Alexa via Home Assistant Cloud

The Alexa integration allows users to control the entities via the Home Assistant Smart Home skill for Alexa. This means that you can say things like “Alexa, turn on the kitchen light” to control your local Home Assistant.

To use this integration, you need to have:

The cloud component set up. Learn more
An Alexa enabled device like the Amazon Echo
Activated the Home Assistant Smart Home skill for Alexa

You can use configuration.yaml to configure the entities that are being shown to Alexa and how they are exposed.

# Example configuration.yaml entry configuring Alexa
cloud:
  alexa:
    filter:
      include_entities:
        - light.kitchen
        - light.kitchen_left
      include_domains:
        - switch
      exclude_entities:
        - switch.outside
    entity_config:
      light.kitchen:
        name: Custom Name for Alexa
        description: The light in the kitchen
      switch.stairs:
        display_categories: LIGHT

Configuration Variables

alexa

(map)(Optional)Configuration options for the Amazon Alexa integration.

filter

(map)(Optional)Filters for entities to include/exclude from Alexa.

include_entities: (list)(Optional)Entity IDs to include.
include_domains: (list)(Optional)Domains to include.
exclude_entities: (list)(Optional)Entity IDs to exclude.
exclude_domains: (list)(Optional)Domains to exclude.

entity_config

(map)(Optional)Entity specific configuration for Alexa

<ENTITY_ID>

(map)(Optional)Entity to configure

name: (string)(Optional)Name of entity to show in Alexa
description: (string)(Optional)Description of entity to show in Alexa
display_categories: (string)(Optional)The display category to use in Alexa. Available categories

Possible values for customizing

Configuration via customize: is no longer available. Use the entity config as described above.

Available domains

Currently, the following domains are available to be used with Alexa:

alert
automation (enables/disables)
cover
fan (supports on/off and set speed)
group
input_boolean
light
lock (lock and unlock, but unlock is untested as Amazon has disabled unlock for now)
media_player (play, pause, stop, set volume, adjust volume, next track, and previous track)
scene
script (enables/disables)
switch