Notifications API

Note: This API is only available to registered Alexa for Hospitality partners. See Get Started with Alexa for Hospitality APIs.

Notification types

You can use the Alexa Notifications REST API to send notifications to your customers. Delivers notification to up to a hundred different customers/units in single request. You can specify either of the following notification types:

Device notification – For headless devices like Amazon Echo Dot, this is a yellow ring and a chime sound. For multimodal devices, it's a banner and a persistent notification indicator.
Announcement – For headless and multimodal devices, this is a voice announcement. Multimodal devices also display a message on the screen.
PersistentVisualAlert – For multimodal devices only. This a persistent notification that's displayed on the screen until it expires or the guest or resident dismisses it.

Note: The result of sending notification to each customer/unit is reported individually in the response. Because the batch request can result in a combination of successful and unsuccessful actions, you should check for batch errors even when the call returns an HTTP status code of 202 (accepted) response code.

Send notifications

Call POST /v3/notifications to send notifications to customers.

Request format

Note: In the request header, set Host to one of the following, depending on the region of your organization: api.amazonalexa.com or api.eu.amazonalexa.com.

POST /v3/notifications HTTP/1.1
Host: api.amazonalexa.com
Accept: application/json
Authorization: Bearer {LWA Token}

Request body examples

The following example shows a device notification.

{
  "recipients": [
    {
      "type": "Unit",
      "id": "amzn1.alexa.unit.did.{unitId1}"
    },
    {
      "type": "Unit",
      "id": "amzn1.alexa.unit.did.{unitId2}"
    }
  ],
  "notification": {
    "variants": [
      {
        "type": "DeviceNotification",
        "content": {
          "variants": [
            {
              "type": "SpokenText",
              "values": [
                {
                  "locale": "en-US",
                  "text": "Happy hour is starting now in the pool area!"
                }
              ]
            }
          ]
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}

The following example shows an announcement.

{
    "recipients": [
      {
        "type": "Unit",
        "id": "amzn1.alexa.unit.did.{unitId1}"
      },
      {
        "type": "Unit",
        "id": "amzn1.alexa.unit.did.{unitId2}"
      },
      {
        "type": "Unit",
        "id": "amzn1.alexa.unit.did.{unitId3}"
      } 
    ],
    "notification": {
        "variants": [{
            "type": "Announcement",
            "content": {
                "variants": [{
                    "type": "SpokenText",
                    "values": [{
                        "locale": "en-US",
                        "text": "Happy hour is starting now in the pool area!"
                    }]
                }]
            }
        }]
    }
}

The following example shows a persistent visual alert.

{
    "recipients": [
      {
        "type": "Unit",
        "id": "amzn1.alexa.unit.did.{unitId1}"
      },
      {
        "type": "Unit",
        "id": "amzn1.alexa.unit.did.{unitId2}"
      },
      {
        "type": "Unit",
        "id": "amzn1.alexa.unit.did.{unitId3}"
      },
      {
        "type": "Unit",
        "id": "amzn1.alexa.unit.did.{unitId4}"
      }
    ],
    "notification": {
        "variants": [{
            "type": "PersistentVisualAlert",
            "content": {
                "variants": [{
                    "type": "V0Template",
                    "values": [{
                        "locale": "en-US",
                        "document": {
                            "type": "Link",
                            "src": "doc://alexa/apl/documents/enterprise/notifications/persistentvisualalert/defaultTemplate"
                        },
                        "datasources": {
                            "displayText": {
                                "title": "Light and warm patio breakfast",
                                "body": "Breakfast is served until 11:30 am!"
                            }
                        }
                    }]
                }]
            },
            "dismissalTime": "2021-04-30T10:00:00.00Z"
        }],
        "referenceId": "595973fd-5b66-4970-9401-53f19142aa48"
    }
}

Request body parameters

Field	Description	Type	Required
`recipients`	The recipient of the notification.	Array	Yes
`recipients[].type`	Recipient type: `Unit`.	Enum	Yes
`recipients[].id`	The unit ID, in the format `"amzn1.alexa.unit.did.{unitId}"`.	String	Yes
`notification`	The notification object.	Object	Yes
`notification.variants[].type`	Notification delivery type: `DeviceNotification`, `Announcement`, or `PersistentVisualAlert`. See Notification types.	Enum	Yes
`notification.variants[].content`	Notification content helps developers specifying different variants of content for spoken and display purposes.	Object	Yes
`notification.variants[].content.variants[]`	The locale-specific notification content to be delivered to the end user.	Array	Yes
`notification.variants[].content.variants[].type`	Type of content: `SpokenText` (for `DeviceNotification` and `Announcement` delivery types) or `V0Template` (for `PersistentVisualAlert` delivery type). `SpokenText` represents localized text input. `V0Template` contains data needed to render a notification using an APL document. An APL document is a JSON object that defines a template to display on a device with a screen. The APL document controls the structure and layout.	Enum	Yes
`notification.variants[].content.variants[].values[]`	Content values array. Each element in the array represents localized text input.	Array	Yes
`notification.variants[].content.variants[].values[].locale`	The locale in which the spoken text is rendered, in IETF BCP 47 format.	String	Yes
`notification.variants[].content.variants[].values[].text`	Spoken text in plain text format. Maximum length is 1024 characters or 2048 bytes.	String	Yes
`notification.variants[].content.variants[].values[].document`	For `PersistentVisualAlert` notifications, this is an APL document to use for rendering the notification. For details, see Use a linked document with RenderDocument.	Object	Yes, for `PersistentVisualAlert` notifications
`notification.variants[].content.variants[].values[].document.type`	For `PersistentVisualAlert` notifications, this is the APL document type. Must be `Link`.	String	Yes, for `PersistentVisualAlert` notifications
`notification.variants[].content.variants[].values[].document.src`	For `PersistentVisualAlert` notifications, this is the APL document link. Currently only `"doc://alexa/apl/documents/enterprise/notifications/persistentvisualalert/defaultTemplate"` is supported.	String	Yes, for `PersistentVisualAlert` notifications
`notification.variants[].content.variants[].values[].datasources`	For `PersistentVisualAlert` notifications, this is the APL document data.	Object	Yes, for `PersistentVisualAlert` notifications
`notification.variants[].content.variants[].values[].datasources.displayText`	For `PersistentVisualAlert` notifications, this object contains the text to be displayed for the notification.	Object	Yes, for `PersistentVisualAlert` notifications
`notification.variants[].content.variants[].values[].datasources.displayText.title`	For `PersistentVisualAlert` notifications, this is the title to be displayed for the notification. Maximum length is 25 characters.	String	Yes, for `PersistentVisualAlert` notifications
`notification.variants[].content.variants[].values[].datasources.displayText.body`	For `PersistentVisualAlert` notifications, this is the body text to be displayed for the notification. Maximum length is 60 characters.	String	Yes, for `PersistentVisualAlert` notifications
`notification.dismissalTime`	For `PersistentVisualAlert` notifications, this is the date and time of the expiry for the notification, in ISO 8601 format. Represents the time when the card expires and is removed from the display screen.	String	No
`notification.referenceId`	For `PersistentVisualAlert` notifications, this is the reference ID of the newly created notification. The `referenceId` is a UUID and is unique for each notification in a unit. Use it when you need to delete or update a notification that was previously delivered.	String	No

