Skip to main content

Voice Assistant Integrations

Devices on your ESP RainMaker Neo deployment can be controlled by voice through Amazon Alexa and Google Home. The integration is per deployment: you configure it once, and every user then links their own account.

The one rule that decides whether this works​

Use standard device and parameter types. A parameter typed esp.param.brightness on a device typed esp.device.lightbulb maps automatically onto the assistant's own model, so "dim the lamp to thirty percent" works with no extra effort. The same parameter under a custom type renders as a generic control in the app and is invisible to both assistants — they have no way to guess what it means.

The full mapping of device types to Alexa and Google categories is tabulated in Custom and standard types. Check your device shape against it before you design the data model, not after.

What the user does​

Links their account once, in the assistant's app: enable the skill for Alexa, or link the service for Google Home, sign in with their deployment credentials, and their devices appear. The end-user walkthroughs are Link Alexa and Link Google Home.

What the operator must do​

Each assistant needs its own configuration in the Admin Dashboard, under Settings → Voice assistants, which has separate Alexa and GVA tabs. Both require you to have registered a skill or project with the vendor first — that account, its review process and its certification are yours, not Espressif's.

What the firmware must do​

Nothing beyond using standard types. Voice commands arrive as ordinary parameter writes, so a device that already handles cloud writes correctly handles voice correctly.

Limits and caveats​

  • Only device shapes with a standard type are exposed. Custom types are not.
  • Each assistant has its own certification path before a skill or action can go public, and that timeline is set by the vendor.
  • Voice reaches the device through the cloud, so it needs the node online — unlike local control.
Feature parity is per assistant

Alexa and Google Home do not support identical capabilities for identical device types. Where the two diverge, the assistant's own model wins — check the mapping table for the device shape you care about.