Anyone know of a tutorial or set up where I can have a ESP8266 available in the "Smart Home" section for an Alexa routine's "When This Happens." So for example, I could have a PIR motion sensor connected to an ESP8266 start an Alexa routine when it detects motion?
I have seen where an ESP8266 can trigger IFTTT but IFTTT can't start Alexa Routines. Wondering if anyone has figured out how to get a DIY device to show up in the "Smart Home" "When This Happens" list?
There is another active thread related to this issue at ESP8266 Remote Control for Alexa - Home Automation - Arduino Forum
As stated there Alexa is basically the voice-recognition front end so isnt really "controllable" by other means.
Alexa initiates actions by accessing various web API endpoints so you may find it easier to program your ESP8266 to connect to those same endpoints and bypass Alexa completely.
The other "Rube Goldberg" solution might be to program your ESP8266 to play a sound file of the voice command to Alexa.