Build Documents with the APL Authoring Tool

Use the APL Authoring Tool to build and preview an APL document. You can start from a blank document, start from a sample template, or import an animation in Lottie format to create your document. When finished, use the RenderDocument directive to display your visual response on the screen or play your audio document.

Create and edit an APL document

An APL document is a JSON structure that defines a template for a skill response. The document can define either a visual response or an audio response.

Use the authoring tool to create an APL document from a pre-built template, from a Lottie animation, or from a blank document.

For details about creating and editing APL documents, see Create and Edit an APL Document.

Import a Lottie animation

Import animations in Lottie format into the authoring tool to use in your APL documents. Lottie is a JSON animation format that you can export from Adobe After Effects.

For details about importing a Lottie animation to use in your APL document, see Import a Lottie Animation.

Import and export an APL document

Although the authoring tool saves your work with your skill, you can also export an APL document in JSON format. Export creates a JSON file with the document and data source. You can import a previously-exported document to create a new document.

For details about import and export, see Import and Export APL Documents.

Preview an APL document

Use the authoring tool to preview how your document renders to your users.

For a visual response, you can see how the document looks on devices of different sizes and preview tap events, commands, video, and other aspects of the document. For an audio response, you can listen to the audio clip generated by the document.

For details about previewing and testing your document in the authoring tool, see Preview an APL Document.

Integrate your APL document into your skill response

To use your APL document in your skill, you include the RenderDocument directive in the response your skill sends to Alexa. For a visual response, Alexa displays the document on the screen. For an audio response, Alexa plays the audio generated from the document.

When you send the RenderDocument directive, you must provide the document you want to display or play. There are two different options for providing the document:

For details about exporting the JSON for your document, see Import and Export APL Documents

For details about RenderDocument, see the following:

For examples that show how to send RenderDocument with the ASK SDK, see Use Alexa Presentation Language with the ASK SDK v2.