Alexa: The requested skill did not provide a valid response on LauchRequest - alexa-skills-kit

Question

I have started Alexa development very recently. Today I have suddenly started getting
which I did not encounter before.
The lambda function (index.js):
"use strict";
const Alexa = require("ask-sdk-core");
const http = require("http");
exports.handler = async (event, context, callback) => {
try {
if (event.request.type === "LaunchRequest") {
var welcomeMessage = '<speak>Hi</speak>';
callback(null, buildResponse(welcomeMessage, false));
}
else if (event.request.type === "AMAZON.CancelIntent") {
var msg2 = "<speak>Stopped!</speak>";
callback(null, buildResponse(msg2, true));
}
} catch (e) {
context.fail("Exception: ${e}");
}
};
function buildResponse(response, shouldEndSession) {
return {
version: "1.0",
response: {
outputSpeech: {
type: "SSML",
ssml: response
},
shouldEndSession: shouldEndSession
},
sessionAttributes: {}
};
}
package.json file:
{
"name": "third-test-skill",
"version": "1.0.0",
"description": "...",
"main": "index.js",
"scripts": {
"test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1"
},
"author": "Subrata Sarkar",
"license": "ISC",
"dependencies": {
"ask-sdk-core": "^2.5.2",
"ask-sdk-model": "^1.15.1"
}
}
Steps I followed to create the skill:
Crated a skill from AWS Alexa console
Created skill
Added sample utterances
Selected Lamda as end point Created a function called movieFacts
Uploaded .zip file containing the following file structure.
node_modules
|- ask-sdk-core
|- ask-sdk-model
|- ask-sdk-runtime
index.js
package.json
package.json.lock
When I say movie facts, I am getting the following message:
The requested skill did not provide a valid response
And this is the JSON output I am receiving:
{
"version": "1.0",
"session": {
"new": false,
"sessionId": "amzn1.echo-api.session.beca8832-50fe-4d17-96a4-30c855b18a4f",
"application": {
"applicationId": "amzn1.ask.skill.bdb88b1b-5a4a-4b37-9b63-71e78337bbca"
},
"user": {
"userId": "amzn1.ask.account.AEG2YALM6KQANVKR3YSUWKVN5DCKE66NJKN23SZIKRKZCVTU67E2JBZ5STPFIN325WNGGO5Z73FMVVL5X2SVEM27YEPD5VFNMPVDQSQK5XYW3NXOXSEIK6YPHE5HTZLGLCWW4VVQHLYECL6YBLG4XOTM2HTV5VCCQMPLVCIATFRSNS4DLHJFLY32JHD5N5MAPFBNRVN3YV7B53A"
}
},
"context": {
"System": {
"application": {
"applicationId": "amzn1.ask.skill.bdb88b1b-5a4a-4b37-9b63-71e78337bbca"
},
"user": {
"userId": "amzn1.ask.account.AEG2YALM6KQANVKR3YSUWKVN5DCKE66NJKN23SZIKRKZCVTU67E2JBZ5STPFIN325WNGGO5Z73FMVVL5X2SVEM27YEPD5VFNMPVDQSQK5XYW3NXOXSEIK6YPHE5HTZLGLCWW4VVQHLYECL6YBLG4XOTM2HTV5VCCQMPLVCIATFRSNS4DLHJFLY32JHD5N5MAPFBNRVN3YV7B53A"
},
"device": {
"deviceId": "amzn1.ask.device.AFXLD474IMHMD5V35NT2ZNUD5YLK2LTEJZUMO6DS2MY7ANONMZDZ67C3MU44OBJ6B5N4TPOXIJ64FBEFEOVOB2K4SSYEN3VTRSIHZETNTBNCDYUG6RGFIOKH7S7OBID6CG3WIHB774LNO4CFKWFUXYSNHD5HIAAXCEDKZ3U4EN7QB6EN4RRHQ",
"supportedInterfaces": {}
},
"apiEndpoint": "https://api.amazonalexa.com",
"apiAccessToken": "eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJSUzI1NiIsImtpZCI6IjEifQ.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.UyCg4MXlOe16SlOyJnjAIiHzVpdLkRjd-izoKkUnGqiyZ0L_5eUpg8tKvVrCvTLNMtJS6ElksxgVfuLcNeOIwSbXtYCOXcSLRYbpcpgFI6oeamOZ2Yo-UMDEjzYi75fABuJyUJyZxp-Pieer8PMZO4G9-5zJXCVY2x3M_dmlpX23UBJDpW0DKddvAOzConmwgdaf3v_EWfc2q8BaCQIM950rEUbejOa08_AwE5CsqjNA9sD22QduE5hs09RV4-F-kU1zKvwwyDVDKyOkdFZQFEmCTC11_jI64re9c22e-hYR4leIE5XntNApMgtwaL-tHyjsJzVDVDfZd2q3w6wxYA"
},
"Viewport": {
"experiences": [
{
"arcMinuteWidth": 246,
"arcMinuteHeight": 144,
"canRotate": false,
"canResize": false
}
],
"shape": "RECTANGLE",
"pixelWidth": 1024,
"pixelHeight": 600,
"dpi": 160,
"currentPixelWidth": 1024,
"currentPixelHeight": 600,
"touch": [
"SINGLE"
],
"video": {
"codecs": [
"H_264_42",
"H_264_41"
]
}
}
},
"request": {
"type": "SessionEndedRequest",
"requestId": "amzn1.echo-api.request.c7b1b910-6309-48aa-af35-10ac0a20b5da",
"timestamp": "2019-05-07T14:55:10Z",
"locale": "en-US",
"reason": "ERROR",
"error": {
"type": "INVALID_RESPONSE",
"message": "An exception occurred while dispatching the request to the skill."
}
}
}

Answer 1

I think removing the <speak> and </speak> tags around the welcome message should do. They are by default generated by Alexa, so you don't need to provide them in your response.

Answer 2

What happened in my case (and definitely worth to check) is that I was using Serverless Framework to deploy Lambda and I changed the configuration in the serverless.yml but forgot to update the Lambda ARN in the Alexa Endpoint.
Updating the Endpoint to the correct ARN and rebuilding solved the issue.