So I’ve started to look at controlling things with Alexa. I’ve got a HASS Cloud account, I’ve added the Home Assistant Skill to my Echo etc.
It now seems to see all my automations and devices. However am I right in thinking that you have to use phrases like ‘turn on’ to get it to action stuff?
Let’s say I want to arm my alarm when I got to bed. It’s pretty unnatural to say something like ‘Alexa turn on the go-to-bed automation’. I’d like to come up with something like ‘Alexa we’re going to bed now’ or something. I’m just not sure what’s possible and what’s not, and the docs don’t seem to go into the detail of what sort of control is possible.
Do I have to build custom skills, or is there some way to get something from the default integration?
Look at Alexa routines in the alexa app. It allows you to setup certain sayings and actions. Its not as clean as having all your config in one area but it works.
Hmm yes I guess I could automate the arming to a certain degree. But I’ve not got enough motion sensors at the moment, and in the meantime there could always be exceptions when I stay up late and decide to go get something from the car or whatever.