Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communications are described. A first user equipment (UE) may receive, via a communication link between the first UE and a base station, radio resource control (RRC) signaling which configures a relay communication sidelink for communicating message traffic between the first UE and a second UE for relay to the base station. The first UE may receive a control message via layer one (L1) signaling or layer two (L2) signaling which activates the relay communication sidelink configured by the RRC signaling. The first UE may then communicate, via the relay communication sidelink, a message for relay to or from the base station by the first UE or the second UE based on the control message.