Google Smart Speaker How To Make Use Custom Intent?

[parkHi]

I aim to trigger a request to Cloud Functions upon receiving a specific intent command from Google's smart speaker and have it processed by calling an external API. My plan was to develop this using Actions on Google Console.

However, in the Develop tab of Actions on Google Console, I only see Invocation (DisplayName) and Actions (webhook, log, SDK settings) as the available options. Despite connecting to the Cloud Functions trigger via a prepared webhook, nothing happens during testing.

I noticed that functions developed by other developers for Direct Actions are still operational, which makes me wonder what I might be missing.

Here are my questions:

1. What exactly are Direct Actions?

2. I came across terms like Scenes / Intents and learned that support for Conversation Actions has ended. Does this mean customizing Scenes / Intents to process specific actions is now impossible?

3. If development through Actions on Google Console is not feasible, is there an alternative approach? In my preliminary research, I found something about App Actions, but it seemed like it would require a significant development effort.

4. Is it possible to invoke Cloud Functions via the HomeGraph API? It appears that it needs to be done through Google Assistant, but I can't find any information on customizing Google Assistant for this purpose.

NAfter creating a project in Consle Actions, set the Display Name. Even after setting the Fulfillment URL and testing with an actual speaker in test mode, the Display Name is not recognized.

[sipriyadarshi · Accepted solution]

Hello @parkHi ,

Thanks for reaching out to us with your queries. To answer to your questions :

1. Direct Actions let you build experiences where the Google Assistant handles the entire user interaction and you handle the fulfillment. Direct Actions are great for home automation, media, communications use cases, and more.
2. You can make use of App Actions to customize Scenes/Intents to process specific actions. More information in this regard can be found here. 
3. The following alternative approaches are available which one can still use for their developments.
4. It is possible to invoke cloud functions via the HomeGraph API. You can follow to following codelab to get an idea of how to implement.