Response header

Note: In the response header, the returned Host value is the same as the Host value in the request.

HTTP/1.1 202 Accepted
Host: api.amazonalexa.com
X-Amzn-RequestId: {request-id}
Content-Type: application/json

Field	Description	Type
`X-Amzn-RequestId`	Unique identifier for the request. If a problem occurs, Amazon can use this value to troubleshoot the problem.	String

Response body examples

All recipient processed successfully.

{
  "type": "ALL_SUCCESS",
  "message": "All message published successfully.",
  "successResults": [
    {
      "id": "amzn1.alexa.unit.did.<unitId1>",
      "referenceId": "0176a8dd-1f79-4933-a3a4-8e76fc43fd7a"
    },
    {
      "id": "amzn1.alexa.unit.did.<unitId2>",
      "referenceId": "475dc098-2319-11ec-9621-0242ac130002"
    }
  ],
  "errors": [
  ]
}

Failed to publish for some recipient.

{
  "type": "PARTIAL_SUCCESS",
  "message": "1 of 3 failed to publish.",
  "successResults": [
    {
      "id": "amzn1.alexa.unit.did.<unitId1>",
      "referenceId": "0176a8dd-1f79-4933-a3a4-8e76fc43fd7a"
    },
    {
      "id": "amzn1.alexa.unit.did.<unitId2>",
      "referenceId": "475dc098-2319-11ec-9621-0242ac130002"
    }
  ],
  "errors": [
     {
        "id":  "amzn1.alexa.unit.did.<unitId3>",
        "status": 400,
        "errorCode": "Bad Request",
        "errorDescription": "Request or recipient id is malformed."
     }
  ]
}

All message failed to publish. Reason for failure could be different for each recipient.

{
  "type": "ALL_FAILED",
  "message": "All messages failed to publish.",
  "successResults": [
       ],
  "errors": [
     {
        "id": "amzn1.alexa.unit.did.<unitId2>",
        "status": 403,
        "errorCode": "Forbidden",
        "errorDescription": "Request is forbidden."
     },
     {
        "id": "amzn1.alexa.unit.did.<unitId2>",
        "status": 400,
        "errorCode": "Bad Request",
        "errorDescription": "Request or recipient id is malformed."
     },
     {
        "id": "amzn1.alexa.unit.did.<unitId3>",
        "status": 400,
        "errorCode": "Bad Request",
        "errorDescription": "Unit already has active PersistentVisualAlert."
     }
  ]
}

Response Elements

If the action is successful, the service sends back an HTTP 202 response. The following data is returned in JSON format by the service.

Field	Description	Type
`type`	Short description.	String
`message`	Detailed description of the result.	String
`successResults`	List of successfully processed units.	Array
`successResults[].id`	Successfully processed unit id.	String
`successResults[].referenceId`	Unique identifier for the unit. If a problem occurs, Amazon can use this value to troubleshoot the problem.	String
`errors`	List of unsuccessful unit ids.	Array
`errors[].id`	Unsuccessfully processed unit id.	String
`errors[].status`	Error status.	Integer
`errors[].errorCode`	Short error code.	String
`errors[].errorDescription`	Detailed description of the error for a unit.	String

Error Response examples

If the action failed as whole, the service sends back an HTTP response other than 202. The following data is returned in JSON format by the service.

{
    "type": "Unauthorized",
    "message": "HTTP 401 Unauthorized"
}

Error Response element

Field	Description	Type
`type`	Short description.	String
`message`	Detailed description of the result.	String

HTTP response codes

Status Code	Name	Description
202	Accepted	The request is accepted. Status of individual recipient is either inside successfulResults or errors.
400	Bad Request	The request is malformed or is missing one or more required parameters.
401	Unauthorized	The access token is missing, expired, or invalid.
403	Forbidden	The user doesn't have permission to perform the operation.
429	Too many requests	The request is throttled.
500	Internal Server Error	The request couldn't be handled because of an internal service error.
503	Service Unavailable	The server is temporarily unavailable.