Add amazon alexa service on balena cloud on raspi

Product support
1

Hello, i’ve been wondering as by adding the main files(BT, airplay, spotify) i could also somehow add alexa amazon as since it is possible with raspi using rapbiam but as since i want all the possible feactures i chose balena cloud, tho idk if it is possible because i it is from a different source ( the alexa git file alone) i would like to know where to start, by adding or if it possible as it doesn’t have for example any docker files, that i see it an important thing.

Any help i appreciate, ty

2

Hi,
I guess you mean balenaSound, which you would like to extend with an amazon alexa service. You can definitely extend balenaSound with an Alexa integration. The services are defined in docker-compose.yml, which defines the docker services to be executed as part of the application. So this would be the start for adding a new service to the project.

4

thank you very much,
and for now i typed in the services execution, same as the others if i am right and now i have to drag the pugin(i choose the alexapi) to balena master folder and then push the app right?

sorry if its too much asking i am quite a noob at this.

5

@DYI_Audio_evrything I’m not sure what you mean by the alexapi plugin - is that service online anywhere that you can share with us? Are you talking about AlexaPi (this one)?

You’re right in that you need to add a service in the same way as the others, but the service you add needs to have a Dockerfile and be set up to run in a container.

6

Yes, i thought about using that one, but if theres a easier way to bypass the service i would like to know.

The same i would like to know on adding the docker file.

Thank you.

7

@DYI_Audio_evrything I’m not sure what you mean about bypassing the service. To add a Dockerfile means that unless you can find one elsewhere online that someone has already published, you need to create the file yourself. Balena provides a lot of base images that make it easy to get started, but you’d need to create the rest yourself. There are lots of tutorials around to get you started with this, here’s an example: https://rock-it.pl/how-to-write-excellent-dockerfiles/

I hope this helps!

9

sorry for the late reply, forget the bypassing thing, wrong words, and will try making/adding the dockerfile, thank you. :slight_smile:

11

@DYI_Audio_evrything were you able to add Alexa service to Balena sound?

12

Nop, unfurnatly i hadexperienced in the meantime on raspbiam with also the official avs and it was kinda weird and confusing so i had dropped it off, sorry to have brake it to your expectations

13

No problem. Thanks for the quick response.

15

Is there any way in the meanwhile to tell balena “Alexa play XYZ from Spotify on <balena_device>”?

16

There are a couple of ways, one has already been mentioned (i.e. to extend the functionality of balenaSound) by creating the relevant assets and configuration and generating a pull request to the project.

The other approach would be to create an issue for the project here and label it as an enhancement (feature-request). The issue has to describe the intended user journey, for example “As a user, when I do X, Y happens” in as much detail as possible.