Dialogue API Reference

This API contains two types of messages:
Inbound Messages are produced by the platform, you should "subscribe" and react to them
Outbound Messages are sent to the platform, you should "publish" them and the platform will react accordingly
Intent
Inbound Message
MQTT Topic
Android Listener
iOS Closure
You should subscribe tohermes/intent/<intentName>.
Replace <intentName> by the name of the intent you want to handle. You can use the MQTT wildcard # to receive all intents.
You should register a listener using setOnIntentDetectedListeneron SnipsPlatformClient.
You can write your closure in the onIntentDetected property on SnipsPlatform client.
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let snips = SnipsPlatform(...)
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snips.onIntentDetected = { intent in
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    // Your code here
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}
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This is the main message the handler code should subscribe to. It is sent by the Dialogue Manager when an intent has been detected.
Note that it is the handler's responsibility to inform the Dialogue Manager of what it should do with the current session by sending either a Continue Session or an End Session with the current sessionId
Payload
Key
Value
sessionId
String - Session of the intent detection. The client code must use it to continue or end the session.
customData
Optional String - Custom data provided in the Start Session or a Continue Session.
siteId
String - Site where the user interaction took place.
input
String - The user input that has generated this intent.
intent
Object - Structured description of the intent classification, see Intent Classification below.
slots
Optional Array of Objects - Structured description of the detected slots for this intent if any, see Slot below.
asrTokens
Optional Double Array of Objects - Structured  description of the tokens the ASR captured on for this intent. The first level of arrays represents each invocation of the ASR, the second one are the tokens captured, see ASR Token below. Note that this is not mapped on Android and iOS yet
asrConfidence
Optional Number - ASR confidence score between 0 and 1, 1 being sure.
alternatives
Optional Array of Objects - Structured description of alternatives intent resolution see Intent Alternatives below​
Intent Classification
Key
Value
intentName
String - The name of the detected intent.
confidenceScore
Number - The probability of the detection, between 0 and 1, 1 being sure.
Slot
Key
Value
confidence
Number - Confidence of the slot, between 0 and 1, 1 being confident.
raw_value
String - The raw value of the slot, as is was in the input.
value
String - The resolved value of the slot.
entity
String - The entity of the slot.
slotName
String - The name of the slot.
range
Optional Object - The range where the slot can be found in the input. The object contains 2 integer fields: start representing the beginning of the range (inclusive) and end representing the end (exclusive).
ASR Token
Key
Value
value
String - The value of the token
confidence
Number - Confidence of the token, between 0 and 1, 1 being confident
rangeStart
Integer - The start range in which the token is in the original input
rangeEnd
Integer -The end range in which the token is in the original input
time
Object - Time when this token was detected. The object contains 2 Number fields: start representing the start time and end representing the end time
Intent Alternative
Key
Value
intentName
String - The value of the token
confidenceScore
Number - Confidence of the token, between 0 and 1, 1 being confident
slots
Optional Array of Objects - Structured description of the detected slots for this alternative intent if any, see Slot below.
Start Session
Outbound Message
MQTT Topic
Android Method
iOS Method
You should publish to hermes/dialogueManager/startSession.
You should send a message using dialogueStartSession on SnipsPlatformClient.
Three methods are at your disposal to start a session:
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func startSession() throws
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func startSession(message: StartSessionMessage) throws
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func startSession(text: String? = nil, intentFilter: [String]? = nil, canBeEnqueued: Bool = true, sendIntentNotRecognized: Bool = false, customData: String? = nil, siteId: String? = nil) throws
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​
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// Usage
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let snips = SnipsPlatform(...)
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try? snips.startSession()
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You can send this message to programmatically initiate a new session. The Dialogue Manager will start the session by asking the TTS to say the text (if any) and wait for the answer of the end user.
