diff --git a/waku/v2/node/waku_node.nim b/waku/v2/node/waku_node.nim
index 3a534d42e..b30f82ae0 100644
--- a/waku/v2/node/waku_node.nim
+++ b/waku/v2/node/waku_node.nim
@@ -343,14 +343,16 @@ proc publish*(node: WakuNode, topic: PubsubTopic, message: WakuMessage) {.async,
   discard await node.wakuRelay.publish(topic, data)
 
 proc startRelay*(node: WakuNode) {.async.} =
+  ## Setup and start relay protocol
+  info "starting relay protocol"
+
   if node.wakuRelay.isNil():
     trace "Failed to start relay. Not mounted."
     return
 
-  ## Setup and start relay protocol
-  info "starting relay"
+  ## Setup relay protocol
   
-  # PubsubTopic subscriptions
+  # Subscribe to the default PubSub topics
   for topic in node.wakuRelay.defaultPubsubTopics:
     node.subscribe(topic, none(TopicHandler))
 
@@ -371,46 +373,33 @@ proc startRelay*(node: WakuNode) {.async.} =
   info "relay started successfully"
 
 proc mountRelay*(node: WakuNode,
-                 topics: seq[string] = newSeq[string](),
+                 topics: seq[string] = @[],
                  triggerSelf = true,
-                 peerExchangeHandler = none(RoutingRecordsHandler))
-  # TODO: Better error handling: CatchableError is raised by `waitFor`
-  {.async, gcsafe, raises: [Defect, InitializationError, LPError, CatchableError].} =
-
-  proc msgIdProvider(m: messages.Message): Result[MessageID, ValidationResult] =
-    let mh = MultiHash.digest("sha2-256", m.data)
-    if mh.isOk():
-      return ok(mh[].data.buffer)
-    else:
-      return ok(($m.data.hash).toBytes())
-
-  let wakuRelay = WakuRelay.init(
-    switch = node.switch,
-    msgIdProvider = msgIdProvider,
-    triggerSelf = triggerSelf,
-    sign = false,
-    verifySignature = false,
-    maxMessageSize = MaxWakuMessageSize
-  )
+                 peerExchangeHandler = none(RoutingRecordsHandler)) {.async, gcsafe.} =
+  ## The default relay topics is the union of all configured topics plus default PubsubTopic(s)
+  info "mounting relay protocol"
   
-  info "mounting relay"
+  let initRes = WakuRelay.new(
+    node.peerManager,
+    defaultPubsubTopics = concat(@[DefaultPubsubTopic], topics),
+    triggerSelf = triggerSelf
+  )
+  if initRes.isErr():
+    error "failed mountin relay protocol", error=initRes.error
+    return
 
-  ## The default relay topics is the union of
-  ## all configured topics plus the hard-coded defaultTopic(s)
-  wakuRelay.defaultPubsubTopics = concat(@[DefaultPubsubTopic], topics)
+  node.wakuRelay = initRes.value
 
   ## Add peer exchange handler
   if peerExchangeHandler.isSome():
-    wakuRelay.parameters.enablePX = true # Feature flag for peer exchange in nim-libp2p
-    wakuRelay.routingRecordsHandler.add(peerExchangeHandler.get())
+    node.wakuRelay.parameters.enablePX = true # Feature flag for peer exchange in nim-libp2p
+    node.wakuRelay.routingRecordsHandler.add(peerExchangeHandler.get())
 
-  node.wakuRelay = wakuRelay
   if node.started:
-    # Node has started already. Let's start relay too.
     await node.startRelay()
 
-  node.switch.mount(wakuRelay, protocolMatcher(WakuRelayCodec))    
-        
+  node.switch.mount(node.wakuRelay, protocolMatcher(WakuRelayCodec))
+
   info "relay mounted successfully"
 
 
diff --git a/waku/v2/protocol/waku_relay.nim b/waku/v2/protocol/waku_relay.nim
index b3e749072..3bfd4d182 100644
--- a/waku/v2/protocol/waku_relay.nim
+++ b/waku/v2/protocol/waku_relay.nim
@@ -8,13 +8,17 @@ else:
   {.push raises: [].}
 
 import
+  stew/results,
   chronos,
   chronicles, 
   metrics,
+  libp2p/multihash,
   libp2p/protocols/pubsub/pubsub,
+  libp2p/protocols/pubsub/rpc/messages,
   libp2p/protocols/pubsub/gossipsub,
   libp2p/stream/connection
 import
+  ../node/peer_manager/peer_manager,
   ./waku_message
 
 logScope:
@@ -23,37 +27,45 @@ logScope:
 const
   WakuRelayCodec* = "/vac/waku/relay/2.0.0"
 
+
+type WakuRelayResult*[T] = Result[T, string]
+
+type
+  PubsubRawHandler* = proc(pubsubTopic: PubsubTopic, data: seq[byte]): Future[void] {.gcsafe, raises: [Defect].}
+  SubsciptionHandler* = proc(pubsubTopic: PubsubTopic, message: WakuMessage): Future[void] {.gcsafe, raises: [Defect].}
+
 type
   WakuRelay* = ref object of GossipSub
+    peerManager: PeerManager
     defaultPubsubTopics*: seq[PubsubTopic] # Default configured PubSub topics
 
-method init*(w: WakuRelay) =
-  debug "init WakuRelay"
-  
+
+proc initProtocolHandler(w: WakuRelay) =
   proc handler(conn: Connection, proto: string) {.async.} =
     ## main protocol handler that gets triggered on every
     ## connection for a protocol string
     ## e.g. ``/wakusub/0.0.1``, etc...
-    ##
+    debug "Incoming WakuRelay connection", connection=conn, protocol=proto
 
