Make a skill do something

Prerequisites

This documentation considers that you do not not start your skill developpments from sratch, it asumes that you first fetch the linto-skill-template source-code as a bootstrap architecture

git clone https://github.com/linto-ai/linto-skills-template skills/linto-skills-template
cd skills/linto-skills-template
npm install

We recommend you to have some Node-Red knowledge guide (create your first node).

tip

Most of the LinTO skills we currently maintain are for educational purposes, maybe you want to adapt the following doc with a more complex bootstrap. Have a look at other demonstration skills source code

Architecture

Here the global architecture of a skill.

my-linto-skill
├── /controllers                         --> Skill action code
│   ├── ... .js
├── /data                                --> Skill data
│   ├── tts.json                            --> Text-to-speech answers - Vocal feedback phrases templates
│   └── command.md                          --> Commands, example phrases, for lexical seeding (NLU/LM)
├── /events                              --> Skill intent folder
│   ├── myEvent.js                          --> FileName correspond to an intent
│   ├── ... .js
├── linto-skill-demo.html                --> Skill view (UI insde node red)
├── linto-skill-demo.js                  --> Main file - that gets injected into Node-RED
└── package.json

Make my skill

In that guide we plan to make a skill who can answer with hello when the intent greeting is triggered.

First step, make my event

Create an event greeting, simply create a file greeting.js in the events folder. All Javascript files in this folder are automatically registred as intents where the corresponding skill code will trigger

Secondly make your skill.

// filename : greeting.js
module.exports = function (msg) {
  // You can add you'r own code also
  return {
    say: {  // the text output that linTo will say
      phonetic: 'hello',
      text: 'hello'
    }
  }
}

Lastly you can refer to Install the skill to try it.

Code

Make a controller

The objective of a controller is to have a clean code. Similar to an event/intent, you need to create a file in controllers folder ( ex : addition.js ). Any controller file will be automatically loaded.

The implementation is similar to an event :

// filename : addition.js
module.exports = function (a, b) {
  return a + b  // Addition 
}

To use a controller :

let myAdditionResult = this.controller.addition(5,8) // For the example above
this.controller.controllerFileName(x,y) // For other case

Make an async controller / event

Simply create your function with an async fuction

module.exports = async function (msg) { ... }

Data Folder

Json file are loaded and will be accessible with the key : skillConfig.

  this.skillConfig['en-US'] // data/tts.json -> key en-US
  this.skillConfig['fr-FR'] // data/tts.json -> key fr-FR

The command file is located in the data folder. The following guide will help you for this - Declare intentions and command trigger phrases

Rename a skill

Renaming a skill name can be tedious, one mistake can disable the skill until everything is fixed.

Firstly to rename a skill those files need to be edited:

• linto-skill-demo.js
• linto-skill-demo.html
• package.json

Secondly replace all following infos by the desired name. Be carefull they are case sensitive.

• linto-skill-demo by linto-skill-custom-name (including file name)
• lintoSkillDemo by lintoSkillCustomName

Then you'll see your skill updated with the new name.