Models

Learn more about how to use Jovo Model files to maintain language models that work across platforms and NLU services.

A big part of a Jovo app is the interpretation of natural language into structured meaning. This step of the RIDR Lifecycle is often called natural language understanding (NLU).

The result of the NLU process usually includes the following:

• At least one intent: This is the underlying reason behind the user's request. For example, "my name is max" and "I'm max" could both be matching a MyNameIsIntent.
• Sometimes entities: An intent could include one or more variable element, called an entity. For example, "my name is max" could result in an entity name: 'max'.

The router then uses this information as part of the $input object to find the right handler to respond to a user request.

Depending on the setup, the natural language understanding is either done by a platform (e.g. Alexa requests already contain intents etc.) or NLU integration. These services train a language model based on a specific schema that contains sample phrases for each intent, and values for each entity type

Maintaining language models across platforms and services can be a tedious task. For this, Jovo offers the Jovo Model, an open source schema that can be translated into models specifications that work for platforms like Alexa, Google Assistant, Rasa, LUIS, and more. Learn more about the schema here.

You can find all model files in the models folder of your Jovo project. You can use the Jovo CLI build command to translate them into native model files for each platform or service.

Each locale (e.g. en, en-US, de-DE) has its own file that is structured in a specific schema.

Here is an example model file:

{
  "version": "4.0",
  "invocation": "my test app",
  "intents": {
    "YesIntent": {
      "phrases": ["yes", "yes please", "sure"]
    },
    "NoIntent": {
      "phrases": ["no", "no thanks"]
    }
  }
}

Learn more about the model schema here.