Create message

Action ID

actions.intent.CREATE_MESSAGE

Description

Construct a message, such as a text message, voice message, or email. Populate the message body using the message.text intent parameter. Determine the message recipient using the message.recipient.name, message.recipient.telephone, or message.recipient.email intent parameter. Determine the message format (like text, voice, or video) using the message.disambiguatingDescription intent parameter, if available.

We also recommend creating deeper, voice-forward experiences by integrating our partner solution for messaging.

Locale support

Functionality	Locales
Preview creation using App Actions test tool	en-US
User invocation from Google Assistant	en-US

Example queries

en-US

• Send mom hello in ExampleProvider.
• Text Adam on ExampleProvider.
• Write a new message to [e-mail] on ExampleProvider.
• Reply Paul Okay on ExampleProvider.
• Send an email saying hello to Bob on ExampleProvider.
• Send new text to *123 on ExampleProvider.

Recommended fields

The following fields represent essential information that users often provide in queries that trigger this built-in intent:

message.recipient.name
message.recipient.telephone
message.recipient.email
message.text

Other supported fields

The following fields represent information that users often provide to disambiguate their needs or otherwise improve their results:

message.@type
message.disambiguatingDescription
message.recipient.@type

Supported text values by field

message.@type

• Message

message.disambiguatingDescription

• Video
• Audio
• Image
• Text
• Email

message.recipient.@type

• Person
• Audience

Inventory availability by field

message.disambiguatingDescription

• Inline inventory

Sample XML files

For information about the shortcuts.xml schema, see Create shortcuts.xml.

Deprecation notice: Google is ending support for App Actions implemented using the actions.xml resource file. Please use the Actions.xml migration guide to update your actions to use the fully supported Android Shortcuts framework. For details on the Shortcuts framework, see App Actions overview.

Handle BII parameters

shortcuts.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!-- This is a sample shortcuts.xml -->
<shortcuts xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
  <capability android:name="actions.intent.CREATE_MESSAGE">
    <intent
      android:action="android.intent.action.VIEW"
      android:targetPackage="YOUR_UNIQUE_APPLICATION_ID"
      android:targetClass="YOUR_TARGET_CLASS">
      <!-- Eg. text = "Message text content" -->
      <parameter
        android:name="message.text"
        android:key="text"/>
      <!-- Eg. disambiguatingDescription = "Video" -->
      <parameter
        android:name="message.disambiguatingDescription"
        android:key="disambiguatingDescription"/>
      <!-- Eg. name = "John Doe" -->
      <parameter
        android:name="message.recipient.name"
        android:key="name"/>
      <!-- Eg. email = "[e-mail]" -->
      <parameter
        android:name="message.recipient.email"
        android:key="email"/>
      <!-- Eg. telephone = "012-345-6789" -->
      <parameter
        android:name="message.recipient.telephone"
        android:key="telephone"/>
    </intent>
  </capability>
</shortcuts>
      

actions.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!-- This is a sample actions.xml -->
<actions>
  <action intentName="actions.intent.CREATE_MESSAGE">
    <fulfillment urlTemplate="myapp://custom-deeplink{?text,disambiguatingDescription,name,email,telephone}">
      <!-- e.g. text = "Message text content" -->
      <!-- (Optional) Require a field eg.text for fulfillment with required="true" -->
      <parameter-mapping urlParameter="text" intentParameter="message.text" required="true" />
      <!-- e.g. disambiguatingDescription = "Video" -->
      <parameter-mapping urlParameter="disambiguatingDescription" intentParameter="message.disambiguatingDescription" />
      <!-- e.g. name = "John Doe" -->
      <parameter-mapping urlParameter="name" intentParameter="message.recipient.name" />
      <!-- e.g. email = "[e-mail]" -->
      <parameter-mapping urlParameter="email" intentParameter="message.recipient.email" />
      <!-- e.g. telephone = "012-345-6789" -->
      <parameter-mapping urlParameter="telephone" intentParameter="message.recipient.telephone" />
    </fulfillment>

    <!-- Provide a fallback fulfillment with no required parameters. For example, to your app search or router deeplink -->
    <fulfillment urlTemplate="myapp://deeplink" />
  </action>
</actions>

Use inline inventory

shortcuts.xml

message.disambiguatingDescription is an intent parameter that supports inline inventory. By defining a <shortcut> for message.disambiguatingDescription, you can uniquely identify entities that are of interest to your app or restrict fulfillment to the set of supported entities.

In the following example, when the user query matches the disambiguatingDescription_one shortcut, Assistant provides the associated shorcut identifier, ID_ONE, as the URL parameter disambiguatingDescription to fulfillment.

