Built-in intents (BIIs) allow your app to express its fulfillment capabilities to
Google. By declaring capabilities in your shortcuts.xml
file and
mapping intent parameters to the fulfillment, you make it possible for
Google Assistant to launch your app to a specific screen, in response to a query,
to allow the user to complete a task.
Built-in intents are grouped according to app categories. Each category represents a set of common tasks that users frequently want to perform on their apps. The full list of available built-in intents, their parameters, and example queries usable for testing is in the built-in intent reference.
Many built-in intents include additional deployment requirements and recommendations. These requirements and recommendations help us ensure that your app delivers the best possible experience to your users.

START_EXERCISE
BII with a voice
query to Assistant.
START_EXERCISE
task.
Implement BIIs and handle intent parameters
For App Actions, you declare capabilities and handle built-in intent parameters
in your shortcuts.xml
file. To implement a built-in intent and handle parameters,
follow these steps:
- Declare the
capability
with the chosen BII. - Add nested
parameter
elements for each BII field you want to add.- If you’re using
targetClass
ortargetPackage
, map them to the Android intentextras
using a name you choose. - If you’re using a deep link URL, use the named parameters in the query string of the URL template.
- If you’re using
To handle a built-in intent parameter, map the BII parameter to the
corresponding parameter of an explicit Android intent in your capability
; then,
you can use its value in your app. Your app is not required to handle BII
parameters. However, your app should attempt to handle data fields marked as
"Recommended" in the built-in intent reference.
You can define multiple intent fulfillments, each with their own set of recommended parameters. Google selects the appropriate fulfillment based on the capability parameters it identified from the user's query and the ones that were declared in an intent.
For example, the actions.intent.START_EXERCISE
intent recommends
your app to handle the exercise.name
built-in intent parameter. You
can still implement the same built-in intent in your app with no parameters.
You might do this if you wanted to handle user queries without the specific
exercise name, like "Ask ExampleApp to start tracking exercise". The following
snippet has a fallback to a fulfillment with no required parameters
if the parameters are not included in the user's query:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<shortcuts xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<capability android:name="actions.intent.START_EXERCISE">
<intent
android:action="android.intent.action.VIEW"
android:targetClass="com.example.myapplication.Activity1"
android:targetPackage="com.example.myapplication">
<parameter
android:name="exercise.name"
android:key="exerciseType"
android:required="true"
/>
</intent>
<intent
android:action="android.intent.action.VIEW"
android:targetClass="com.example.myapplication.Activity2">
</intent>
</capability>
</shortcuts>
Google Assistant does its best to provide the most relevant information to the user when returning parameter values to your app. For example, user queries for ordering pizza from ExampleRestaurant's mobile app don't always include a location. To better serve the user, Assistant may choose to provide latitude and longitude values of the nearest ExampleRestaurant to that app.
As an additional requirement, your app should not directly perform an action that modifies a user's real-world state (for example, transferring money, placing an order, or sending a message) without first confirming with the user.
Disambiguation
In certain cases, the arguments passed to your app (either via <url-parameter>
or via intent extras) may not uniquely identify the item that you want to show
to the user. In this case, we recommend using the argument value as a search
argument, and taking the user to the search page of the app so that they can
disambiguate and choose the right item.
For example, if a user’s query is “Order from ExampleRestaurant” for the
built-in intent ORDER_MENU_ITEM
, you can present to the user a list of
restaurants whose names match the term "ExampleRestaurant"
.
Language and locale support
The locales supported for development and testing by each App Action built-in intent are listed in the built-in intent reference. Some built-in intents have different locale support for developer testing and for user triggering from Assistant.