Pipeline of an Alexa Skill with GitHub Actions

In this article, we discuss how to implement a Devops pipeline for your Alexa Skill using GitHub Actions.

Xavier Portilla Edo

CORE ·

Sep. 21, 20 · Tutorial

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As we saw in the previous post, we have developed an entire pipeline for an Alexa Skill using CircleCI. Now we are going to build the same, but using the new continuous integration tool provided by GitHub, GitHub Actions in order to understand how it works and see the differences compared to the previous CI/CD platform used.

In turn, we are going to use the ASK CLI v2 and we will also use the file structure from an Alexa Skill provided by this new second version.

Prerequisites

Here are the technologies used in this project:

Amazon Developer Account - How to create an account
AWS Account - Sign up here for free
ASK CLI - Install and configure ASK CLI
GitHub Account - Sign up here for free
Visual Studio Code

The Alexa Skills Kit Command Line Interface (ASK CLI) is a tool for us to manage our Alexa Skills and its related resources, such as AWS Lambda functions. With the ASK CLI, we have access to the Skill Management API, which allows us to manage Alexa Skills through the command line.

If you want to create a skill with ASK CLI v2, follow the steps described in the official Amazon Alexa documentation.

We are going to use this tool to perform some steps in our pipeline.

Let’s DevOps!

GitHub Actions

Github actions

GitHub Actions helps us to automate tasks within the software development lifecycle. GitHub Actions is event-driven, which means that we can run a series of commands after a specific event has occurred. For example, whenever someone creates a pull request for a repository, we can automatically run a pipeline on GitHub Actions.

An event automatically triggers the workflow, which contains one or more jobs. Then the jobs use steps to control the order in which the actions are executed. These actions are the commands that automate certain processes.

Pipeline

pipeline

We are going to explain job by job what is happening in our pipeline. First, the workflow jobs will be defined under the jobs node in the GitHub Actions configuration file:

Checkout

The checkout job will perform the following tasks:

Code checkout.
Give execution permission to run all tests

    YAML
   
x

  checkout:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    name: Checkout
    steps:
      # To use this repository's private action,
      # you must check out the repository
      - name: Checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@v2
      - run: |
          chmod +x -R ./test;
          ls -la

Build

The build job will perform the following tasks:

Code checkout.
Run npm install to download all Node.js dependencies

    YAML
   
x

  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    name: Build
    needs: checkout
    steps:
      # To use this repository's private action,
      # you must check out the repository
    - name: Checkout
      uses: actions/checkout@v2
    - run: |
        cd lambda;
        npm install

Pretests

The pretest job runs the quality check of the static code. See the full explanation here.

Test

The test job runs the unit tests. See the full explanation here.

Code Coverage

The codecov job will run the code coverage report. See the full explanation here.

Deploy

The deploy job will deploy the Alexa skill to the Alexa cloud in the development stage. See the full explanation here.

Testing the Voice User Interface

These jobs will verify our interaction model. See the full explanation here.

Integration tests

These jobs will check the interaction model and our backend as well. See the full explanation here.

End to End Tests

Bespoken

These jobs verify the entire system using voice as input thanks to Bespoken. See the full explanation here.

Validation Tests

These jobs will validate the Alexa Skill before submitting it for certification. See the full explanation here.

Store-artifacts

The store-artifacts job will perform the following tasks:

Download the code.
Store the code of our Alexa Skill as an artifact. It will be accessible on GitHub Actions whenever we want to see it.

    YAML
   
x

  store-artifacts:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    name: Submit
    needs: submit
    steps:
    # To use this repository's private action,
    # you must check out the repository
    - name: Checkout
      uses: actions/checkout@v2}
    - name: Upload code
      uses: actions/upload-artifact@v2
      with:
        name: code
        path: ${{ github.workspace }}

Submit

These jobs will send the Alexa Skill for certification. See the full explanation here.

Workflow

At the end of the GitHub Actions configuration file, we will define our pipeline as a GitHub Actions workflow that will execute the jobs explained above:

    YAML
   
 

     
    

      

     

      

     

     

    
x

          

         

          

         

            
          
on: [push]
jobs:
  checkout:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    name: Checkout
    steps:
      # To use this repository's private action,
      # you must check out the repository
      - name: Checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@v2
      - run: |
          chmod +x -R ./test;
          ls -la
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    name: Build
    needs: checkout
    steps:
      # To use this repository's private action,
      # you must check out the repository
    - name: Checkout
      uses: actions/checkout@v2
    - run: |
        cd lambda;
        npm install
  pretest:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    name: Pre-test
    needs: build
    steps:
    # To use this repository's private action,
    # you must check out the repository
      # To use this repository's private action,
      # you must check out the repository
    - name: Checkout
      uses: actions/checkout@v2
    - run: |
        cd lambda;
        npm install;
        npm run lint;
        npm run lint-html
    - name: Upload results
      uses: actions/upload-artifact@v2
      with:
        name: eslint-report
        path: lambda/reports/eslint/
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    name: Test
    needs: pretest
    steps:
    # To use this repository's private action,
    # you must check out the repository
    - name: Checkout
      uses: actions/checkout@v2
    - run: |
        cd lambda;
        npm install;
        npm run test
    - name: Upload results
      uses: actions/upload-artifact@v2
      with:
        name: unit-tests-report-html
        path: lambda/mochawesome-report/
    - name: Upload results
      uses: actions/upload-artifact@v2
      with:
        name: unit-tests-report-xml
        path: lambda/reports/mocha/
    
