I did the DIYAlexaPi build without the Pi (running on the same HP mini as my HomeAssistant server). So far I can tell Alexa to lock & unlock my door - had to set up an Almond scene of course, but it works. Have to play with lighting scenes to see if Alexa can deal with them, but Almond seems pretty iffy in terms of setting up groupings of lights within rooms (maybe I just need to play with it more).