# Received and Send messages using Waku Relay

Waku Relay is a gossip protocol that enables you to send and receive messages.
You can find Waku Relay's specifications on [Vac RFC](https://rfc.vac.dev/spec/11/).

Before starting, you need to choose a _Content Topic_ for your dApp.
Check out the [choose a content topic guide](choose-content-topic.md) to learn more about content topics.

For the purpose of this guide, we are using a unique content topic: `/relay-guide/1/chat/proto`.

# Installation

You can install [js-waku](https://npmjs.com/package/js-waku) using your favorite package manager:

```shell
npm install js-waku
```

# Create Waku instance

In order to interact with the Waku network, you first need a Waku instance:

```js
import { Waku } from 'js-waku';

const wakuNode = await Waku.create();
```