launched Alexa Skill Blueprints, heralded as a new and easy way for anyone and everyone to create customized Alexa functions and responses. Now, you can have your favorite smart home assistant answer questions like, “Alexa, who’s the best child in the world?” or have her keep track of family milestones with commands like, “Alexa, open Family Trivia.” Blueprints will allow Alexa users to create experiences that are unique to themselves and their families. And best of all, there’s no coding skill needed.
At launch, more than 20 Skill Blueprints will be made available, though Amazon notes that this number will continue to grow. The skills you choose to create will appear exclusively on the devices registered to your Amazon account, so you won’t have to worry about sharing private information with others.
“Alexa Skill Blueprints is an entirely new way for you to teach Alexa personalized skills just for you and your family,” said Steve Rabuchin, vice president of Amazon Alexa. “You don’t need experience building skills or coding to get started — my family created our own jokes skill in a matter of minutes, and it’s been a blast to interact with Alexa in a totally new and personal way.”
Using Alexa Skill Blueprints promises to be quite straightforward. Users only need to fill in the blank with certain answers, customizing responses to queries like “Alexa, what is the best city?” or “Alexa, who has the best sense of humor?” To get started, you’ll need to visit the Alexa Skill Blueprints website, where you’ll find the various Blueprints available across four categories: Fun & Games, At Home, Storyteller, and Learning & Knowledge. While each blueprint comes with predetermined content, you can customize them based on your own preferences.
Amazon is not limiting the number of skills you create, and you can continue to edit your skills as you use them more frequently. For the time being, it would appear that the new function is only available to customers in the U. S., but if it proves popular, it certainly seems likely that Amazon will share the love and bring Alexa Skill Blueprints to further markets.