Payload
Key
Value
siteId
Optional String - Site where to start the session
init
Object - Session initialization description: Action or Notification. See below
customData
Optional String - Additional information that can be provided by the handler. Each message related to the new session - sent by the Dialogue Manager - will contain this data
Session Initialization: Action
Use this type when you need the end user to respond
Key
Value
type
"action"
text
Optional String - Text that the TTS should say at the beginning of the session.
canBeEnqueued
Boolean - if true, the session will start when there is no pending one on this siteId, if false, the session is just dropped if there is running one.
intentFilter
Optional Array of Strings - A list of intents names to restrict the NLU resolution on the first query.
sendIntentNotRecognized
Optional Boolean -  Indicates whether the dialogue manager should handle non recognized intents by itself or sent them as an Intent Not Recognized for the client to handle. This setting applies only to the next conversation turn. The default value is false (and the dialogue manager will handle non recognized intents by itself)
Session Initialization: Notification
Use this type when you only want to inform the user of something without expecting a response.
Key
Value
type
"notification"
text
String - Text the TTS should say
Session Queued
Inbound Message
MQTT Topic
Android Listener
iOS Closure
You should subscribe tohermes/dialogueManager/sessionQueued.
You should register a listener using setOnSessionQueuedListeneron SnipsPlatformClient.
You can write your closure in the onSessionQueuedHandler property on SnipsPlatform client.
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let snips = SnipsPlatform(...)
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snips.onSessionQueuedHandler = { message in
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    // Your code here
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}
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This message is sent by the Dialogue Manager when it receives a Start Session message and the corresponding site is busy. Only Start Session messages with a notification initialisation or an action initialisation with the canBeEnqueued flag set to true can be enqueued. When the site is free again, this session will be started.
Payload
Key
Value
sessionId
String - Session identifier that was enqueued.
siteId
String - Site where the user interaction will take place.
customData
Optional String - Custom data provided in the Start Session .
Session Started
Inbound Message
MQTT Topic
Android Listener
iOS Closure
You should subscribe to hermes/dialogueManager/sessionStarted.
You should register a listener using setOnSessionStartedListener on SnipsPlatformClient.
You can write your closure in the onSessionStartedHandler property on SnipsPlatform client.
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let snips = SnipsPlatform(...)
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snips.onSessionStartedHandler = { message in
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    // Your code here
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}
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This message is sent by the Dialogue Manager when a new session is started, either following a wakeword or programmatically.
Payload
Key
Value
sessionId
String - Session identifier that was started.
siteId
String - Site where the user interaction is taking place.
customData
Optional String - Custom data provided in the Start Session .
Continue Session
Outbound Message
MQTT Topic
Android Method
iOS Method
You should publish to hermes/dialogueManager/continueSession.
You should send a message using dialogueContinueSession on SnipsPlatformClient.
Two methods are at your disposal to continue a session:
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func continueSession(sessionId: String, text: String, intentFilter: [String]?) throws
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func continueSession(message: ContinueSessionMessage) throws
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​
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// Usage
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let snips = SnipsPlatform(...)
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try? snips.continueSession(sessionId: "xxxx", text: "Next command")
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You should send this after receiving received an Intent when you want to continue the session for example to ask additional information to the end user.
Be sure to use the same sessionId as the one in the Intent message.
Payload
Key
Value
sessionId
String -  Identifier of the session to continue.
text
String - The text the TTS should say to start this additional request of the session.
intentFilter
Optional Array of String - A list of intents names to restrict the NLU resolution on the answer of this query. If this contains unknown intent names, the NLU will post an error message and the session will be closed.
customData
Optional String - an update to the session's custom data. If not provided, the custom data will stay the same.
sendIntentNotRecognized
Optional Boolean -  Indicates whether the dialogue manager should handle non recognized intents by itself or sent them as an Intent Not Recognized for the client to handle. This setting applies only to the next conversation turn. The default value is false (and the dialogue manager will handle non recognized intents by itself).
slot
Optional String,  requires intentFilter to contain a single value - If set, the dialogue engine will not run the the intent classification on the user response and go straight to slot filling, assuming the intent is the one passed in the intentFilter, and searching the value of the given slot
End Session
Outbound Message
MQTT Topic
Android Method
iOS Method
You should publish tohermes/dialogueManager/endSession.
You should send a message using dialogueEndSession on SnipsPlatformClient.
