---
layout: page
title: "Snips"
description: "Instructions how to integrate Snips within Home Assistant."
date: 2017-06-22 12:00
sidebar: true
comments: false
sharing: true
footer: true
logo: snips.png
ha_category: Voice
ha_release: 0.48
---

The [Snips Voice Platform](https://www.snips.ai) allows users to add powerful voice assistants to their Raspberry Pi devices without compromising on privacy. It runs 100% on-device, and does not require an internet connection. It features Hotword Detection, Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR), Natural Language Understanding (NLU) and Dialog Management.

The latest documentation can be found here: [Snips Platform Documentation](https://github.com/snipsco/snips-platform-documentation/wiki).

![Snips Modules](/images/screenshots/snips_modules.png)

Snips takes voice or text as input and produces *intents* as output, which are explicit representations of an intention behind an utterance and which can subsequently be used by Home Assistant to perform appropriate actions.

![Snips Modules](/images/screenshots/snips_nlu.png)


## {% linkable_title The Snips Voice Platform %}

### {% linkable_title Installation %}

The Snips Voice Platform is installed as a Docker image on Raspberry Pi with the following command:

```bash
(pi) $ curl https://install.snips.ai -sSf | sh
```

Snips can also be installed on a Debian/Ubuntu machine as well:

```bash
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install -y dirmngr
$ sudo bash -c  'echo "deb https://debian.snips.ai/$(lsb_release -cs) stable main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/snips.list'
$ sudo apt-key adv --keyserver pgp.mit.edu --recv-keys F727C778CCB0A455

$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install -y snips-platform-voice
```

### {% linkable_title Creating an assistant %}

<div class='videoWrapper'>
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/223255884" width="700" height="380" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div>

Snips assistants are created via the [Snips Console](https://console.snips.ai). Once trained, the assistant should be downloaded and copied to the Raspberry Pi:

```bash
$ scp assistantproj_XXX.zip pi@pi_hostname:/home/pi/assistant.zip
```

and installed locally via the `snips-install-assistant` helper script:

```bash
(pi) $ sudo snips-install-assistant assistant.zip
```

### {% linkable_title Running Snips %}

Make sure that a microphone is plugged to the Raspberry Pi. If you are having trouble setting up audio, we have written a guide on [Raspberry Pi Audio Configuration](https://github.com/snipsco/snips-platform-documentation/wiki/1.-Setup-the-Snips-Voice-Platform-on-your-Raspberry-Pi#configuring-the-audio).

Start the Snips Voice Platform using the `snips` command:

Raspberry Pi:

```bash
(pi) $ snips
```

Debian/Ubuntu:

```bash
$ sudo systemctl start "snips-*"
```

Snips is now ready to take voice commands from the microphone. To trigger the listening, simply say

> Hey Snips

followed by a command, e.g.

> Set the lights to green in the living room

We should see the transcribed phrase in the logs, as well as a properly parsed intent. The intent is published on MQTT, on the `hermes/intent/<slotName>` topic. The Snips Home Assistant component subscribes to this topic, and handles the intent according to the rules defined in `configuration.yaml`, as explained below.

#### {% linkable_title Optional: specifying an external MQTT broker %}

By default, Snips runs its own MQTT broker. But we can also tell Snips to use an external broker by specifying this when launching Snips. In this case, instead of running the `snips` command above (which assumes we are using the internal MQTT broker), we use the full launch command with explicitly specified parameters (replace `MQTT_BROKER_IP` and `MQTT_BROKER_PORT` with appropriate values):

Raspberry Pi:

```sh
$ docker run -t --rm --name snips --log-driver none \
    -v /home/pi/.asoundrc:/root/.asoundrc \
    -v /opt/snips/config:/opt/snips/config \
    --privileged -v /dev/snd:/dev/snd snipsdocker/platform \
    --mqtt MQTT_BROKER_IP:MQTT_BROKER_PORT
```
Debian/Ubuntu:

Edit the `/etc/snips.toml` file. See snips documentation for more information on configuring this

For more details on launch options, check the documentation on [Snips Platform Commands](https://github.com/snipsco/snips-platform-documentation/wiki/6.--Learn-more:-Platform-Commands#using-a-custom-mqtt-bus).

## {% linkable_title Home Assistant configuration %}

### {% linkable_title Specifying the MQTT broker %}

Messages between Snips and Home Assistant are passed via MQTT. We must tell Home Assistant which [MQTT broker](/docs/mqtt/) to use by adding the following entry to the `configuration.yaml` file:

```yaml
mqtt:
  broker: MQTT_BROKER_IP
  port: MQTT_BROKER_PORT
```

As explained above, Snips by default runs an MQTT broker on port 9898. So if we wish to use this broker, the entry will look as follows:

```yaml
mqtt:
  broker: 127.0.0.1
  port: 9898
```

Alternatively, MQTT can be configured to bridge messages between servers if using a custom MQTT broker such as `mosquitto`.

### {% linkable_title Triggering actions %}

In Home Assistant, we trigger actions based on intents produced by Snips using the [`intent_script`](/components/intent_script) component. For instance, the following block handles `ActivateLightColors` intents (included in the Snips IoT intent bundle) to change light colors:

{% raw %}
```yaml
snips:

intent_script:
  ActivateLightColor:
    action:
      - service: light.turn_on
        data_template:
          entity_id: light.{{ objectLocation | replace(" ","_") }}
          color_name: {{ objectColor }}
```
{% endraw %}

The variables that can be used in the template are of the form 'slotName = value'.

Snips intents that utilize builtin slot types will contain extended information along with the value and can be exposed using this format:

{% raw %}
```yaml
SetTimer:
  speech:
    type: plain
    text: weather
  action:
    service: script.set_timer
    data_template:
      name: "{{ timer_name }}"
      duration: "{{ timer_duration }}"
      seconds: "{{ slots.timer_duration.value.seconds }}"
      minutes: "{{ slots.timer_duration.value.minutes }}"
      hours: "{{ slots.timer_duration.value.hours }}"
```
{% endraw %}

