When nothing else works, try cordially.
Cordially is a messaging app for two people who still have to talk, and can't without it turning into a fight. Every message goes through it, both ways. It passes on what matters — the dates, the numbers, the decisions — and holds back the part that would start another three days of this.
Each of you sees what was held back from your own message, never from theirs. You set the terms, it learns how the two of you write, and what was held back is deleted once the message is read.
A detail doesn't line up. A little bitterness gets into the sentence. A little comes back. Nobody started it.
Then the questions come fast, and none of them are really about the detail. The safest answer is a smoothed one.
The edit gets spotted. Now it isn't the detail, it's the trust. One of you pushes. The other goes quiet. Neither of those is a choice.
Nothing settles, so the next thing lands on top.
Nobody in here is the enemy. The loop is.
one message, both directions
A real message, as written and as delivered. Tap the note under your message to see exactly what was left out and why. Each of you sees what was held back from your own message.
Yes Thursday 9. I told you that on the 14th, you just don't read anything I send.
it's live — tap a held-back line
I've asked twice about the appraiser and gotten nothing back. Is Thursday 9am confirmed? I have to take the morning off.
attached · appraisal-invoice.pdfThe business you still run together, the dog, the house: what's ending between you doesn't have to take them with it.
the bill arrives. the accusation doesn't.
Send a screenshot, a PDF, the daycare invoice, the car insurance renewal. Cordially reads it, pulls out the part that matters — the amount, the date, the account number — and passes the file along with a message that doesn't start anything.
If a message is stopped, nothing goes through. Not the text, not the file, not a link to it.
nothing useful gets dropped
The dates, the numbers, the ask, the actual position — all of it goes through intact. What stays behind is the line that would have cost you the next two days.
settled things stay settled
Dates, commitments and decisions are kept with who said them and when. Ask something already answered and it answers. Also confirmed on the 14th. Either of you can mark a fact disputed.
both of you, same terms
Cordially filters what you send and what you receive on the same terms. Neither of you is holding the dial. Everything lands in one append-only record, which is the only reason it means anything.
what does the other person see?
Only what went through, written plainly. Nothing marks what was held back — not the words, not the kind of thing. You see what was held back from your message, and they see what was held back from theirs.
this one's live too
how does it start?
You save a place. When it opens, you create your account with your phone number and invite the other person with a code. Cordially sits in between, both ways.
what's coming next?
iMessage Mutuals, for the friends you both keep, then Inbox Detour, for email from the other person.
I built this because I needed it. There was a business we still had to run and a person I couldn't have a five-minute conversation with, and neither of us was being difficult on purpose. Nothing else worked. The loop was faster than both of us, so I put something in the middle of it — for whatever is still shared: a home, a business, the dog, the friends you both keep.
James, founder
the message gets through. the fight doesn't.
We're building it now. Leave an email and we'll tell you when it opens. Free while it's in beta.
One message when it opens. One more if you asked about the Kickstarter. Nothing else.
coming to an app store near you
Running version 17.0.53 — shipped 9 October 2026. We put out changes most days while it's in beta.
| Version | What changed |
|---|---|
| Site · 14 Oct | Roadmap added, with what we're building next. iMessage Mutuals comes first, for the friends you both keep, then Inbox Detour, for email from the other person. |
| 17.0.53 · 9 Oct | Every conversation now starts from the same plain set of subjects and learns its own from what gets through, so what one pair talks about never shapes how another pair's messages are read. What has been learned about yours is listed in your profile, and can be switched off there. |
| 17.0.52 · 3 Oct | A repeat question now gets back the answer the mediator already passed on, instead of being told nothing has come back, and a time frame already given counts as the answer to “when?”. A message that only disputes what's already on record is answered from the record and isn't sent on. |
| 17.0.50–51 · 1 Oct | The conversation opens on its newest messages and brings in earlier ones as you scroll up, so it stays quick however long it runs. A note from the mediator now goes only to the person it's written to. And the day labels give way to each other as you scroll. |
| 17.0.48–49 · 28 Sep | An answer given in the conversation is kept: ask the same thing later and it comes straight back, instead of going across again. |