CODEWITHSUNDEEP
alexa-skills-kit
aniztar
aniztar

Reputation: 2913

Amazon Alexa: Having sessions of indefinite length

I am building an alexa skill. But I do not like to say the skill name like "Alexa ask [Skill Name] to [Do Action]" everytime I want to use it. I know sessions help in overcoming this to some extent. I found after googling that a session can be kept open for 8 seconds of inactivity. Here are my questions:

  1. Can we control the length of the session? I do not want the session to end after 8 seconds (or whatever time Amazon has set). I want to customize this time. Actually, it would be best if it closes after the user tells it to. Is there a way do it?

  2. Is there a way to make alexa invoke a skill basing on intent? For e.g. If I say "Alexa, book a cab for me " it should directly start Uber skill without me requiring to tell it explicitly to use Uber.

Upvotes: 2

Views: 515

Answers (1)

johndoe
johndoe

Reputation: 4387

  1. No, we cannot configure the session-out time. Its 8 seconds and if you have a reprompt you will get few more seconds. However, you can try some hacks like playing a silent audio for sometime in the background. But you will have to use the wake-up word "Alexa" in between to give a command.

  2. Yes, Name-free Interaction can be enabled using CanFulfillIntentRequest request type. This feature is currently available for English (U.S.) skills only and is offered as a public preview/beta and may improve or change.

More info on Name-free Interaction here

Upvotes: 4

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