I have a Google Home. As a joke, I would like to program mine to answer any requests to play music with something like "Sorry, I can only play music by Taylor Swift" or some artist or playlist of my choice. I have Spotify premium as my music service.
I looked briefly at the Google Home API, and it looks like you can program new actions. Is there some way I can intercept requests for music and filter them with this message?
Unfortunately, any Action that is intended to imitate Google Home system functionality is explicitly banned, and the API doesn't really facilitate doing that (not surprising, I suppose, that the API doesn't let you do something that Google doesn't want you to do!):
We don't allow actions that mimic or interfere with device or Assistant functionality. Examples of prohibited behaviour include:
- Using a voice for your action that mimics the Google Assistant's voice.
- Mimicking system notifications or warnings.
- Pretending to be Google or another Google action.
(Actions on Google: Policies for Actions on Google)
There is a fixed invocation pattern that Actions use to be invoked, generally. The image in their documentation explains most clearly:
Image from Actions on Google documentation; CC BY 3.0.
You can also use action phrases, such as ""hear a fun fact" or "give me a 5 minute workout", but undoubtedly the Google Action takes precedence to yours.
As an aside, it appears you can override Alexa Skills in the way you're hoping.
