Alexa.Response Interface 3

When you handle an Alexa directive successfully, respond with a response event. The most generic response event is Alexa.Response. Some directives have more specific response events. For example, the Alexa.ReportState directive requires an Alexa.StateReport response, but the Alexa.PowerController directives use Alexa.Response. To determine the correct response to use, check the documentation for your specific interface and directive.

If you can't handle a directive successfully, respond with an Alexa.ErrorResponse event instead.

For the definitions of the message properties, see Alexa Interface Message and Property Reference.

Types of responses

The Alexa interface supports three types of responses:

  • Synchronous – You respond to the directive from your Lambda function.
  • Asynchronous – You send a response event from your device cloud to the Alexa event gateway.
  • Deferred – For devices that make physical changes, such as a lock, that take longer than eight seconds, send a deferred response before you send your regular synchronous or asynchronous response.

Synchronous response

Specify the following information in a synchronous response.

  • Identify the endpoint for the response in the endpoint object.
  • Include the correlationToken set to the value from the directive request.
  • Include response properties in the payload object.
  • In the context object of your response, include the values of all the properties of the endpoint that changed and the time of the change. Also, include the values of properties that didn't change, to give Alexa the complete current state of the endpoint.

Synchronous response example

The following example shows a standard synchronous response. In this example, the endpoint supports the Alexa.PowerController interface and responds to the TurnOn directive.

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{
  "event": {
    "header": {
      "namespace": "Alexa",
      "name": "Response",
      "messageId": "Unique identifier, preferably a version 4 UUID",
      "correlationToken": "Opaque correlation token that matches the request",
      "payloadVersion": "3"
    },
    "endpoint": {
      "endpointId": "Endpoint ID"
    },
    "payload": {}
  },
  "context": {
    "properties": [
      {
        "namespace": "Alexa.PowerController",
        "name": "powerState",
        "value": "ON",
        "timeOfSample": "2017-02-03T16:20:50.52Z",
        "uncertaintyInMilliseconds": 500
      }
    ]
  }
}

Synchronous response properties

Property Description Type Required

event

Defines header and endpoint information.

Event object

Yes

event.header

Identifies the response and interface.
To enable Alexa to correlate the response with the directive, you must set the header.correlationToken to the header.correlationToken value from the directive request.

Header object

Yes

event.endpointId

Identifies the endpoint.

String

Yes

event.payload

Identifies the properties required in the response.
The payload varies for each interface directive and response. Check the documentation for your specific interface to determine the correct response properties. If the response doesn't include any properties, set payload to an empty object.

Object

Yes

context

Include to return the current state of all the retrievable properties, including the properties that didn't change.

Context object

No

Asynchronous response

When you respond asynchronously, you send an HTTP request to the Alexa event gateway. In the request body, you include the response event. Your response must include the access token that authenticates your skill customer to Alexa.

Specify the following information in an asynchronous response:

  • Identify the endpoint for the report in the endpoint object.
  • Include the correlationToken set to the value from the directive request.
  • Include the access token in the endpoint.scope object.
  • Include response properties in the payload object.
  • In the context object of your response, include the values of all the properties of the endpoint that changed and the time of the change. Also, include the values of properties that didn't change, to give Alexa the complete current state of the endpoint.

Asynchronous response example

The following example shows an asynchronous response. In this example, the endpoint supports the Alexa.ColorTemperatureController interface.

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POST /v3/events HTTP/1.1
Host: api-amazonalexa.com
Authorization: Bearer access-token-from-Amazon
Content-Type: application/json
{
  "event": {
    "header": {
      "namespace": "Alexa",
      "name": "Response",
      "messageId": "Unique identifier, preferably a version 4 UUID",
      "correlationToken": "Opaque correlation token that matches the request",
      "payloadVersion": "3"
    },
    "endpoint": {
      "scope": {
        "type": "BearerToken",
        "token": "access-token-from-Amazon"
      },
      "endpointId": "Endpoint ID"
    },
    "payload": {}
  },
  "context": {
    "properties": [
      {
        "namespace": "Alexa.ColorTemperatureController",
        "name": "colorTemperatureInKelvin",
        "value": 5500,
        "timeOfSample": "2017-02-03T16:20:50.52Z",
        "uncertaintyInMilliseconds": 500
      }
    ]
  }
}

Asynchronous response properties

Property Description Type Required

event

Defines header and endpoint information.

Event object

Yes

event.header

Identifies the response and interface.
To enable Alexa to correlate the response with the directive, you must set the header.correlationToken to the header.correlationToken value from the directive request.

Header object

Yes

event.endpointId

Identifies the endpoint.

String

Yes

event.endpoint.scope

Access token for the Alexa event gateway. For details, see Request Access Tokens.

Scope object

Yes

event.payload

Identifies the properties required in the response.
The payload varies for each interface directive and response. Check the documentation for your specific interface to determine the correct response properties. If the response doesn't include any properties, set payload to an empty object.

