Alexa CLI

Control Amazon Alexa devices and smart home via the `alexacli` CLI. Use when a user asks to speak/announce on Echo devices, control lights/thermostats/locks, send voice commands, or query Alexa.

Security Scan

The skill is internally consistent: it wraps the alexacli CLI, requests the alexacli binary (or offers brew/go install), and the instructions match the described Alexa control capabilities.

Purpose & Capability

Name/description align with requirements and instructions. The only required binary is alexacli and the SKILL.md shows exactly the CLI commands the skill will run; no unrelated credentials, binaries, or config paths are requested.

Instruction Scope

Instructions stay within the Alexa-control scope (auth, list devices, speak, command, play URL, ask/askplus). They reference a local config file (~/.alexa-cli/config.json) and an interactive browser-based auth flow; these are expected but allow high-impact operations (announcements, locks, unlocks, playing external audio). Verify you are comfortable with an agent having the ability to perform those actions.

Install Mechanism

Install options are a third-party Homebrew tap (buddyh/tap/alexacli) or a Go module from github.com/buddyh/alexa-cli. Both are typical but are third-party sources; they will install/compile code on the host. No obscure shorteners or direct arbitrary downloads are used.

Credentials

No required environment variables or unrelated credentials are requested. An optional ALEXA_REFRESH_TOKEN is declared, which is reasonable for non-interactive use. The metadata and instructions do not request other secrets.

Persistence & Privilege

Skill is not force-included (always:false) and does not request system-wide changes. However, allowing autonomous invocation (the platform default) means an agent using this skill could perform impactful actions on your smart home; consider whether you want the agent to act without manual confirmation.

Assessment

This skill appears to do what it says: it runs the alexacli CLI to control your Echo devices. Before installing, consider: 1) Review the Homebrew tap and GitHub repo (buddyh/alexa-cli) yourself to ensure you trust the source. 2) Installing via brew or go will place/compile a binary on disk — prefer manual install if you want to inspect code first. 3) The skill enables high-impact actions (announcements, playing remote audio, locking/unlocking); if you allow autonomous agent invocation, the agent could run those commands without further confirmation. 4) Auth tokens are stored at ~/.alexa-cli/config.json and are valid ~14 days; treat them as sensitive and prefer secure storage. If you want a lower-risk setup: install and authenticate alexacli yourself, then only enable the skill when you need it (or avoid granting the agent autonomous invocation).

Use alexacli to control Amazon Echo devices and smart home via the unofficial Alexa API.

Authentication

# Browser login (recommended)
alexacli auth

# Non-US accounts
alexacli auth --domain amazon.de
alexacli auth --domain amazon.co.uk

# Check auth status
alexacli auth status
alexacli auth status --verify    # validate token against API

# Remove credentials
alexacli auth logout

Token is valid ~14 days. Configuration stored in ~/.alexa-cli/config.json.

Devices

alexacli devices
alexacli devices --json

Text-to-Speech

# Speak on a specific device
alexacli speak "Hello world" -d "Kitchen Echo"

# Announce to ALL devices
alexacli speak "Dinner is ready!" --announce

# Device name matching is flexible
alexacli speak "Build complete" -d Kitchen

Voice Commands (Smart Home Control)

Send any command as if you spoke it to Alexa:

# Lights, switches, plugs
alexacli command "turn off the living room lights" -d Kitchen
alexacli command "dim the bedroom lights to 50 percent" -d Bedroom

# Thermostats
alexacli command "set thermostat to 72 degrees" -d Bedroom
alexacli command "what's the temperature inside" -d Kitchen

# Locks
alexacli command "lock the front door" -d Kitchen

# Music
alexacli command "play jazz music" -d "Living Room"
alexacli command "stop" -d "Living Room"

# Questions
alexacli command "what's the weather" -d Kitchen

# Timers
alexacli command "set a timer for 10 minutes" -d Kitchen

Ask (Get Response Back)

Send a command and capture Alexa's text response:

alexacli ask "what's the thermostat set to" -d Kitchen
# Output: The thermostat is set to 68 degrees.

alexacli ask "what's on my calendar today" -d Kitchen --json

Alexa+ (LLM Conversations)

Interact with Amazon's LLM-powered assistant:

# Quick start - auto-selects conversation
alexacli askplus -d "Echo Show" "What's the capital of France?"

# Multi-turn retains context
alexacli askplus -d "Echo Show" "What about Germany?"

# List conversations
alexacli conversations

# View conversation history
alexacli fragments "amzn1.conversation.xxx"

Audio Playback

Play MP3 audio through Echo devices:

alexacli play --url "https://example.com/audio.mp3" -d "Echo Show"

Requirements: MP3 at 48kbps, 22050Hz sample rate, HTTPS URL.

History

alexacli history
alexacli history --limit 5
alexacli history --json

Command Reference

Command	Description
alexacli devices	List all Echo devices
alexacli speak <text> -d <device>	Text-to-speech on device
alexacli speak <text> --announce	Announce to all devices
alexacli command <text> -d <device>	Voice command (smart home, music, etc.)
alexacli ask <text> -d <device>	Send command, get response back
alexacli conversations	List Alexa+ conversation IDs
alexacli fragments <id>	View Alexa+ conversation history
alexacli askplus -d <device> <text>	Alexa+ LLM conversation
alexacli play --url <url> -d <device>	Play MP3 via SSML
alexacli auth	Browser login or manual token
alexacli auth status [--verify]	Show auth status
alexacli auth logout	Remove credentials
alexacli history	View recent voice activity

Notes

• Uses Amazon's unofficial API (same as Alexa app)
• Refresh token valid ~14 days, re-run alexacli auth if expired
• Device names support partial, case-insensitive matching
• For AI/agentic use, alexacli command with natural language is preferred
• Add --verbose or -v to any command for debug output