Two methods are at your disposal to end a session:
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func endSession(sessionId: String, text: String? = nil) throws
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func endSession(message: EndSessionMessage) throws
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​
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// Usage
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let snips = SnipsPlatform(...)
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try? snips.endSession(sessionId: "xxxx")
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You should send this after receiving received an Intent when you want to end the session.
Be sure to use the same sessionId as the one in the Intent message.
Payload
Key
Value
sessionId
String - Identifier of the session to end.
text
Optional String - The text the TTS should say to end the session.
If the text is null, the Dialog Manager will immediately send a Session Ended after receiving this message, otherwise, the Session Ended will be sent after the text is said.
Session Ended
Inbound Message
MQTT Topic
Android Listener
iOS Closure
You should subscribe to hermes/dialogueManager/sessionEnded.
You should register a listener using setOnSessionEndedListener on SnipsPlatformClient.
You can write your closure in the onSessionEndedHandler property on SnipsPlatform client.
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let snips = SnipsPlatform(...)
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snips.onSessionEndedHandler = { message in
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    // Your code here
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}
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This message is sent by the Dialogue Manager when a session is ended.
Payload
Key
Value
sessionId
String - Session identifier of the ended session.
customData
Optional String - Custom data provided in the Start Session or a Continue Session.
siteId
String - Site where the user interaction took place.
termination
Object - Structured description of why the session has been ended. See below.
Session Termination Type
Key
Value
reason
String - the reason why the session was ended this can have the following values:
nominal: the session ended as expected (a endSession message was received).
abortedByUser: the session aborted by the user.
intentNotRecognized: the session ended because no intent was successfully detected.
timeout: The session timed out because no response from one of the components or no Continue Session or End Session from the handler code was received in a timely manner
error: The session failed with an error.
Inbound Message
MQTT Topic
Android Listener
iOS Closure
You should subscribe to hermes/dialogueManager/intentNotRecognized.
You should register a listener using onIntentNotRecognizedListener on SnipsPlatformClient.
You can write your closure in the onIntentNotRecognizedHandler property on SnipsPlatform client.
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let snips = SnipsPlatform(...)
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snips.onIntentNotRecognizedHandler = { message in
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    // Your code here
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}
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This message is sent by the dialogue manager when it failed to recognize and intent AND you requested the dialogue manager to notify you of such events using the sendIntentNotRecognized flag in the last Start Session or Continue Session​
Payload
Key
Value
sessionId
String - Session identifier of the session that generated this intent not recognized event.
customData
Optional String - Custom data provided in the Start Session or a Continue Session.
siteId
String - Site where the user interaction took place.
input
Optional String - The input, if any that generated this event.
Configure
Outbound Message
MQTT Topic
Android Method
iOS Method
You should publish to hermes/dialogueManager/configure.
This feature is not available yet on Android.
​
You can send this message to programmatically configure the scope of intents that are enabled at a given time. By default, all intents are enabled by default unless specified otherwise in the console. Refers to the dedicated Console tutorial for further details. The behaviour implemented by the intentFilter attributes for the start session and continue session locally overwrites the set of enabled/disabled intents only for the next user turn.
Payload
Key
Value
siteId
Optional String - Site where to start the session
intents
Array of Intent configuration objects - see Intent configuration description below
Intent configuration
Key
Value
intentId
String  - Intent name to configure
enable
Boolean - if true, the intent will be enabled which means that the Intent message for the related intent_name is enabled and will be triggered if the intent is detected.
Entities Injection
Outbound Message
MQTT Topic
Android Method
iOS Method
You should publish to hermes/injection/perform.
You should send a InjectionRequestMessage message using requestInjection on SnipsPlatformClient.
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fun SnipsPlatformClient.requestInjection(injectionRequestMessage: InjectionRequestMessage)
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​
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// Usage
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val snipsPlatformClient = SnipsPlatformClient.Builder(...)
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val operations = listOf(InjectionOperation(InjectionKind.AddFromVanilla, mutableMapOf(Pair("locality", listOf("wonderland")))))
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val lexicon = mutableMapOf<String, List<String>>()
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val request = InjectionRequestMessage(operations, lexicon, null, null)
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​
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snipsPlatformClient.requestInjection(request)
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func requestInjection(with message: InjectionRequestMessage) throws
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​
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// Usage
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let snips = SnipsPlatform(...)
