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Yandex Alice

Alice is a voice assistant from Yandex that can talk to users and perform various actions in applications and on devices where Alice is launched.

Alice works in the Yandex.Search mobile applications for Android and iOS, in Yandex.Navigator, in the desktop version of Yandex.Browser for Windows, and also on the Yandex.Station audio speakers.

Third-party developers can create additional functions for Alice — skills. These skills are available to users on all platforms where Alice works.

How skills work​

For Tovie DialogStudio, a skill is a chatbot that works according to a script.

To use a skill, a user should activate it with one of the special phrases that you set in Yandex.Dialogs when registering a skill. After that, Alice switches the user to a chat with the skill, and all user requests are sent to it.

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Activation name is a phrase that activates the skill. By default, it is the same as the skill name.

Create a skill for Alice​

  1. Think about how your skill should work. The more you think over how the skill will work, the easier it will be for you to create it.
  2. Create a script according to which the bot for the Alice skill will work. ! > Yandex has a number of requirements for skills that you should take into account when creating a script.
  3. Connect the bot to the Alice channel.
  4. Get a channel webhook.
  5. Create a skill in the Yandex.Dialogs developer console.
  6. Publish the skill.

Add the Alice channel​

  1. In the script for Alice, go to the Channels tab.

  2. In the Voice assistants section, select Alice. The channel settings will open.

  3. Click Get OAuth Token. You will be redirected to the Yandex authorization page.

    Connecting the Alice channel

  4. Log in using Yandex ID. After the authorization, you will be redirected to the page with the OAuth token.

  5. Copy the token and paste it into the OAuth token field in the channel settings in Tovie DialogStudio.

  6. Change the channel name or leave the default one.

  7. Click Connect.

Get a channel webhook​

To create your skill in Yandex.Dialogs, you need a channel webhook from Tovie DialogStudio. Alice will send user requests to this webhook after the skill is activated.

To copy the webhook to your clipboard, click Get webhook.

Create a skill in the developer console​

For your skill to start working in Alice, you need to register it in Yandex.Dialogs.

  1. Go to the Yandex.Dialogs page and create a dialog.
  2. Select Skill in Alice as the dialog type.
  3. Specify a skill name. ! > If you create a public skill, make sure there is no skill with the same name in the official skill list.
  4. In the Backend section, select Webhook URL and paste the webhook you have copied.
  5. Save the skill.

Test the skill​

In Yandex.Dialogs, you can test how your skill for Alice works. To do this, go to the Testing tab and send a message to the bot.

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When you test your skill in the developer console, the skill is permanently activated, so you cannot check how activation names work.

To check how activation names work, test your skill in any of the Yandex applications using the same Yandex account.

Publish the skill​

Until you publish the skill, it will not be available to Alice users. First, configure the following skill settings:

  • specify activation phrases;
  • select a category;
  • add a skill description;
  • upload an icon.

After you have added all the required information about the skill, submit it for review. Yandex usually reviews skills within three days.

If your skill has not passed the review, edit your skill according to the remarks and submit it for review again.

After you have gone through the review, publish your skill in Yandex.Dialogs.