Amazon Blueprints Allow Users To Share Customized Alexa Skills

Amazon will now allow users who create their own personalized skill through Alexa Skill Blueprints to share it with others.

Amazon launched Alexa Blueprints in April, providing a new way for users to create their own skills for the virtual assistant. Customers can use a set of templates to make personalized skills in minutes by simply filling in the blanks. For example, a user can program Alexa to answer the question “who is the best mom in the world?” or provide instructions for a babysitter.

“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, Amazon Alexa in the press release at the time. “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.”

Now, according to TechCrunch, users can share their skills with others through text messages, email, messaging apps like WhatsApp, or social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

Amazon suggests the new sharing feature could come in handy for study groups, for example, who can build a custom “flashcards” skill to prepare for an upcoming exam, or shared among family members for a birthday.

The categories for which customers can make personalized skills include Q&As; houseguest, babysitter and pet sitter information; family jokes; trivia; compliments and burns; adventure, fairy tale and Sci-Fi story creation; and learning and knowledge.

When a user shares a skill, it creates a link to a skill that can be pasted into a text message, email, social media or anywhere else. When receivers click the link, they are taken to the Alexa Blueprints site, where they can enable the skill for their own use.