Alexa.TemperatureSensor Interface

Implement the Alexa.TemperatureSensor interface in your Alexa skill for devices that sense the current temperature, such as thermostats. Typically you use the TemperatureSensor interface in conjunction with the Alexa.ThermostatController interface. For more details about Smart Home skills, see Understand Smart Home Skills.

If you want to sense the current temperature of a cooking appliance, such as an oven, use the Alexa.Cooking.TemperatureSensor interface instead. If you want to sense the current temperature of a food that is cooking, use the Alexa.Cooking.FoodTemperatureSensor interface instead.

For the list of languages that the TemperatureSensor interface supports, see List of Alexa Interfaces and Supported Languages. For the definitions of the message properties, see Alexa Interface Message and Property Reference.

Properties

The Alexa.TemperatureSensor interface uses temperature as the primary property. The property is expressed as a temperature.

Discovery

You describe endpoints that support Alexa.TemperatureSensor using the standard discovery mechanism described in Alexa.Discovery.

Set retrievable to true for the properties that you report when Alexa sends your skill a state report request. Set proactivelyReported to true for the properties that you proactively report to Alexa in a change report.

Use TEMPERATURE_SENSOR for the display category. For the full list of display categories, see display categories.

Discover response example

The following example shows a Discover.Response message for a thermostat that supports the Alexa.TemperatureSensor and Alexa.ThermostatController interfaces. Sensor devices must also implement the endpoint health interface. In this example, the endpoint is a triple-setpoint thermostat, with three modes, and that does not support scheduling.

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{
  "event": {
    "header": {
      "namespace": "Alexa.Discovery",
      "name": "Discover.Response",
      "payloadVersion": "3",
      "messageId": "Unique identifier, preferably a version 4 UUID"
    },
    "payload": {
      "endpoints": [
        {
          "endpointId": "Unique ID of the endpoint",
          "manufacturerName": "Manufacturer of the endpoint",
          "description": "Smart Thermostat by Thermostat Maker",
          "friendlyName": "Hallway Thermostat",
          "displayCategories": ["THERMOSTAT", "TEMPERATURE_SENSOR"],
          "cookie": {},
          "capabilities": [
            {
              "type": "AlexaInterface",
              "interface": "Alexa.TemperatureSensor",
              "version": "3",
              "properties": {
                "supported": [
                  {
                    "name": "temperature"
                  }
                ],
                "proactivelyReported": true,
                "retrievable": true
              }
            },
            {
              "type": "AlexaInterface",
              "interface": "Alexa.ThermostatController",
              "version": "3.1",
              "properties": {
                "supported": [
                  {
                    "name": "targetSetpoint"
                  },
                  {
                    "name": "lowerSetpoint"
                  },
                  {
                    "name": "upperSetpoint"
                  },
                  {
                    "name": "thermostatMode"
                  }
                ],
                "proactivelyReported": true,
                "retrievable": true
              },
              "configuration": {
                "supportedModes": [ "HEAT", "COOL", "AUTO" ],
                "supportsScheduling": false
              }
            },
            {
              "type": "AlexaInterface",
              "interface": "Alexa.EndpointHealth",
              "version": "3",
              "properties": {
                "supported": [
                  {
                    "name":"connectivity"
                  }
                ],
                "proactivelyReported": true,
                "retrievable": true
              }
            },
            {
              "type": "AlexaInterface",
              "interface": "Alexa",
              "version": "3"
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

State reporting

Alexa sends a ReportState directive to request information about the state of an endpoint. When Alexa sends a ReportState directive, you send a StateReport event in response. The response contains the current state of all retrievable properties in the context object. You identify your retrievable properties in your discovery response. For details about state reports, see Understand State and Change Reporting.

StateReport response example

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{
  "event": {
    "header": {
      "namespace": "Alexa",
      "name": "StateReport",
      "messageId": "Unique identifier, preferably a version 4 UUID",
      "correlationToken": "Opaque correlation token",
      "payloadVersion": "3"
    },
    "endpoint": {
      "scope": {
        "type": "BearerToken",
        "token": "OAuth2.0 bearer token"
      },
      "endpointId": "Endpoint ID"
    },
    "payload": {}
  },
  "context": {
    "properties": [
      {
        "namespace": "Alexa.TemperatureSensor",
        "name": "temperature",
        "value": {
          "value": 19.9,
          "scale": "CELSIUS"
        },
        "timeOfSample": "2017-02-03T16:20:50.52Z",
        "uncertaintyInMilliseconds": 1000
      },
      {
        "namespace": "Alexa.ThermostatController",
        "name": "thermostatMode",
        "value": "HEAT",
        "timeOfSample": "2017-02-03T16:20:50.52Z",
        "uncertaintyInMilliseconds": 500
      },
      {
        "namespace": "Alexa.ThermostatController",
        "name": "targetSetpoint",
        "value": {
          "value": 20.0,
          "scale": "CELSIUS"
        },
        "timeOfSample": "2017-02-03T16:20:50.52Z",
        "uncertaintyInMilliseconds": 500
      },
      {
        "namespace": "Alexa.EndpointHealth",
        "name": "connectivity",
        "value": {
          "value": "OK"
        },
        "timeOfSample": "2017-02-03T16:20:50.52Z",
        "uncertaintyInMilliseconds": 0
      }
    ]
  }
}

Change reporting

You send a ChangeReport event to proactively report changes in the state of an endpoint. You identify the properties that you proactively report in your discovery response. For details about change reports, see Understand State and Change Reporting.

ChangeReport event example

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{  
  "event": {
    "header": {
      "namespace": "Alexa",
      "name": "ChangeReport",
      "messageId": "Unique identifier, preferably a version 4 UUID",
      "payloadVersion": "3"
    },
    "endpoint": {
      "scope": {
        "type": "BearerToken",
        "token": "OAuth2.0 bearer token"
      },
      "endpointId": "Endpoint ID"
    },
    "payload": {
      "change": {
        "cause": {
          "type": "PHYSICAL_INTERACTION"
        },
        "properties": [
          {
            "namespace": "Alexa.ThermostatController",
            "name": "targetSetpoint",
            "value": {
              "value": 18.0,
              "scale": "CELSIUS"
            },
            "timeOfSample": "2017-02-03T16:20:50.52Z",
            "uncertaintyInMilliseconds": 500
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  },
  "context": {
    "properties": [
      {
        "namespace": "Alexa.TemperatureSensor",
        "name": "temperature",
        "value": {
          "value": 19.1,
          "scale": "CELSIUS"
        },
        "timeOfSample": "2017-02-03T16:20:50.52Z",
        "uncertaintyInMilliseconds": 1000
      },
      {
        "namespace": "Alexa.ThermostatController",
        "name": "thermostatMode",
        "value": "COOL",
        "timeOfSample": "2017-02-03T16:20:50.52Z",
        "uncertaintyInMilliseconds": 500
      },
      {
        "namespace": "Alexa.EndpointHealth",
        "name": "connectivity",
        "value": {
          "value": "OK"
        },
        "timeOfSample": "2017-02-03T16:20:50.52Z",
        "uncertaintyInMilliseconds": 0
      }
    ]
  }
}