relaybell settings: API keys, sending rules, and compliance

API keys, sending rules, quiet hours, email reports, and GDPR tools — explained.

What it is

The Settings tab is where you set the account-wide rules for one website: the secret keys for server-side sending, how often and when notifications go out, the fallback icon and link, emailed performance reports, and your privacy and data-deletion controls. It's a stack of cards, and each card has its own Save button.

When to use it

Come here once to set sensible defaults (a sending limit, quiet hours, a default link, your logo, a privacy link), and whenever a customer asks you to show or delete the data you hold about them.

Find it at: Left nav → Settings

Before you start

A website/project must be selected — the Settings tab always acts on the website shown in the dashboard.
API keys are only for sending from your own server or the WordPress plugin. You do NOT need one just to put relaybell on a website — that's done in the Setup tab.
For Email reports (and the 'Send a test now' button) your account needs a login email on file — reports are sent to that address — and email delivery must be working.
For a data-subject Export or Erase, the person must already exist as a subscriber; you look them up by their external ID or email.

Set it up

1Open the Settings tab from the left navigation. Everything here applies to the website currently shown in the dashboard.
2API keys card (skip this unless you send from your own server or use the WordPress plugin): click 'Generate new key', then immediately copy the key from the highlighted box — it is shown only once and never again. Note: to add relaybell to a website you do NOT need a key; use the Setup tab for that.
3Sending rules card: type a number into 'Max notifications per subscriber per day' (0 means unlimited). Optionally tick 'Enable quiet hours' and fill in Start, End, and Timezone. Type a 'Default click URL' (usually your homepage). Optionally tick the UTM box and set utm_source, utm_medium, and utm_campaign. Click 'Save rules' — a small 'Saved' appears.
4Default notification logo card: paste the public HTTPS web address of a square image (PNG, at least 192x192px) into the 'Image URL' box; a small preview appears next to it. Click 'Save logo'. This is a URL you paste, not a file you upload.
5Email reports card: tick 'Email me a performance report', choose Weekly or Monthly, and click 'Save'. Click 'Send a test now' to confirm the email actually reaches your account address.
6Compliance card: set 'Event-log retention' in days (0 keeps logs forever), paste your 'Privacy policy URL', and — only if you use Shopify — paste the Shopify webhook secret. Click 'Save compliance settings'.
7Data-subject request (bottom of the Compliance card): to answer a 'show me my data' or 'delete my data' request, type the person's external ID or email, then click 'Export data' (downloads a JSON file to your computer) or 'Erase data' (permanently deletes everything about them after a confirmation prompt).

Every setting, explained

Generate new key (API keys): Creates a secret password your own web server or the WordPress plugin uses to send notifications through relaybell; it's shown only once, so copy it right away.
Key list (prefix ••••••••, Created / Last used): Shows the keys you've made and when each was created and last used; the full key itself is never displayed again.
Max notifications per subscriber per day (0 = unlimited): The most notifications any one person can receive in a day; extra sends to them are skipped, and 0 means no limit.
Enable quiet hours: Pauses delivery during a nightly window you choose; anything sent during that window is held and goes out once it ends.
Start / End / Timezone: The beginning and end of the quiet window, interpreted in the timezone you type (for example, Asia/Kolkata).
Default click URL: The web page a notification opens when you didn't add a link to the notification itself; leave it blank and those notifications open nothing.
Auto-tag click URLs with UTM parameters: Adds tracking tags to your links so Google Analytics (and similar tools) credit the visit and any sale to your push channel.
utm_source / utm_medium / utm_campaign: The labels those tracking tags use (defaults are relaybell and push; campaign is optional).
Image URL (Default notification logo): The public HTTPS web address of a square image, at least 192x192px, shown as the icon when a notification carries no image of its own — pasted as a link, not uploaded.
Email me a performance report: Turns on an automatic emailed summary of how your notifications are performing.
Frequency (Email reports): How often that summary email arrives: Weekly or Monthly.
Send a test now: Emails a sample report immediately to your account address so you can see what it looks like before relying on it.
Event-log retention (days, 0 = forever): How many days relaybell keeps the raw per-person activity log (clicks, deliveries) before auto-deleting it; 0 keeps it forever, and your overall stats are never affected.
Privacy policy URL (shown on opt-in prompt): A link to your own privacy policy that appears on the opt-in prompt so visitors can read it before they subscribe.
Shopify webhook secret (optional): Only needed if you send events from a Shopify store; pasting the signing secret lets relaybell confirm events really came from your store.
Data-subject request box (external ID or email): Who to look up when a customer asks to see or delete their data — identified by their external ID or email.
Export data: Downloads a JSON file to your computer containing everything held about that one subscriber.
Erase data: Permanently deletes everything about that one subscriber; it asks you to confirm first and cannot be undone.

Tips

Set a Default click URL (usually your homepage) so a notification never opens a blank page if you forget to add a link to it.
Turn on the frequency cap (say 1–2 per day) and quiet hours early — it protects you from annoying people into unsubscribing.
Use 'Send a test now' under Email reports to confirm the report actually lands in your inbox before you count on it.
Fill in the Privacy policy URL — it shows on the opt-in prompt and helps you meet GDPR/CCPA expectations.
Treat any API key like a password. Only create one if you're sending through your own server or the WordPress plugin, and keep it secret.

Watch out for

Each card saves on its own. Sending rules, Default notification logo, Email reports, and Compliance each have a separate Save button — saving one card does not save the others.
A new API key is shown only once. Copy it the moment it appears; if you lose it you must generate a new one, and there is no button in the dashboard to delete or revoke an existing key.
The logo field takes a URL, not a file upload. You must host the square image somewhere public (HTTPS) and paste its web address here.
'Erase data' is permanent and cannot be undone — after you confirm the prompt, all of that subscriber's data is deleted for good.
The quiet-hours Timezone is typed free-text; use a standard name like Asia/Kolkata, or the window may not apply the way you expect.
Reports go to your account login email, not an address you type on this page. If the test says it couldn't send, check your account email and that email delivery (SMTP) is set up.
Retention only trims the raw per-person event log; it never touches your aggregate stats. A cap of 0, and retention of 0, both mean 'no limit / keep forever'.

More setup guides

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