  codecov:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    name: Code Coverage
    needs: test
    steps:
    # To use this repository's private action,
    # you must check out the repository
    - name: Checkout
      uses: actions/checkout@v2
    - run: |
        cd lambda;
        npm install;
        npm run codecov
      env: # Or as an environment variable
        CODECOV_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.CODECOV_TOKEN }}
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    name: Deploy
    needs: codecov
    steps:
    # To use this repository's private action,
    # you must check out the repository
    - name: Checkout
      uses: actions/checkout@v2
    - run: |
        sudo npm install -g ask-cli;
        sudo apt-get install -y jq
        cd lambda;
        npm install;
        npm run copy-package;
        cd src;
        npm run build-production
    - run: ls -la && ask deploy --ignore-hash  
      env: # Or as an environment variable
        CODECOV_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.CODECOV_TOKEN }}
        ASK_ACCESS_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.ASK_ACCESS_TOKEN }}
        ASK_REFRESH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.ASK_REFRESH_TOKEN }}
        ASK_VENDOR_ID: ${{ secrets.ASK_VENDOR_ID }}
        AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID: ${{ secrets.AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID }}
        AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY: ${{ secrets.AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY }}
        SKILL_ID: ${{ secrets.SKILL_ID }}
  check-utterance-conflicts:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    name: Check Utterance Conflicts
    needs: deploy
    steps:
    # To use this repository's private action,
    # you must check out the repository
    - name: Checkout
      uses: actions/checkout@v2
    - run: |
        sudo npm install -g ask-cli;
        chmod +x -R ./test;
        cd test/vui-test/;
        ./interaction_model_checker.sh $SKILL_ID v2
      env: # Or as an environment variable
        CODECOV_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.CODECOV_TOKEN }}
        ASK_ACCESS_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.ASK_ACCESS_TOKEN }}
        ASK_REFRESH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.ASK_REFRESH_TOKEN }}
        ASK_VENDOR_ID: ${{ secrets.ASK_VENDOR_ID }}
        AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID: ${{ secrets.AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID }}
        AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY: ${{ secrets.AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY }}
        SKILL_ID: ${{ secrets.SKILL_ID }}
  check-utterance-resolution:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    name: Check Utterance Resolution
    needs: deploy
    steps:
    # To use this repository's private action,
    # you must check out the repository
    - name: Checkout
      uses: actions/checkout@v2
    - run: |
        sudo npm install -g ask-cli;
        chmod +x -R ./test;
        cd test/vui-test/;
        ./utterance_resolution_checker.sh $SKILL_ID v2
      env: # Or as an environment variable
        CODECOV_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.CODECOV_TOKEN }}
        ASK_ACCESS_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.ASK_ACCESS_TOKEN }}
        ASK_REFRESH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.ASK_REFRESH_TOKEN }}
        ASK_VENDOR_ID: ${{ secrets.ASK_VENDOR_ID }}
        AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID: ${{ secrets.AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID }}
        AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY: ${{ secrets.AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY }}
        SKILL_ID: ${{ secrets.SKILL_ID }}
  check-utterance-evaluation:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    name: Check Utterance Evaluation
    needs: deploy
    steps:
    # To use this repository's private action,
    # you must check out the repository
    - name: Checkout
      uses: actions/checkout@v2
    - run: |
        sudo npm install -g ask-cli;
        chmod +x -R ./test;
        cd test/vui-test/;
        ./utterance_evaluation_checker.sh $SKILL_ID v2
      env: # Or as an environment variable
        CODECOV_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.CODECOV_TOKEN }}
        ASK_ACCESS_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.ASK_ACCESS_TOKEN }}
        ASK_REFRESH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.ASK_REFRESH_TOKEN }}
        ASK_VENDOR_ID: ${{ secrets.ASK_VENDOR_ID }}
        AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID: ${{ secrets.AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID }}
        AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY: ${{ secrets.AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY }}
        SKILL_ID: ${{ secrets.SKILL_ID }}
  integration-test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    name: Integration test
    needs: check-utterance-evaluation
    steps:
    # To use this repository's private action,
    # you must check out the repository
    - name: Checkout
      uses: actions/checkout@v2
    - run: |
        sudo npm install -g ask-cli;
        chmod +x -R ./test;
        sudo apt-get install -y expect
        cd test/integration-test/;
        ./simple-dialog-checker.sh $SKILL_ID
      env: # Or as an environment variable
        CODECOV_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.CODECOV_TOKEN }}
        ASK_ACCESS_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.ASK_ACCESS_TOKEN }}
        ASK_REFRESH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.ASK_REFRESH_TOKEN }}
        ASK_VENDOR_ID: ${{ secrets.ASK_VENDOR_ID }}
        AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID: ${{ secrets.AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID }}
        AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY: ${{ secrets.AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY }}
        SKILL_ID: ${{ secrets.SKILL_ID }}
  end-to-test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    name: End-to-end test
    needs: integration-test
    steps:
    # To use this repository's private action,
    # you must check out the repository
    - name: Checkout
      uses: actions/checkout@v2
    - run: |
        sudo npm install -g ask-cli;
        sudo npm install -g bespoken-tools;
        chmod +x -R ./test;
        bst test --config test/e2e-bespoken-test/testing.json
      env: # Or as an environment variable
        CODECOV_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.CODECOV_TOKEN }}
        ASK_ACCESS_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.ASK_ACCESS_TOKEN }}
        ASK_REFRESH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.ASK_REFRESH_TOKEN }}
        ASK_VENDOR_ID: ${{ secrets.ASK_VENDOR_ID }}
        AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID: ${{ secrets.AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID }}
        AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY: ${{ secrets.AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY }}
        SKILL_ID: ${{ secrets.SKILL_ID }}
    - name: Upload code
      uses: actions/upload-artifact@v2
      with:
        name: bespoken-report
        path: test_output/
  