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let operation = InjectionRequestOperation(entities: ["locality": ["wonderland"], "region": ["wonderland"]], kind: .add)
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try! snips.requestInjection(with: InjectionRequestMessage(operations: [operation]))
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Entities injection allows you to update both the ASR and the NLU models directly on the device. Each intent within an assistant may contain some slots, and each slot has a specific type that we call an entity. If you have a contact_name entity that contains a list of contacts in an address book, Entities Injection lets you add new contact names to this list.
Once the injection has completed successfuly, there will be an injectionComplete message sent.
For a more in-depth explanation of how injection works, check the documentation​
Available operations
Two injection operations are currently supported: add and addFromVanilla. Other operations are under development.
add adds the list of values that you provide to the existing entity values.
addFromVanilla removes all the previously injected values to the entity, and then, adds the list of values provided. Note that the entity values coming from the console will be kept.
Let's illustrate this with an entity having two values: one and two. Here is how the entity values will be affected after performing some injection operations:
OperationKind
Values to inject
Supported entity values
​
​
one, two
add
three
one, two, three
add
four
one, two, three, four
addFromVanilla
five
one, two, five
add
six
one, two, five, six
The entity values to inject are specified in a JSON file which must respect the following format:
A key operations mapping to a list of operations
Each operation is a tuple (OperationKind, OperationData)
OperationKind is the type of injections to perform. See the Available operations section for the allowed operations.
OperationData is a dictionary mapping an entity name to a list of values (strings).
For instance, if you are willing to add "The Wolf of Wall Street" to your list of films, just write the following file:
Payload
Key
Type
Description
id
Optional String
Request identifier for the request
crossLanguage
Optional String
Language for cross-language G2P
lexicon
Optional Array of (Value, Array of Pronunciation)
List of pre-computed prononciations to add in a model
operations
Array of (InjectionKind, Array of (Entity, Array of EntityValue))
List of pre-computed prononciations to add in a model
Injection Complete
Inbound Message
MQTT Topic
Android Method
iOS Closure
You should publish to hermes/injection/complete.
You should register a listener using setOnInjectionComplete on SnipsPlatformClient.
You can write your closure in the onInjectionComplete property on SnipsPlatform client.
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let snips = SnipsPlatform(...)
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snips.onInjectionComplete = { message in
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    // Your code here
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}
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Once the injection request has been processed, the ASR and NLU are reloaded. Once reloaded, Snips Platform will post on this route.
Payload
Key
Type
Description
requestId
Optional String
Request identifier for the request
Injection Reset
Outbound Message
MQTT Topic
Android Method
iOS Method
You should publish to hermes/injection/reset/perform.
You should send a InjectionResetRequestMessage message using requestInjectionReset on SnipsPlatformClient.
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fun SnipsPlatformClient.requestInjectionReset(injectionResetRequestMessage: InjectionResetRequestMessage)
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func requestInjectionReset(with message: InjectionResetRequestMessage = InjectionResetRequestMessage()) throws
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​
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// Usage
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let snips = SnipsPlatform(...)
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snips.requestInjectionReset()
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Injection reset will delete previously injected entities and reboot the ASR & NLU. You don't need to relaunch the platform. Once the injection is complete, it will post a message on hermes.
Payload
Key
Type
Description
requestId
Optional String
Request identifier for the request
Injection Reset Complete
Inbound Message
MQTT Topic
Android Method
iOS Closure
You should publish to hermes/injection/reset/complete.
You should register a listener using setOnInjectionResetComplete on SnipsPlatformClient.
You can write your closure in the onInjectionResetComplete property on SnipsPlatform client.
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let snips = SnipsPlatform(...)
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snips.onInjectionResetComplete = { request in
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    // Your code here
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}
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Payload
Key
Type
Description
requestId
Optional String
Request identifier for the request
Reference
Hermes Reference
Last modified 2yr ago