Create a Custom Skill on the Amazon Echo Emily Lam, DeveloperWeek 2/13/2017

About Me Emily Lam UCLA: Linguistics and specialization in Computing Currently: Frontend developer at Lieberman Software Skills published: 4 Hackathons won using Alexa: 3 Money 20/20 WorldPay 2nd Mojio Connected Car 1st GA + IBM Watson Workspace Twitter: @hongily https://liebsoft.com

Agenda 1. Walk you through how to create a basic trivia skill 2. Discuss In-depth Topics Built-in and Custom slots Account linking SSML Tags

Sign into https://developer.amazon.com/ This is the same account that you use to sign into www.amazon.com. Don’t have an Amazon account? You can create one after you click “Sign In”.

https://developer.amazon.com/ Click on Alexa

Click on Get Started > under the Alexa Skills Kit https://developer.amazon.com/ Click on Get Started > under the Alexa Skills Kit

Click on “Add a New Skill” https://developer.amazon.com/ Click on “Add a New Skill”

https://developer.amazon.com/

Skills Information https://developer.amazon.com/ Skill Type Language Custom Interaction Model: Gives you the most control over the user’s experience and is the most flexible kind of skill you can build. Smart Home Skill API: Great for building a skill with smart home devices Flash Briefing Skill API: Easy for creating flash briefings/RSS feed Language You can choose English (U.S.), English (U.K.), or German

Skills Information https://developer.amazon.com/ Name Invocation Name Appears as the title in the Alexa app. Ex. Morning Dose App Name Must be between 2-50 characters. Invocation Name The name you use to tell Alexa to open the skill. Ex. Morning Dose. See Invocation Guidelines. Global Fields Audio Player for music related skills ie. Spotify

Interaction Model https://developer.amazon.com/ Intent Schema: A JSON structure which declares the set of intents your service can accept and process.

Interaction Model https://developer.amazon.com/ Intent Schema: A JSON structure which declares the set of intents your service can accept and process. https://github.com/alexa/skill-sample-nodejs- trivia/tree/master/speechAssets

Interaction Model https://developer.amazon.com/ Custom Slots: Custom slot types to be referenced by the Intent Schema and Sample Utterances Sample Utterances: What you say to Alexa to trigger an intent

Configuration https://developer.amazon.com/ Select AWS Lambda ARN (Amazon Resource Name) and then North America.

Go to https://aws.amazon.com https://aws.amazon.com/ Go to https://aws.amazon.com Sign in to the Console

Sign In or Create an AWS Account https://aws.amazon.com/ Sign In or Create an AWS Account

https://aws.amazon.com/ Select US East (N. Virginia) for US skills and EU (Ireland) for UK/DE skills These are the only two regions currently supported for Alexa skill development on AWS Lambda

Type in Lambda and select the Lambda option https://aws.amazon.com/ Type in Lambda and select the Lambda option

Select Create a Lambda function https://aws.amazon.com/ Select Create a Lambda function

https://aws.amazon.com/ Type Alexa in the filter and then select alexa-skill-kit-sdk-triviaskill

Click on the gray square https://aws.amazon.com/ Click on the gray square

Select Alexa Skills Kit and then Next https://aws.amazon.com/ Select Alexa Skills Kit and then Next

Type in a function name https://aws.amazon.com/ Function name must contain only letters, numbers, hyphens, or underscores.