  validation-test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    name: Validation test
    needs: end-to-test
    steps:
    # To use this repository's private action,
    # you must check out the repository
    - name: Checkout
      uses: actions/checkout@v2
    - run: |
        sudo npm install -g ask-cli;
        chmod +x -R ./test;
        cd test/validation-test/;
        ./skill_validation_checker.sh $SKILL_ID v2
      env: # Or as an environment variable
        CODECOV_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.CODECOV_TOKEN }}
        ASK_ACCESS_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.ASK_ACCESS_TOKEN }}
        ASK_REFRESH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.ASK_REFRESH_TOKEN }}
        ASK_VENDOR_ID: ${{ secrets.ASK_VENDOR_ID }}
        AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID: ${{ secrets.AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID }}
        AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY: ${{ secrets.AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY }}
        SKILL_ID: ${{ secrets.SKILL_ID }}
    
  submit:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    name: Submit
    needs: validation-test
    steps:
    # To use this repository's private action,
    # you must check out the repository
    - name: Checkout
      uses: actions/checkout@v2
    - run: |
        sudo npm install -g ask-cli;
        chmod +x -R ./test;
        cd test/submit/;
        ./submit.sh $SKILL_ID v2
      env: # Or as an environment variable
        CODECOV_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.CODECOV_TOKEN }}
        ASK_ACCESS_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.ASK_ACCESS_TOKEN }}
        ASK_REFRESH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.ASK_REFRESH_TOKEN }}
        ASK_VENDOR_ID: ${{ secrets.ASK_VENDOR_ID }}
        AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID: ${{ secrets.AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID }}
        AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY: ${{ secrets.AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY }}
        SKILL_ID: ${{ secrets.SKILL_ID }}
  store-artifacts:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    name: Store Artifacts
    needs: submit
    steps:
    # To use this repository's private action,
    # you must check out the repository
    - name: Checkout
      uses: actions/checkout@v2
    - name: Upload code
      uses: actions/upload-artifact@v2
      with:
        name: code
        path: ${{ github.workspace }}

      

     

The GitHub Actions configuration file is located at .github/workflows/main.yml.

Resources

DevOps Wikipedia - Wikipedia
Node.js SDK Official Documentation - Node.js SDK Official Documentation
Official documentation of the Alexa Skills Kit - Official documentation of the Alexa Skills Kit
Official GitHub Actions documentation - Official GitHub Actions documentation

Conclusion

Having developed the same pipeline in CircleCI as you can read in this post, we can write down the following conclusions based on the problems we have encountered during the development of this project:

GitHub Actions is a very young platform (it is barely a year and a half old).
We can find basic functionality for any DevOps pipeline (control flows, manual approval steps, etc.) that is not yet available in GitHub Actions.
Executing commands in a specific Docker container is only possible through the Actions available in its [marketplace] (https://github.com/marketplace). Because of this, it somewhat complicates working with Docker executors on this platform.

You can find the code on my GitHub.

That’s it!

I hope you find it useful! If you have any doubts or questions, feel free to contact me or post a comment below.

Happy coding!

Feel free to join to the Voice Devs Community by clicking here.

GitHub Pipeline (software) Command-line interface career Continuous Integration/Deployment Software development code style

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