Does Device Need to be Connected when Using Cortana For App Interactions?

Question

I understand that Cortana needs to be able to connect to the MS services to process natural language spoken to her. However, is a connection required when trying to get your UWP app to interact with her?

For example, when trying to launch a foreground app with Cortana, you are providing a local VCD (Voice Command Definition) file that defines the commands that Cortana can respond to. Does this then require the device to be connected and online?

My confusion stems from using the Windows.Media.SpeechRecognition API where depending on the grammar and constraints used determines whether you need a network connection or not.

How does this relate to Cortana?

Answer 1

Well, after scouring the Cortana API docs and still not being able to find concrete documentation on an answer, I finally stumbled upon the Cortana Extensibility in Universal Windows Apps video and around the 12:20 mark, the presenters flow diagram suggests that even Voice Commands are routed to the Microsoft Speech Platform Service (cloud).