Alexa Skill - Update Intent programmatically

Question

I'm trying to create an Alexa skill which has a fairly wide-open possible number of phrases it could use. Too many to write by hand.

I can probably generate the list programmatically, but it changes frequently, so I'd want it updated frequently.

Is there an Amazon API I can call to update the possible values for a custom slot type, without having to manually log in and copy and paste it all the time?

Answer 1

YES! See Update Interaction Model section at their docs.

https://developer.amazon.com/docs/smapi/interaction-model-operations.html#update-interaction-model

Answer 2

No - Amazon does not provide an API for updating your skill. I believe that API.AI provides this and they have an integration with Alexa ASK but I've heard that it's not very good and I don't really expect it to get better now that Google has bought them.

In your first paragraph it sounds like you are talking about supporting a lot of different utterances (ways of saying the same thing), but after that it sounds like you are talking about a large number of 'slot values': the relevant user input extracted from the utterances. Either way, the answer is still no - no API.

I believe there are popular features requests for both a general API for updating the skills, and support for dynamic slot lists, here.

And here's Amazon's defence of the custom slot and how it can replace the (deprecated) literal slot.

Answer 3

No, but there is now a beta editor which lets you drag a single JSON file containing all utterances, intents and slots. Log into the developer portal and click "Interaction Model Builder Beta".