Echo devices and rooms

With more than one Kodi, Encore needs to know which one each Echo controls. It learns about Echos as they talk to it, and you link them on the Echo devices page.

How an Echo is matched to a Kodi

For every request Encore picks a Kodi instance in this order:

1. A room named in the request. “Play Dune in the bedroom” plays on the bedroom’s Kodi, whichever Echo heard it.
2. The Echo’s linked instance.
3. The default instance for unlinked Echos (see Kodi instances).

If none applies, Alexa answers “This Echo isn’t linked to a Kodi yet.”

Link an Echo

An Echo appears on the Echo devices page the first time it sends Encore a request, and the overview flags new, unlinked ones. Say anything to the skill from that Echo (“Alexa, open encore”), then on its card:

• give it a name you’ll recognise in the request log, such as “Lounge Echo Show”,
• choose the Kodi instance it controls,
• optionally put it in a room.

The page also shows when each Echo was first and last seen and how many requests it has made. Forgetting an Echo removes it until it talks to Encore again.

Rooms

A room has a name, an optional Kodi instance that plays there, and spoken aliases: other names people use for it (“living room” and “family room” for the lounge). Names and aliases must be unique across rooms.

Requests that start playback accept a room at the end: “Alexa, ask encore to play the next episode of Severance in the bedroom”, “… put on some jazz in the kitchen”. Encore ignores a leading “the”, matches the name against rooms and their aliases, and plays on that room’s Kodi. A room without a Kodi instance falls back to the Echo’s own instance; a name that matches no room gets “I don’t know a room called …”. The voice commands pages show which commands take a {Room}.

Rooms work as soon as you add them. They also become slot values the next time you deploy the skill, which helps Alexa hear unusual room names.

Declare rooms and devices in config

For stateless deployments or if you prefer code, declare rooms and Echo links in config. Rooms are matched by name (their aliases are made to match exactly) and devices by their Alexa device ID; rooms and devices not in config are left alone.

encore.yml

kodi:
  - name: Lounge
    url: http://192.168.1.20:8080/jsonrpc
  - name: Bedroom
    url: http://192.168.1.21:8080/jsonrpc
rooms:
  - name: Lounge
    kodi: Lounge
    aliases: [living room, family room]
  - name: Bedroom
    kodi: Bedroom
devices:
  - id: amzn1.ask.device.EXAMPLE-DEVICE-ID
    name: Lounge Echo Show
    kodi: Lounge
    room: Lounge

The Alexa device ID (amzn1.ask.device.…) of a new Echo is shown in the request log and on its card. A room’s or device’s kodi must name an instance in the kodi list.