User guide¶

chatwire gives you a full-featured web UI for your iMessages, a Telegram relay, push notifications, automation rules, themes, and a plugin system. This guide covers how to use each feature.

Feature overview¶

Reading messages¶

Conversation list — left sidebar shows all your conversations, ordered by most recent. Unread conversations have a bold name and a count badge.
Message view — click any conversation to open it. Messages display with iOS-style bubbles, sender names in group chats, and attachment thumbnails.
Rich content — tapback reactions (❤️ 👍 👎 😂 ‼️ ❓), read receipts, quoted replies, "edited" badge, location cards, and stickers/Memoji all render inline.
Search — coming soon.

Sending messages¶

Compose — type in the box at the bottom of any conversation, press Return or click Send.
Attachments — click the clip icon to pick a file or image.
Group chats — reply in any group conversation; the bridge routes to the correct group by chat GUID.
Reactions — click the reaction icons on any message bubble to send a tapback (macOS 13+ only).

Integrations¶

Telegram relay — relay messages to/from a Telegram bot. Reply in Telegram to send back as yourself.
ntfy push — get push notifications on your phone when a new message arrives.
Webhooks, MQTT, Home Assistant, XMPP — install the corresponding plugin.

Automation¶

Rules engine — set conditions (from, contains, group) and actions (auto-reply, webhook, suppress, log). Write rules in plain text DSL or use dropdowns.
Hiatus mode — pause outbound messaging on a schedule or on demand.
Anti-spam fuse — six-step fuse automatically pauses sends if an abnormal rate is detected.

Customization¶

Themes — 23 built-in color schemes, plus theme packages you can import or build.
Custom CSS — override any style from Settings → Themes.
Plugins — add new integrations and sidebar widgets without touching core.

Guide pages¶

Page	What you'll learn
Web UI tour	Layout, sidebar, navigation, keyboard shortcuts
Sending messages	Compose, reply, groups, attachments, reactions
Notifications	ntfy push, connection banner, sounds
Telegram relay	Bot setup, relay commands, group routing
Automation rules	Rules engine DSL, conditions, actions
Themes	Theme picker, custom CSS, scheme vs style
Plugins	Install, remove, configure plugins
MCP integration	LLM agent access via MCP tools
Mobile app	iOS and Android React Native app
Security	Fuse system, password, API keys
FAQ	Frequently asked questions

Web UI: http://localhost:8723

Settings: gear icon at the bottom-left of the sidebar

Health check: curl localhost:8723/healthz

Logs: chatwire logs -f

Doctor: chatwire doctor