Click on the dropdown menu and select Create a custom role https://aws.amazon.com Click on the dropdown menu and select Create a custom role

https://aws.amazon.com Click on “Allow”

https://aws.amazon.com Click on “Next”

Click on “Create function” https://aws.amazon.com Click on “Create function”

Click on “Test” and look at the execution result https://aws.amazon.com Click on “Test” and look at the execution result

Click on “Actions and then “Export function” https://aws.amazon.com Click on “Actions and then “Export function”

Click on “Download deployment package” https://aws.amazon.com Click on “Download deployment package”

Edit index.js and question.js https://aws.amazon.com Edit index.js and question.js

Select the two files + node_modules and compress the 3 items. https://aws.amazon.com Select the two files + node_modules and compress the 3 items.

https://aws.amazon.com Upload Archive.zip

https://aws.amazon.com Click Save and test

https://aws.amazon.com Copy the ARN

https://developer.amazon.com Paste the ARN in your skill at https://developer.amazon.com and the select “Next”

https://developer.amazon.com Select a Category and Subcategory if necessary Then, write in testing instructions.

Write a short description (160 character max.) about the skill https://developer.amazon.com Write a short description (160 character max.) about the skill

Write a full description that will appear in the skill’s detail card https://developer.amazon.com Write a full description that will appear in the skill’s detail card

https://developer.amazon.com Write up to three example phrases that appear as aids for users when they see your skill’s detail card.

Answer privacy related questions and export compliance https://developer.amazon.com Answer privacy related questions and export compliance

Click “Submit for Certification” and you are done! https://developer.amazon.com Click “Submit for Certification” and you are done!

In-depth Topics Built-in and Custom slots Account linking SSML Tags

Built-in Slots and Custom Slots Slots are arguments for intents. A built-in slot type such as AMAZON.NUMBER converts numeric words (“five”) into digits (such as “5”). You can view all the built-in slots at: https://developer.amazon.com/public/solutions/alexa/alexa-skills- kit/docs/built-in-intent-ref/slot-type-reference A custom slot type is used for items that are not covered by Amazon’s built-in set of types.

Built-in Slots and Custom Slots "intents": [ { "intent": "ReportIntent", "slots": [ "name": "Incident", "type": "LIST_OF_INCIDENTS" }] } You define the slot type in the Intent Schema.

Custom Slots You create a slot type (ie LIST_OF_INCIDENTS) and then you write the values.

Custom Slots You reference the intent and slot name in the Sample Utterances

Custom Slots You can use the value of the custom slot in your lambda code.

Account linking You can link an external account to the Alexa.

Account linking You create an application and link it to Alexa through the Alexa app.

Account linking The client id and client secret are retrieved from the external account

Account linking

Account linking Token: 59010bf8-4a29-4f59-8bd7-3a59ac383781 Redirects back to https://pitangui.amazon.com/api/skill/link/M1PJIQE7PVNV1

Account linking Token: 59010bf8-4a29-4f59-8bd7-3a59ac383781 Redirects back to https://pitangui.amazon.com/api/skill/link/M1PJIQE7PVNV1

Account linking A privacy policy is required for account linking. You also have to disclose if you are collect users' personal information (ie email, password, etc)

SSML Tags Speech Synthesis Markup Language provides additional control over how Alexa generates the speech text in your response. Examples: <say-as interpret-as="cardinal">12345</say-as> sounds like twelve thousand three hundred forty five <say-as interpret-as=”ordinal">12345</say-as> sounds like twelve thousand three hundred forty fifth <say-as interpret-as="spell-out">12345</say-as> sounds like one two three four five Reference: https://developer.amazon.com/public/solutions/alexa/alexa-skills-kit/docs/speech-synthesis-markup-language-ssml-reference#supported-ssml-tags

SSML Tags Speech Synthesis Markup Language provides additional control over how Alexa generates the speech text in your response. Examples: <say-as interpret-as="cardinal">12345</say-as> sounds like twelve thousand three hundred forty five <say-as interpret-as=”ordinal">12345</say-as> sounds like twelve thousand three hundred forty fifth <say-as interpret-as="spell-out">12345</say-as> sounds like one two three four five Reference: https://developer.amazon.com/public/solutions/alexa/alexa-skills-kit/docs/speech-synthesis-markup-language-ssml-reference#supported-ssml-tags

Thank you! Questions? Tweet me @hongily Email me at emily@emilytlam.com