Thing Intents

Introduction

A generic object. These intents let users make requests that are not related to any specific object or entity, such as requests to pause or continue an action.

This document provides a quick reference to the Thing intents and corresponding slots. For details around how these intents are specified, see Understanding the Structure of the Built-in Intent Library.

Intent Signature

Use the intent signature as the intent name in your intent schema. This example shows a schema with two Thing intents:

{
    "intents": [
        {
            "name": "AMAZON.MuteAction<object@Thing>"
        }, 
        {
            "name": "AMAZON.CloseAction<object@Thing>"
        }
    ]
}

For more about the components of this signature, see Understanding the Structure of the Built-in Intent Library.

To see the full JSON format for intents, see Interaction Model Schema. You can also use the developer console user interface to add the intents and then see the JSON code in the JSON Editor.

Thing Intents

The following table summarizes the available Thing intents and the set of slots that may be included. For each intent, the sections below the table show:

  • A sample utterance that would invoke the intent.
  • The JSON you include in your intent schema if you want to use the intent.

  • An example of the IntentRequest sent to your skill for the provided sample utterance, illustrating the slots that may be included. For brevity, these samples leave out the full set of properties that are normally part of a complete IntentRequest.

    Note that if your interaction model includes multiple intents with similar utterances, your results may vary from these examples.

For definitions of the slots used in these intents, see Thing Slots.

Intent Signature Example Utterance Possible Slots
AMAZON.CloseAction<object@Thing> "close" object.quantity
object.location.name
AMAZON.DeactivateAction<object@Thing> "off alexa" object.quantity
AMAZON.DeleteAction<object@Thing> "delete" amount.quantity
sourceCollection.owner.name
sourceCollection.type
AMAZON.IgnoreAction<object@Thing> "forget it"  
AMAZON.MuteAction<object@Thing> "mute"  

CloseAction<object@Thing>

User: close

Intent Schema:

{
    "intents": [
        {
            "name": "AMAZON.CloseAction<object@Thing>"
        }
    ]
}

Request:

{
    "request": {
        "type": "IntentRequest", 
        "locale": "en-US", 
        "intent": {
            "name": "AMAZON.CloseAction<object@Thing>", 
            "slots": {}
        }
    }
}

DeactivateAction<object@Thing>

User: off alexa

Intent Schema:

{
    "intents": [
        {
            "name": "AMAZON.DeactivateAction<object@Thing>"
        }
    ]
}

Request:

{
    "request": {
        "type": "IntentRequest", 
        "locale": "en-US", 
        "intent": {
            "name": "AMAZON.DeactivateAction<object@Thing>", 
            "slots": {}
        }
    }
}

DeleteAction<object@Thing>

User: delete

Intent Schema:

{
    "intents": [
        {
            "name": "AMAZON.DeleteAction<object@Thing>"
        }
    ]
}

Request:

{
    "request": {
        "type": "IntentRequest", 
        "locale": "en-US", 
        "intent": {
            "name": "AMAZON.DeleteAction<object@Thing>", 
            "slots": {}
        }
    }
}

IgnoreAction<object@Thing>

User: forget it

Intent Schema:

{
    "intents": [
        {
            "name": "AMAZON.IgnoreAction<object@Thing>"
        }
    ]
}

Request:

{
    "request": {
        "type": "IntentRequest", 
        "locale": "en-US", 
        "intent": {
            "name": "AMAZON.IgnoreAction<object@Thing>", 
            "slots": {}
        }
    }
}

MuteAction<object@Thing>

User: mute

Intent Schema:

{
    "intents": [
        {
            "name": "AMAZON.MuteAction<object@Thing>"
        }
    ]
}

Request:

{
    "request": {
        "type": "IntentRequest", 
        "locale": "en-US", 
        "intent": {
            "name": "AMAZON.MuteAction<object@Thing>", 
            "slots": {}
        }
    }
}

Thing Slots

The Thing intents can return slot values to your skill. You do not include these slots in your intent schema – they are generated automatically from the intent signature.

Note that not all available slots are returned from every intent. See the table in Thing Intents to see which slots are applicable to each intent.

The following table shows the slots the Thing intents can return. For each slot, the table includes:

  • The slot name.
  • An example utterance for the slot.
  • The JSON that would be sent to your skill for the sample utterance.
  • If applicable, the name of the slot type used by the slot. You can see details about slot types in the Slot Type Reference.
Slot Name Utterance Slot Values

amount.quantity

"…delete all"

 
{
    "name": "amount.quantity", 
    "value": "all"
}

object.location.name

"… in the house"

AMAZON.Residence

{
    "name": "object.location.name", 
    "value": "house"
}

object.quantity

"…turn off everything"

 
{
    "name": "object.quantity", 
    "value": "everything"
}

sourceCollection.owner.name

"…take my"

AMAZON.Person

{
    "name": "sourceCollection.owner.name", 
    "value": "my"
}

sourceCollection.type

"… event on my calendar"

 
{
    "name": "sourceCollection.type", 
    "value": "calendar"
}

Built-in Intent Library Documentation

Thing is used in the following built-in intent library category:

Navigate to all built-in intents in the Built-in Intent Library.

See all available slot types in the Slot Type Reference.

Learn more about using the built-in intent library:

Learn more about building your voice interface:

The built-in intent library incorporates material from Schema.org, which is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License (version 3.0) (the "License"). You may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/. For questions, please contact us.

Was this page helpful?

Last updated: Nov 28, 2023