Object

Yes

context

Include to return the current state of all the retrievable properties, including the properties that didn't change.

Context object

No

When you send an asynchronous Alexa.Response to the gateway, Alexa sends an HTTP status code to indicate success or failure.

HTTP status codes

The following table shows the HTTP status code values that your skill might receive from the Alexa event gateway. If you receive an error, the payload object contains a code and description field. Use these fields for logging only.

Status Payload code Description

202 Accepted

—

Request is authorized and the message is a syntactically valid event. The gateway accepted the event for further logical validation and processing.

400 Bad Request

INVALID_REQUEST_EXCEPTION

Message is invalid due to missing fields, incorrect values, or malformed JSON. Check your messages against the documentation to verify that your message contains all the required fields.

401 Unauthorized

INVALID_ACCESS_TOKEN_EXCEPTION

Message didn't include the authorization token or the token is invalid, expired, or malformed. Refresh your token and retry the request. If a user disables your skill, that also invalidates the access token. Here, the user revoked authorization, and you can stop sending change reports for them.

403 Forbidden

SKILL_NEVER_ENABLED_EXCEPTION

You're not allowed access to the event gateway. Make sure that you're sending the events to the correct regional endpoint. For example, send events in North America to the North American endpoint.

403 Forbidden

INSUFFICIENT_PERMISSION_EXCEPTION

Token doesn't have the required permissions. Make sure that the skill has permission to send Alexa events. For details, see Request Access to the Alexa Event Gateway.

404 Not Found

ACCOUNT_NOT_FOUND_EXCEPTION

Account record associated with this directed identifier doesn't exist or has expired. This error can occur if the event was sent too late or with an invalid directed identifier. Verify that the directed identifier and authorization code are correct.

404 Not Found

SKILL_NOT_FOUND_EXCEPTION

Skill ID associated with this token wasn't found. This error occurs when user's access token was generated when the skill was in different stage, such as certification. Try disabling and re-enabling the skill for this user.

413 Payload Too Large

REQUEST_ENTITY_TOO_LARGE_EXCEPTION

Size of the event payload is too large. The maximum number of endpoints allowed in a request is 300. Send your message with smaller payloads.

429 Too Many Requests

THROTTLING_EXCEPTION

Number of requests is too high. Resend the message up to three times, with at least a one-second interval between each send attempt.

500 Internal Server Error

INTERNAL_SERVICE_EXCEPTION

Error occurred with Alexa, and the message wasn't processed. Resend the message up to three times, with at least a one-second interval between each send attempt. If problems persist, contact Amazon Support.

503 Service Unavailable

SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE_EXCEPTION

Alexa couldn't accept the message. Resend the message up to three times, with at least a one-second interval between each attempt. If the problem persists, contact Amazon Support.

Example 401 Unauthorized response body

The following example shows an error response.

HTTP/1.1 400 Bad Request
Date: Wed, 07 Mar 2018 20:25:31 GMT
Connection: close

{
  "header": {
    "namespace": "System",
    "name": "Exception",
    "messageId": "90c3fc62-4b2d-460c-9c8b-77251f1698a0"
  },
  "payload": {
      "code": "INVALID_ACCESS_TOKEN_EXCEPTION",
      "description": "The access token is invalid, expired, or malformed."
  }
}

Deferred response

Usually, Alexa waits for your response for eight seconds before timing out. Exceptions are noted in the documentation for individual interfaces. If your response takes more than eight seconds, first send a synchronous Alexa.DeferredResponse event, and then follow it with a Alexa.Response, either synchronous or asynchronous.

Alexa.DeferredResponse is only supported for some interfaces. Check the documentation for your specific interface to determine if the interface supports a deferred response. For example, Alexa.LockController supports Alexa.DeferredResponse events.

Because you always send a Alexa.DeferredResponse synchronously, don't include an endpoint.scope.

Deferred response example

The following example shows a deferred response that estimates an Alexa.Response within seven seconds.

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{
  "event": {
    "header": {
      "namespace": "Alexa",
      "name": "DeferredResponse",
      "messageId": "Unique identifier, preferably a version 4 UUID",
      "correlationToken": "Opaque correlation token that matches the request",
      "payloadVersion": "3"
    },
    "endpoint": {
      "endpointId": "Endpoint ID"
    },
    "payload": {
      "estimatedDeferralInSeconds": 7
    }
  }
}

Deferred response properties

Property Description Type Required

event

Defines header and endpoint information.

Event object

Yes

event.header

Identifies the response and interface.
To enable Alexa to correlate the response with the directive, you must set the header.correlationToken to the header.correlationToken value from the directive request.

Header object

Yes

event.endpointId

Identifies the endpoint.

String

Yes

event.payload

Identifies the deferred response properties.

Object

Yes

event.payload.estimatedDeferralInSeconds

The approximate time before you send your second response, in seconds.

Integer

No

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Last updated: Nov 22, 2023