Overview

Glassix uses Amazon S3 to store and serve attachments such as images, PDFs, and other file types. To secure these files, we generate presigned URLs, which are time-limited links that allow access to specific objects stored in S3 without requiring authentication.

The most common places for you to encounter a presigned URL are:

• Copying an image address
• Copying an attachment address
• Extracting an image or attachment URL via API or SDK
• Sending an external email with an attachment from Glassix

Every time you do run into a presigned URL, it will look something like this:

https://glassix-private-prod.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/104062512182470_whatsappim_jt9bzvcu_890af5b7-d7d1-4f46-9e71-046ba12ae96a.jpg?X-Amz-Expires=21600&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAQ5NFYO37DHIHUM5Q%2F20250612%2Feu-central-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20250612T084120Z&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=a11491c6e749e6557f1c2bfa919a6b7a03d875db086f1a7e3818f23cd3e81066

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Note:

If you've copied a link either from the UI or from an API return, and the link follows the format above, you are working with a presigned URL.

Presigned URLs don't function like normal links so it's important to read through the information below.

Expiration

All S3 presigned URLs generated by Glassix expire 6 hours after they are created. This is a fixed limit defined by our implementation of Amazon S3

When you attempt to open a expires presigned URL, you will see an error message like the one below:

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Info:

For more details on how presigned URLs work, you can refer to the official AWS documentation:https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/userguide/using-presigned-url.html

Where You Will Find Presigned URLs

Agent Console (UI)

When viewing an attachment in a conversation, a new presigned URL is generated automatically each time the conversation is loaded.

Behavior: If the previous URL has expired, a new valid URL will be used without requiring any action from the agent. Expired links are seamlessly refreshed on page reload.

API Responses and Webhooks

When you retrieve a message using the API or receive a webhook event, the attachment URL provided is a presigned S3 link.

Important:These URLs are also valid for 6 hours. If accessed after that period, they will return an error such as 403 Forbidden.

Recommendation: Consume or download the file immediately upon receiving the API response or webhook. If needed later, call the relevant API again to obtain a new URL.

Outbound Emails (Customer-Facing)

File links sent to end users (for example, interactive documents or attachments) also use S3 presigned URLs.

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Important:

Customer-facing presigned URLs expire after 6 hours just like other presigned URLs. If a user clicks on an expired link, they will receive an Access Denied error message.

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Tip:

Consider including a line in your email templates about the expiration of your attachments. For example:
“Note: This file link is only valid for 6 hours. If you're not able to access the file or if 6 hours have passed since you received this message, please reach back out to request the file again.”

Regenerating Presigned URLs

If you need a new presigned URL for one of your documents, you can get a new one by:

• Re-fetching the conversation via the API (GET /conversations/{id})
• Triggering a new webhook event (e.g., reassignment or tag update)
• Refreshing the browser tab and copying the newly-generated link

Glassix will automatically refresh presigned URLs whenever they're loaded in the UI.