# Messaging Profiles

A **messaging profile** is the bridge between your application and your phone numbers: it holds the API credentials your integration authenticates with and the webhook settings that deliver inbound messages and delivery receipts back to you. Create one profile per integration or environment, then attach the numbers it should send and receive on.

![The Messaging Profiles page with profile counts, search and filters, and the Create Profile button in the header](../../../../assets/screenshots/dashboard/messaging-profiles.png)

## Create a profile

1. Go to **Messaging → Profiles** and click **Create Profile**.
2. Name the profile and set its **webhook URL**: the endpoint in your application that should receive inbound messages and delivery receipts.
3. Save.

![The Create Messaging Profile dialog with a name field and an optional webhook URL where inbound SMS is POSTed](../../../../assets/screenshots/dashboard/messaging-create-profile.png)

The new profile appears in the list with its credentials ready to use.

## Connect your integration

Open the profile and copy its **API credentials** into your application's configuration. From then on:

- Outbound messages your app sends through the API are authenticated by the profile.
- Inbound messages and delivery receipts are POSTed to the profile's webhook URL as they happen.

Keep credentials secret; treat them like any other API key.

:::tip
Use separate profiles for separate integrations or environments (say, staging and production), each gets its own credentials and webhook URL, so you can rotate or debug one without touching the other.
:::

## Attach numbers

Attach **message-enabled numbers** to the profile so it has numbers to send from and receive on. Two compliance points to remember:

- The number must have SMS/MMS capability, check its features on the [Numbers page](/dashboard/numbers/).
- For US local (10DLC) traffic, the number must also be attached to an **active campaign**: see [Messaging Compliance](/dashboard/messaging/compliance/).

## Watch your traffic

Every conversation your profiles handle, inbound and outbound, with delivery status and media, is visible under [Messaging Insights](/dashboard/insights/).