Screens

A Screen is a visual you design in the console and show on any Alexa device with a screen: Echo Show, Echo Spot, Fire TV and others. Pick a layout that divides the screen into areas, then fill each area with blocks: text, big numbers, clocks, dates, countdowns, images, videos, slideshows, lists, progress bars and buttons.

Screens are available on every plan.

Create a screen

1. In the console, go to Screens and click New screen.
2. Start from an idea (Big clock, Noticeboard, Countdown, Control panel, Photo frame, Dashboard, Ambient clock, World clock, Welcome sign) or from a blank layout.
3. In the editor, click an area of the preview to select it, then use Add block to fill it. Click a block to change its text, size and colours.
4. Use the Screen tab to change the layout, theme, background (colour, image or video) and how long the screen stays up.
5. Click Send to device to try it on one of your Speakers. It saves first.

The preview can switch between Echo Show 8/10, Echo Show 5, Echo Show 15, portrait, the round Echo Spot and Fire TV, so you can check how the screen adapts.

Layouts

Layout	Areas
Full screen	One area covering the screen.
Half screen	A card over the background, on the left, right, centre or along the bottom.
Title and body	A title bar above a large area.
Title, body and footer	A title bar, a large area and a footer strip.
Vertical split	Two halves side by side.
Sidebar	A narrow column beside a wide one, on either side.
Top and bottom	Two halves, one above the other.
Hero and strip	A large area with a row of three small tiles, below or above it.
Grid 2 x 2 / Grid 3 x 2	Four or six equal tiles.
Three columns	Three equal columns.
Background and corner	A full-screen area with a small box in a corner, e.g. a clock over a video.

You can switch layout at any time. Blocks move to the matching area of the new layout, and any that don’t fit go into its last area.

Each area has its own alignment, padding, rounded corners and optional background colour (with transparency, so the screen background shows through).

Blocks

Block	Shows
Text	Any text, with variables. Choose size, weight, colour, alignment and a line limit.
Big value	A large figure with a unit and label, e.g. 21°C over “Inside”.
List	One item per line, as bullets or numbers. A variable holding a JSON array (["milk","eggs"]) becomes one item each.
Progress bar	A value between a minimum and maximum, e.g. a battery level.
Clock	The current time, 12 or 24-hour, optionally with seconds. Leave the timezone blank for the Echo’s own time, or pick a city for a world clock.
Date	Today’s date in one of several formats, in the Echo’s language.
Countdown	Days (or days/hours/minutes, or hours:minutes:seconds) until or since a date, with a message for when it’s reached.
Image	A photo or graphic from a URL, your Media library or a variable.
Video	A video that plays muted and loops by default.
Slideshow	Up to 12 images that change every few seconds.
Button / Button grid	Tappable buttons. See Buttons.
Spacer / Divider	Space or a line between blocks.

What updates on the device

Clocks, dates, countdowns and slideshows keep changing on the device for as long as the screen is up, with no further requests.

Everything else shows the values from the moment the screen was sent. To update a value, send the screen again, or tap a button that sets a variable (the screen redraws straight away).

Showing live data

Any text, value, list, progress, image or video field can contain the same placeholders as announcements:

Placeholder	Replaced with
{NAME}	Your variable NAME.
{NAME.field}	A field inside a variable holding JSON, e.g. {HOME.temp}. One JSON variable can feed a whole dashboard.
{VM.…}	A built-in variable, like {VM.DATE.WEEKDAY} or {VM.USAGE.REMAINING}.
{WEBHOOK.<slug>.<key>}	The latest payload from an inbound webhook.
{WEB_RESPONSE.<node>.json.<field>}	Inside a Flow only: data a Web Request node fetched earlier in the same run.

Some ways to pull in outside data:

• From Home Assistant, IFTTT or your own code: call /announce with screen=… and var-NAME=value parameters. The variables are saved first, so the screen shows the new values. See the Screens API.
• From any web API: in a Flow, put a Web Request node before a Screen node and reference its response. Schedule the Flow to refresh the screen every morning.
• From a webhook: an inbound webhook’s announcement action can show a screen, with the payload values inside it.

Tip

A {VM.TIME.TEXT} placeholder in a Text block is fixed when the screen is sent. For a time that keeps ticking, use a Clock block.

Buttons

A button can:

• Run a flow — the flow starts as if it was triggered by the API. Nodes without their own device use the device showing the screen.
• Fire a routine trigger — runs the Alexa Routine wired to that Routine Trigger device.
• Set a variable — set it to a value, or add or subtract a number (a scoreboard or chore counter). The screen redraws with the new value.
• Show another screen — or refresh this one.

On Fire TV, use the remote to move between buttons; the first button is selected when the screen appears. Taps count towards your monthly requests when they run a flow or fire a routine.

Note

If a flow started by a button speaks on the same Echo, Alexa replaces the screen while it talks. Add a Screen node at the end of the flow to bring it back.

Showing a screen

• From the console: Send to device in the editor, or Send to… on the Screens list.
• From a flow: a Screen node. Pair it with a Speech node to say something as it appears.
• From the API: /announce?device=…&screen=…. See the Announcement API.
• From an inbound webhook: an announcement action with a screen chosen.
• From an AI assistant: the MCP server has list_screens and show_screen tools.

Devices

• Echo Show 5, 8, 10, 15 and 21: text and spacing scale to the screen size.
• Portrait screens (an Echo Show 15 on its side): side-by-side areas stack vertically, and a 3 x 2 grid becomes 2 x 3.
• Round screens (the original Echo Spot): only the layout’s main area is shown, inset from the edge.
• Fire TV: an extra margin keeps content clear of the TV’s edges.
• Echos without a screen: the screen is skipped; any speech still plays.

Choose how long the screen stays up (1 minute to 1 hour) on the Screen tab. The Echo may return to its home screen sooner, for example when someone talks to Alexa.

Limits

	Limit
Screens per account	100
Blocks per screen / per area	40 / 12
Buttons per screen / per grid	24 / 12
Videos per screen (including a video background)	1
Slideshow images	12
List items shown	20

Deleting a screen doesn’t break the flows or buttons that use it; they skip it until you point them at another screen.