Send Alexa command from Indigo

Posted on
Wed Nov 23, 2022 11:19 am
kennybroh offline
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Send Alexa command from Indigo

I have a problem where I need to control a group of devices, some of which are supported in Indigo and some of which are not (e.g., Philips new WiZ bulbs). Alexa supports the WiZ lights and what I’d like to do as a workaround is send a command to Alexa that controls a group of devices defined in the Alexa app.

I’d like to have the ability to execute an action that sends a particular command to Alexa, like “Turn on overhead lights”.

Is that an available feature?

Posted on
Wed Nov 23, 2022 11:30 am
jay (support) offline
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Re: Send Alexa command from Indigo

A given smart home skill (like the Indigo skill) can't directly control devices presented by other skills - that's not part of the Alexa Skill API (likely due to security concerns).

I seem to remember someone coming up with a workaround, but I don't recall the specifics.

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Posted on
Wed Nov 23, 2022 2:56 pm
kennybroh offline
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Re: Send Alexa command from Indigo

But my question is whether indigo can send Alexa a command as if it were spoken.

Posted on
Wed Nov 23, 2022 4:39 pm
jay (support) offline
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Re: Send Alexa command from Indigo

And the answer is the same: there isn't a way for a smart home skill to issue commands to Alexa - it's a one way communication channel.

I believe some clever Indigo users put an echo device beside their Indigo Server Mac and then used text to speech to tell it what to do - but I suspect that's not reliable.

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Posted on
Wed Nov 23, 2022 7:31 pm
ckeyes888 offline
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Re: Send Alexa command from Indigo


Posted on
Fri Nov 25, 2022 1:29 pm
whmoorejr offline
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Re: Send Alexa command from Indigo

I used this approach to make announcements on alexa from indigo. It basically fakes a bunch of stuff to make a fake alexa doorbell. When the doorbell goes off (from an indigo action) I can run an alexa routine from that "doorbell". You could use the same principal to create a routine to run something else.... like turn on a non-indigo controlled light.

https://forums.indigodomo.com/viewtopic.php?f=133&t=25902

Bill
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