If there is no inventory match, the text value received in the query for message.disambiguatingDescription is passed as-is.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!-- This is a sample shortcuts.xml -->
<shortcuts xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
  <capability android:name="actions.intent.CREATE_MESSAGE">
    <intent
      android:targetPackage="YOUR_UNIQUE_APPLICATION_ID"
      android:targetClass="YOUR_TARGET_CLASS">
      <parameter
        android:name="message.text"
        android:key="text"/>
      <parameter
        android:name="message.disambiguatingDescription"
        android:key="disambiguatingDescription"/>
      <parameter
        android:name="message.recipient.name"
        android:key="name"/>
      <parameter
        android:name="message.recipient.email"
        android:key="email"/>
      <parameter
        android:name="message.recipient.telephone"
        android:key="telephone"/>
    </intent>
    </capability>
    <!-- Short and long labels must be @string resource. -->
    <shortcut
      android:shortcutId="ID_ONE"
      android:shortcutShortLabel="@string/shortcut_short_label"
      android:shortcutLongLabel="@string/shortcut_long_label">
      <capability-binding android:key="actions.intent.CREATE_MESSAGE">
        <parameter-binding
          android:value="disambiguatingDescription"
          android:key="message.disambiguatingDescription"/>
      </capability-binding>
    </shortcut>
</shortcuts>
      

actions.xml

message.disambiguatingDescription is an intent parameter that supports inline inventory. By defining an <entity-set> for message.disambiguatingDescription, you can uniquely identify entities that are of interest to your app or restrict fulfillment to the set of supported entities.

In the following example, when the user query matches the disambiguatingDescription_one entity, Assistant provides the associated identifier, ID_ONE, as the URL parameter disambiguatingDescription to fulfillment.

If there is no inventory match, the text value received in the query for message.disambiguatingDescription is passed as-is.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!-- This is a sample actions.xml -->
<actions>
  <action intentName="actions.intent.CREATE_MESSAGE">
    <fulfillment urlTemplate="myapp://deeplink{?disambiguatingDescription}" >
      <!-- disambiguatingDescription = "ID_ONE" or "ID_TWO"  -->
      <!-- If no inventory match, disambiguatingDescription is a text value, such as "Video" -->
      <!-- (Optional) Use entityMatchRequired="true" to require inventory match for fulfillment -->
      <parameter-mapping urlParameter="disambiguatingDescription" intentParameter="message.disambiguatingDescription" />
    </fulfillment>

    <!-- Define parameters with inventories here -->
    <parameter name="message.disambiguatingDescription">
      <entity-set-reference entitySetId="disambiguatingDescriptionEntitySet"/>
    </parameter>
  </action>

  <entity-set entitySetId="disambiguatingDescriptionEntitySet">
  <!-- Provide an identifier per entity -->
    <entity identifier="ID_ONE" name="disambiguatingDescription_one" alternateName="@array/disambiguatingDescription_one_synonyms"/>
    <entity identifier="ID_TWO" name="disambiguatingDescription_two" alternateName="@array/disambiguatingDescription_two_synonyms"/>
  </entity-set>
</actions>

The url attribute associated with the entity can be used to determine the fulfillment URL if there is an inventory match. In the following example, when the user query matches the disambiguatingDescription_one entity, Assistant provides myapp://deeplink/one as the fulfillment URL.

  <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
  <!-- This is a sample actions.xml -->
  <actions>
    <action intentName="actions.intent.CREATE_MESSAGE">
      <!-- Use url from inventory match for deep link fulfillment -->
      <fulfillment urlTemplate="{@url}" />

      <!-- Provide a fallback fulfillment with no required parameters. For example, to your app search or router deeplink -->
      <fulfillment urlTemplate="myapp://deeplink" />

      <!-- Define parameters with inventories here -->
      <parameter name="message.disambiguatingDescription">
        <entity-set-reference entitySetId="disambiguatingDescriptionEntitySet"/>
      </parameter>
    </action>

    <entity-set entitySetId="disambiguatingDescriptionEntitySet">
      <!-- Provide a URL per entity -->
      <entity url="myapp://deeplink/one" name="disambiguatingDescription_one" alternateName="@array/disambiguatingDescription_one_synonyms"/>
      <entity url="myapp://deeplink/two" name="disambiguatingDescription_two" alternateName="@array/disambiguatingDescription_two_synonyms"/>
    </entity-set>
  </actions>
  

JSON-LD sample

The following JSON-LD sample provides some example values that you can use in the App Actions test tool:

{
  "@context": "http://schema.org",
  "@type": "Message",
  "disambiguatingDescription": "Video",
  "recipient": {
    "@type": "Person",
    "email": "[e-mail]",
    "name": "John Doe",
    "telephone": "012-345-6789"
  },
  "text": "Message text content"
}