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Introduction

urelay is iMessage infrastructure for developers. It provides a REST API for sending and receiving iMessages programmatically, with real-time webhooks, typing indicators, and multi-line routing.

How it works​

urelay provides a managed platform that connects your application to iMessage:

  1. Phone Lines -- urelay provisions and manages dedicated iMessage-enabled phone lines on your behalf
  2. API Layer -- A cloud-hosted platform provides the REST API, webhooks, real-time streaming, and a management dashboard
  3. Your Application -- Integrate with a simple REST API. Send messages, receive webhooks, stream events in real-time.

When you send a message via the API, urelay dispatches it through an available phone line using native iMessage. Incoming messages are detected instantly and delivered to your application via webhooks or Server-Sent Events.

Key concepts​

Phone Lines​

A phone line is a dedicated iMessage-enabled number managed by urelay. Each line has its own phone number, daily contact limits, and health status. You can route messages through specific lines or let the platform choose automatically.

Messages​

Messages are individual iMessage or SMS texts sent or received through your phone lines. Each message has delivery status tracking (sent, delivered, read) and error reporting.

Conversations​

Conversations are message threads grouped by contact. Each conversation maps to a chat identifier (typically the contact's phone number).

Webhooks​

Webhooks deliver real-time notifications to your application when events occur -- incoming messages, delivery confirmations, and more.

API Keys​

API keys authenticate your requests to the urelay API. Each key consists of a public key (ur_live_...) and a secret (ur_secret_...), passed as HTTP headers.

Next steps​