Alexa Skills Kit > Get Deeper > Response APIs
Text-to-Speech
After Alexa sends a request to your skill, you can respond with a JSON structure that tells Alexa what to do. With it, you can send a string of text that Alexa will convert to speech and respond to your customers using text-to-speech (TTS).
SSML
You can use Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML) to add pauses, emotion, and other effects to your output speech.
Amazon Polly
You can use the default Alexa voice with your output speech or choose from more than 20 male and female voices with Amazon Polly to make your skill more engaging.
Pre-Recorded Audio
You can add pre-recorded audio to your Alexa skill by using audio from the ASK Sound Library or by providing your own audio through AudioPlayer.
APL for Audio (Beta)
You can use APL for audio to mix speech, sound effects, music, and other audio at runtime.
Alexa Presentation Language
Create visually rich Alexa skills for devices with screens and adapt them for different device types such as the Echo Show, Echo Spot, and Fire TV.
Alexa Web API for Games
Build for multimodal devices using HTML5 and web technologies like Canvas 2D, WebAudio, WebGL, JavaScript, and CSS.
Motion API
Build motion-capable skills with the smart motion extension in Alexa Presentation Language or Alexa Web API for Games.
Sensing API
Detect a primary user's position via the entity sensing extension in Alexa Presentation Language or Alexa Web API for Games.
Smart Home Skills
Control lights, switches, thermostats, cameras, door locks, kitchen appliances, and more per the customer's request.
Flash Briefing Skills
Read news headlines and other short content from your feed. Your feed contains either text content that Alexa reads to the customer or audio content that Alexa plays to the customer.
Video Skills
Search and play video content, control playback, navigate channels, and more.
| Date | Name | Summary | Locale Availability | Links | Release Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9/24/2020 | Motion & Sensing APIs | Build motion-capable Alexa skills for the all-new Echo Show 10 | All | GA | |
7/22/2020 |
APL for Audio |
Mix Alexa speech, sound effects, music, and other audio at runtime with APL for audio |
All |
Beta |
|
7/22/2020 |
Alexa Web API for Games |
Build visually impressive and animated Alexa games with existing web technologies such as HTML5 |
All |
Generally Available |
|
7/22/2020 |
APL 1.4 |
Add visuals to your skills with APL 1.4 |
All |
Generally Available |
|
7/22/2020 |
Alexa for Apps |
You can now enable customers to quickly get to key content and functionality in your app, just by asking Alexa. |
All |
Preview |
|
| 7/22/2020 | Visual Studio Code Plug-in for APL | Author and render APL locally with Alexa Skills Kit toolkit for Visual Studio Code | All | Generally Available | |
| 7/22/2020 | JSX for APL | Author APL documents using JSX and React along with SDKv2 and the latest SDK | All | Beta | |
7/22/2020 |
Multimodal Responses |
Easily build unified audio and visual responses in your skills |
All |
Preview |
