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The Amazon Alexa Skills Kit: How to Link with an External App Account / UserId

In the world of IoT, Amazon’s Alexa has paved a new era of voice-based applications. With Alexa Skills Kit (ASK), developers can enhance Alexa’s capabilities by creating custom skills. This blog post aims to guide you on how to link your Alexa Skill with an external app account or UserId.
By Saturn Cloud | | Miscellaneous

The Amazon Alexa Skills Kit: How to Link with an External App Account / UserId

In the world of IoT, Amazon’s Alexa has paved a new era of voice-based applications. With Alexa Skills Kit (ASK), developers can enhance Alexa’s capabilities by creating custom skills. This blog post aims to guide you on how to link your Alexa Skill with an external app account or UserId.

What is Account Linking in ASK?

Account linking in ASK is a process that enables your Alexa skill to connect with user-specific information from a different system. This process is crucial when you need to provide personalized content or actions based on a user’s account data from an external service.

Let’s dive into the steps to link your external app account or UserId with Alexa Skills.

1. Enable Account Linking in Alexa Developer Console

The first step is to enable account linking in your skill settings in the Alexa Developer Console.

- Navigate to the Amazon Developer Console.
- Choose your Alexa skill.
- Click on "Build" in the top menu.
- Click on "Account Linking" in the left menu.
- Turn on the "Do you allow users to create an account or link to an existing account with you?" option.

2. Configure Authorization Settings

The next step involves configuring the authorization settings for your external application.

- Enter the "Authorization URI" of your external service.
- Select the "Auth Code Grant" type for "Authorization Grant".
- Enter the "Access Token URI" of your external service.
- Fill in the "Client Id" and "Client Secret" of your external service.
- Enter the "Client Authentication Scheme" as per your external service.

3. Define Scopes

Scopes are permissions that your skill needs from the user’s external account.

- Click on "Add Scope".
- Enter the scope details as defined in your external service.

4. Configure Redirect URLs

Amazon provides a list of Redirect URLs. These URLs need to be added to your external application to accept requests from Amazon.

- Copy the "Redirect URLs" provided by Amazon.
- Paste them in your external application's OAuth settings.

5. Test Account Linking

The final step involves testing the account linking feature.

- Navigate to "Test" in the top menu of the Alexa Developer Console.
- Enable testing for your skill.
- Open the Alexa app on your device.
- Enable your skill and follow the prompts to link your external account.

Conclusion

Linking external app accounts with Amazon Alexa Skills can unlock a world of personalized experiences for your users. With this step-by-step guide, you should now be able to connect your Alexa Skill with an external app account or UserId.

Remember to always respect the privacy and data security of your users. Only ask for permissions that are necessary for your skill, and ensure that all data transfers are secure.

In the next blog post, we will delve deeper into how to manage these linked accounts and provide personalized responses based on user data. Stay tuned!

Keywords: Amazon Alexa Skills Kit, Account Linking, Alexa Developer Console, OAuth, External App Account, UserId, Personalized Experiences, Data Security, Permissions.

Disclaimer: This article is based on the Alexa Skills Kit Developer Console as of July 2023. For updates or changes after this date, please refer to official Amazon Alexa documentation.

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