-    debug "Incoming WakuRelay connection"
     try:
       await w.handleConn(conn, proto)
     except CancelledError:
       # This is top-level procedure which will work as separate task, so it
       # do not need to propogate CancelledError.
-      trace "Unexpected cancellation in relay handler", conn
-    except CatchableError as exc:
-      trace "WakuRelay handler leaks an error", exc = exc.msg, conn
+      error "Unexpected cancellation in relay handler", conn=conn, error=getCurrentExceptionMsg()
+    except CatchableError:
+      error "WakuRelay handler leaks an error", conn=conn, error=getCurrentExceptionMsg()
 
   # XXX: Handler hijack GossipSub here?
   w.handler = handler
   w.codec = WakuRelayCodec
 
-method initPubSub*(w: WakuRelay) {.raises: [Defect, InitializationError].} =
-  debug "initWakuRelay"
+method initPubSub(w: WakuRelay) {.raises: [InitializationError].} =
+  ## NOTE: This method overrides GossipSub initPubSub method; it called by the 
+  ##  parent protocol, PubSub.
+  debug "init waku relay"
 
-  # after discussions with @sinkingsugar, this is essentially what is needed for
+  # After discussions with @sinkingsugar: This is essentially what is needed for
   # the libp2p `StrictNoSign` policy
   w.anonymize = true
   w.verifySignature = false
@@ -61,41 +73,86 @@ method initPubSub*(w: WakuRelay) {.raises: [Defect, InitializationError].} =
 
   procCall GossipSub(w).initPubSub()
 
-  w.init()
+  w.initProtocolHandler()
 
-method subscribe*(w: WakuRelay,
-                  pubSubTopic: PubsubTopic,
-                  handler: TopicHandler) =
-  debug "subscribe", pubSubTopic=pubSubTopic
 
-  procCall GossipSub(w).subscribe(pubSubTopic, handler)
+proc new*(T: type WakuRelay, 
+          peerManager: PeerManager, 
+          defaultPubsubTopics: seq[PubsubTopic] = @[],
+          triggerSelf: bool = true): WakuRelayResult[T] =
+  
+  proc msgIdProvider(msg: messages.Message): Result[MessageID, ValidationResult] =
+    let hash = MultiHash.digest("sha2-256", msg.data)
+    if hash.isErr():
+      ok(($msg.data.hash).toBytes())
+    else:
+      ok(hash.value.data.buffer)
 
-method publish*(w: WakuRelay,
-                pubSubTopic: PubsubTopic,
-                message: seq[byte]
-               ): Future[int] {.async.} =
-  trace "publish", pubSubTopic=pubSubTopic, message=message
+  var wr: WakuRelay
+  try:
+    wr = WakuRelay.init(
+      switch = peerManager.switch,
+      msgIdProvider = msgIdProvider,
+      triggerSelf = triggerSelf,
+      sign = false,
+      verifySignature = false,
+      maxMessageSize = MaxWakuMessageSize
+    )
+  except InitializationError:
+    return err("initialization error: " & getCurrentExceptionMsg())
 
-  return await procCall GossipSub(w).publish(pubSubTopic, message)
+  wr.peerManager = peerManager
+  wr.defaultPubsubTopics = defaultPubsubTopics
 
-method unsubscribe*(w: WakuRelay,
-                    topics: seq[TopicPair]) =
-  debug "unsubscribe"
+  ok(wr)
 
-  procCall GossipSub(w).unsubscribe(topics)
 
-method unsubscribeAll*(w: WakuRelay,
-                       pubSubTopic: PubsubTopic) =
-  debug "unsubscribeAll"
-
-  procCall GossipSub(w).unsubscribeAll(pubSubTopic)
-
-# GossipSub specific methods --------------------------------------------------
 method start*(w: WakuRelay) {.async.} =
   debug "start"
   await procCall GossipSub(w).start()
 
 method stop*(w: WakuRelay) {.async.} =
   debug "stop"
-
   await procCall GossipSub(w).stop()
+
+
+method subscribe*(w: WakuRelay, pubsubTopic: PubsubTopic, handler: SubsciptionHandler|PubsubRawHandler) =
+  debug "subscribe", pubsubTopic=pubsubTopic
+
+  var subsHandler: PubsubRawHandler 
+  when handler is SubsciptionHandler:
+    subsHandler = proc(pubsubTopic: PubsubTopic, data: seq[byte]): Future[void] {.gcsafe, raises: [Defect].} =
+        let decodeRes = WakuMessage.decode(data)
+        if decodeRes.isErr():
+          debug "message decode failure", pubsubTopic=pubsubTopic, error=decodeRes.error
+          return
+
+        handler(pubsubTopic, decodeRes.value)
+  else:
+    subsHandler = handler
+
+  procCall GossipSub(w).subscribe(pubsubTopic, subsHandler)
+
+method unsubscribe*(w: WakuRelay, topics: seq[TopicPair]) =
+  debug "unsubscribe", topics=topics
+
+  procCall GossipSub(w).unsubscribe(topics)
+
+method unsubscribeAll*(w: WakuRelay, pubsubTopic: PubsubTopic) =
+  debug "unsubscribeAll", pubsubTopic=pubsubTopic
+
+  procCall GossipSub(w).unsubscribeAll(pubsubTopic)
+
+
+method publish*(w: WakuRelay, pubsubTopic: PubsubTopic, message: WakuMessage|seq[byte]): Future[int] {.async.} =
+  trace "publish", pubsubTopic=pubsubTopic
+
+  var data: seq[byte]
+  when message is WakuMessage:
+    data = message.encode()
+  else:
+    data = message
+
+  return await procCall GossipSub(w).publish(pubsubTopic, message)
+
+