Troubleshooting the Google Assistant Library

Installing/upgrading the library

You get an error message similar to E: Unable to locate package python3-venv while trying to configure a new Python virtual environment.

  • On older versions of Ubuntu, the meta package for the Python 3 virtual environment (python3-venv) is not available. Use a fully-qualified version instead:

    sudo apt-get install python3-dev python3.4-venv

You get an error message similar to No matching distribution found or <wheel> is not a supported wheel on this platform.

  • Check the hardware architecture:

    uname -a
    Linux raspberrypi 4.9.24-v7+ #993 SMP Wed Apr 26 18:01:23 BST 2017 armv7l GNU/Linux

    The library is only supported on hardware with linux-armv7l and linux-x86_64 architectures. For other hardware, use the Google Assistant Service instead.

Credentials issues

When trying to generate credentials with the authorization tool, the tool prompts you to visit a URL and sign in to your Google account. The page then displays an error message (for example, "Something went wrong").

Permissions issues

The Google Assistant responds Actually, there are some basic settings that need your permission first...

Voice recognition issues

Assistant responds I don't know how to help with that or I don't understand.

  • Verify that your voice was recognized properly. Check the sample code output for a transcript of the user request. You can also look at my activity. You can play the audio received by the Assistant to check for audio quality issues. If you hear excessive noise or if the audio is distorted, check that your microphone is configured properly or try a different microphone.

Trait issues

Assistant does not recognize a trait that you added to a model.

Device Actions issues

The Google Assistant responds saying that your app is not supported on your device.

  • In the Actions Console, you can set the surface capabilities of your Assistant app. If you set screen output to be required, your custom actions will not function. The Google Assistant SDK does not support screen capabilities at this time.

Hotword issues

Assistant does not seem to respond to sentences that begin with Ok Google or Hey Google.

  • If you still get little to no recognition of your voice, try calibrating your microphone sensitivity:

    1. Terminate (Ctrl+C) any sample code that is currently running.
    2. Run the following command:
      export ASSISTANT_MIC_SENSITIVITY=-6
    3. Run the sample code and try again. Go back to step 1, but keep lowering the ASSISTANT_MIC_SENSITIVITY value in intervals of -6 (e.g., -6, -12, -18, -24...) until you find that voice recognition is optimal. If you get to -60, check your microphone.

Alarms and timers issues

The Assistant does not follow verbal commands (for example, pausing or stopping a timer).

  • This is an issue if you have the StartStop or OnOff trait enabled for a given device model. Remove this trait from the device model and verbal commands will work.

Podcast and news playback issues

The Assistant does not follow playback commands (for example, pausing or stopping a podcast).

  • This is an issue if you have the StartStop or OnOff trait enabled for a given device model. Remove this trait from the device model and playback commands will work.

Broadcast issues

The Assistant cannot broadcast messages from one device to the other.

  • Make sure to set the device location in the Google Assistant app. Both devices must have the same address in the app.

Support

Still having trouble? See our Support page.