Alexa is now the master of your home security system but only if you want it to be, of course. Amazon has announced a new API for its handy voice assistant aptly named the Security Panel Controller API which allows customers to control connected alarms, cameras, and more with voice commands. The capabilities were first detailed at an Amazon event in September. Theyre broadly available in the U.S. and work with products from providers like ADT, Ring, Honeywell, Abode, and Scout Alarm.

Systems that implement the Security Panel Controller API let you arm, disarm, and query status with Alexa-enabled devices, Brian Crum, senior product manager at Amazon, explained in a blog post. Arming a systems as easy as sayingAlexa, arm [device name] in [mode type] mode orAlexa, arm. (If you dont specify a mode, itll default tostay orhome mode.) To disarm it, sayAlexa, disarm [device name] orAlexa, disarm.

To get the disarm command up and running, youll first have to enable the disarm-by-voice feature.

Security Panel Controller API builds on Amazons Alexa Guard, a forthcoming alert feature that sends notifications to your phone when an Amazon Echo speaker detects the sound of breaking glass or of a smoke or carbon monoxide alarm. Alexa Guard can also randomize the lights in your home when youre away to make it appear as though youre there and integrate with Ring and ADT so that alerts are sent to a security company.

Its debut also follows on the heels of a bevy of new Alexa features, including the ability to set location-based routines and reminders, discover and call local businesses and restaurants via voice requests, sift through multiple email inboxes for important messages, and more. Just last week, Amazons Alexa team launched a self-learning system thatdetects the defects in Alexas understanding and automatically recovers from these errors without the need for human intervention, and a dialogue-driven music playlist feature that allows users to find new playlists through voice