Google Assistant Webserver in a Docker container
What is this?
This is a emulated Google Assistant with a webserver attached to take commands over HTTP packaged in a Docker container. The container consists of the Google Assistant SDK, python scripts that provide the Flask REST API / OAuth authentication and modifications that base it from the Google Assistant library.
I did not write this code, I simply pulled pieces and modified them to work together. AndBobsYourUncle wrote Google Assistant webserver Hassio add-on which this is largely based on. Chocomega provided the modifications that based it off the Google Assistant libraries.
How does this differ from AndBobsYourUncleâs Google Assistant Webserver? This project is modified, running based on the Google Assistant libraries not the Google Assistant Service which allows for additional functionality such as remote media casting (Casting Spotify) See the table here. However this method requires a mic and speaker audio device or an emulated dummy on the host machine.
- AndBobsYourUncle Home Assistant forum post and Hassio Add-on Github repository
- Chocomega modifications
- Google Assistant Library docs
Interested in Docker but never used it before? Checkout my blog post: Docker In Your HomeLab - Getting Started.
Setup
- Prerequisite - Mic and speaker audio device configured on the host machine. Michal_Ciemiega pointed out that a real soundcard is not necessary with:
sudo modprobe snd-dummy. If youâre not sure or need help you can follow Googles Configure and Test the Audio documentation.
- Go the Configure a Developer Project and Account Settings page of the Embed the Google Assistant procedure in the Library docs.
- Follow the steps through to Register the Device Model and take note of the project id and the device model id.
-
Download OAuth 2.0 Credentials file, rename it to
client_secret.json, create a configuration directory/home/$USER/docker/config/gawebserver/configand move the file there. - Create an additional folder
/home/$USER/docker/config/gawebserver/assistantthe Google Assistant SDK will cache files here that need to persist through container recreation. - In a Docker configuration below, fill out the
DEVICE_MODEL_IDandPROJECT_IDenvironment variables with the values from previous steps. Lastly change the volume to mount your config and assistant directories to/configand/root/.config/google-assistant-library/assistant
First Run
- Start the container using Docker Run or Docker Compose. It will start listening on ports 9324 and 5000. Browse to the container on port 9324 (
http://containerip:9324) where you will see Get token from google: Authentication. - Follow the URL, authenticate with Google, return the string from Google to the container web page and click connect. The page will error out and that is normal, the container is now up and running.
- To get broadcast messages working an address needs to be set, the same as your other broadcast devices. In the Google Home app go to Account > Settings > Assistant. At the bottom select your ga-webserver and set the applicable address. There you can also set the default audio and video casting devices.
Docker Run
$ docker run -d --name=gawebserver \
--restart on-failure \
-v /home/$USER/docker/config/gawebserver/config:/config \
-v /home/$USER/docker/config/gawebserver/assistant:/root/.config/google-assistant-library/assistant \
-p 9324:9324 \
-p 5000:5000 \
-e CLIENT_SECRET=client_secret.json \
-e DEVICE_MODEL_ID=device_model_id \
-e PROJECT_ID=project_id \
--device /dev/snd:/dev/snd:rwm \
robwolff3/ga-webserver
Docker Compose
version: "3.7"
services:
gawebserver:
container_name: gawebserver
image: robwolff3/ga-webserver
restart: on-failure
volumes:
- /home/$USER/docker/config/gawebserver/config:/config
- /home/$USER/docker/config/gawebserver/assistant:/root/.config/google-assistant-library/assistant
ports:
- 9324:9324
- 5000:5000
environment:
- CLIENT_SECRET=client_secret.json
- DEVICE_MODEL_ID=device_model_id
- PROJECT_ID=project_id
devices:
- "/dev/snd:/dev/snd:rwm"
Test it
- Test out your newly created ga-webserver by sending it a command through your web browser.
- Send a command
http://containerip:5000/command?message=Play Careless Whisper by George Michael on Kitchen Stereo - Broadcast a message
http://containerip:5000/broadcast_message?message=Alexa order 500 pool noodles
Not sure why a command isnât working? See what happened in your Google Account Activity or under My Activity in the Google Home App.
Home Assistant
Here is an example how I use the ga-webserver in Home Assistant to broadcast over my Google Assistants when my dishwasher has finished.
configuration.yaml
notify:
- name: ga_broadcast
platform: rest
resource: http://containerip:5000/broadcast_message
- name: ga_command
platform: rest
resource: http://containerip:5000/command
automations.yaml
- alias: Broadcast the dishwasher has finished
initial_state: True
trigger:
- platform: state
entity_id: input_select.dishwasher_status
to: 'Off'
action:
- service: notify.ga_broadcast
data:
message: "The Dishwasher has finished."
My Home Assistant Configuration repository.
Known Issues and Troubleshooting
-
There are duplicate devices in the Google Home app - This happens every time the container is recreated, it looses its
device_idstored in the container. This is fixed with my add step 4 under Setup. Once the container stores its newdevice_idthere it will persist through container recreation. - Error: UnicodeEncodeError: âasciiâ codec canât encode character - zewelor discovered this issue of a Wrong UTF8 encoding setting in the locale env. He solved this by adding the environment variable
PYTHONIOENCODING=utf-8to the Docker configuration. - If it was working and then all the sudden stopped then you may need to re-authenticate. Stop the container, delete the
access_token.jsonfile from the configuration directory, repeat the First Run procedure above. - Having other problems? Check the container logs:
docker logs -f gawebserver
, with deeper thoughts (well not that deep) I think it should be possible to create a dummy sound card device on linuxâŠ