alexa-assistant

Implementation of the Google Assistant API for Alexa

Release 2.1

THIS SKILL IS FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY AND IS NOT ENDORSED BY GOOGLE OR AMAZON. WHILST THIS SKILL USES AN OFFICIAL GOOGLE API, IT WILL NEVER PASS AMAZON CERTIFICATION DUE TO THE WAY THE RESPONSES ARE HOSTED.

What's New in this release

1. Supports latest Google Assistant API
2. No longer uses Amazon Polly so should be completely free to use within the Free AWS Tier
3. Supports languages other than US English via configuration in Google Assistant mobile app
4. Supports localisation, again via Google Assistant mobile app
5. Added support for devices with screen like the Show and Spot - this will display text responses when available
6. Lambda function is now deployed via a hosted cloudformation config. This means you don't need to download the skill code from github and most of the settings are automatically configured. It should make upgrading the skill easier in the future

Why do I need a credit card?

The skill is hosted on AWS which is an Amazon service. The usage of this skill is free for many thousands of requests however Amazon still require a credit card incase you start using their services beyond the free limits. Your credit card details stay with Amazon - neither I nor any other developers can access them.

There is no way around this. If you don't want to give your credit card details to Amazon then you cannot install and run this skill - sorry

Sites reproducing installation instructions

The skill software in this GitHub project is provided as open source so you are welcome to distribute and modify as per the GNU General Public License v3.0

I do however have to pay the costs of hosting the cloudformation templates and zip files on AWS S3. As such the instructions for deploying this skill and the CloudFormation template linked within are now held in a seperate GitHub project which is licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License

If you wish to reproduce the installation instructions hosted on your own website (I really wish you wouldn't as it makes my life very difficult to support and update the skill) then you may do so and link to my Cloudformation template (and consequently the zips on my S3 buckets) provided that there is no monetisation on the page e.g. adverts. If you do wish to have monetisation then you will need to create your own instructions and host your own Cloudformation template and associated zip files.

I AM VERY SERIOUS ABOUT THIS POINT - I WILL BE CHECKING FREQUENTLY AND WILL CHANGE OR REMOVE THE CLOUDFORMATION TEMPLATE URL IF PEOPLE ARE ABUSING IT

NOTE: I have granted Paul Hibbert the rights to link to the Cloudformation for the purposes of his installation videos

Upgrading from version 1 of the skill

If you already have the original version of the skill which was installed manuallly WITHOUT using Cloudformation then please read the upgrade instructions here:-

Upgrade Instructions

New Installation via CloudFormation

This is the easiest method as it creates the lambda function automatically for you.

NOTE - PLEASE ONLY USE THE CLOUDFORMATION TEMPLATE URL PROVIDED IN THE INSTRUCTIONS ON THIS GITHUB SITE OR PAUL HIBBERTS VIDEO. I CANNOT GUARANTEE THE SAFETY OF URLS GIVEN ON OTHER SITES

If you have not installed the skill before then follow the instructions here:-

Installation Instructions

Otherwise watch Paul Hibberts excellent installation video here:-

Installation video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saN_N30kPc4

IT DOESN'T WORK / PROBLEM SOLVING

BEFORE RAISING A QUESTION PLEASE CHECK THE PROBLEM SOLVING PAGE HERE

I get asked the same questions many times a day and most of them due are missing steps in the instructions

CREDITS

Paul Hibbert for producing the installation video.

Richard Vowles for his Typescript based Google Assistant client which gave me some pointers on getting the API running in pure node.js https://github.com/rvowles/node-assistant

John JDuo, Pete Bready and Mark Riley for proof reading previous installation instructions and testing beta versions.

@groky and @prestomation for for their pointers in moving to a CloudFormation deployment of the skills Lambda code

CAN I BUY YOU A BEER?

Thanks but I'm not in it for the money nor do I drink beer, but if you do find this skill usefull then please consider making a small donation to Pancreatic Cancer UK who have helped my family recently:-

https://www.pancreaticcancer.org.uk/donate/single-donation/

If you are in the US then feel free to donate to the National Pancreatice Cancer Foundation:-

http://www.npcf.us/donate/

If you live elsewhere in the world then please donate a local cancer charity