hello example
These instructions will get you up and running with a simple development-only
Alexa Skill that runs on Heroku. Configuring the service for production is
beyond the scope of this document.
prerequisites
- A working Go 1.5+ installation and configured
GOPATH
(beyond the scope of
this document)
- A Heroku account and the Heroku Toolbelt (https://toolbelt.heroku.com)
godep
(go get github.com/tools/godep
)
set up the web service
This example service is meant to be deployed to Heroku. To do so:
# Clone this repository:
git clone git@github.com:codykrieger/jeeves.git
mkdir ask-example
# NOTE: The directory must be named ask-example, or you'll have to change the
# 'web' entry in the Procfile to match the name of the directory.
cp jeeves/examples/hello/* ask-example
cd ask-example
# Vendor the example app's dependencies:
godep save
# Initialize a new git repository and commit everything:
git init
git add -A
git commit -m "Initial commit."
# Create a new Heroku app:
heroku create
Take note of the URL that Heroku assigns to your app. You'll need it in a
moment.
create a new skill
To configure your Echo to use this service, you need to:
- Register your Echo for development
- Register a new Alexa Skill and fill out a handful of required fields
See the Testing an Alexa Skill documentation for instructions on how
to do those things.
Configure the following fields like so:
- Endpoint: Select the
HTTPS
endpoint type, and enter your Heroku app's
URL, suffixed with /skills/hello
- Intent Schema: Copy the contents of
intent-schema.json
into the text
field
- Sample Utterances: Copy the contents of
sample-utterances.txt
into the
text field
- SSL Certificate: Select the
My development endpoint is a subdomain of a domain that has a wildcard certificate from a certificate authority
option
The rest of the fields should be relatively self-explanatory. Once you've filled
out all of the requisite fields, enable your skill for testing under the Test
configuration tab (if it isn't already enabled).
Make note of the Application ID assigned to your skill (it should look something
like amzn1.echo-sdk-ams.app.000000-d0ed-0000-ad00-000000d00ebe
, and is
displayed on the Skill Information configuration tab). You'll need it in a
moment.
set your application id and deploy the app
Replace YOUR_APPLICATION_ID_HERE
with your Alexa Skill's assigned Application
ID, and run these commands to finish deploying the app:
heroku config:set ASK_APP_ID="YOUR_APPLICATION_ID_HERE"
git push heroku
test your new skill
At this point, your skill should be ready for testing!
Using the Invocation Name selected when registering your skill with Amazon, you
can say things like:
Alexa, launch [INVOCATION NAME].
And:
Alexa, ask [INVOCATION NAME] to say hello.
next steps
To add more useful functionality to your service, have a look at the
Alexa Skills Kit documentation.