Both parts can be true at once. "I miss you" is about the past. "Let's try again" is about the future. He said the first one. He did not say the second.
So the question is not whether he means it. He probably does. The question is what he does after he says it, and he has likely shown you that already.
Free to try. We never store your chats.
The answers you find list reasons. He is lonely. He is having a bad week. He regrets it. He wants to keep you close. Each one is true for somebody.
But you are not asking about exes. You are asking about 1 man who sent 3 words, maybe at 1:47am, maybe with "but i don't want a relationship" right after. A list has never read his texts.
Look for the last time he said something close to this. "I miss you." "I think about you." "I miss us." Then read what followed.
If he also wrote "but i don't want a relationship," believe that part. It is the clearest sentence he has sent you.
The hour. "i miss you" at 2pm on a Tuesday took a decision. At 1:47am it may have taken a drink or a bad night. See late night texts.
Who ended it. If he ended it, missing you does not change the reason he left. If you ended it, he may be checking whether the door is still shut.
What he asks you for. Nothing at all is one thing. "can we talk" is another. "come over" is a third, and it is not the same as wanting you back.
Whatever you send now, you cannot take back. So do not answer with everything at once. "I miss you too, I think about you every day" hands him all of it and asks for nothing back.
Answer the feeling, and move the real talk out of the text. Something like: i'm glad you said it. if you want to talk about it, let's talk. not over text though.
That does 2 things. It is warm without giving the whole thing away, and it asks him for a small real step. If he meant "let's try again," he will take it. If he only meant "i miss you," he will go vague, and you will know which one you got.
If he already said he does not want a relationship, you can say what you need: i get it. i'm just not up for being missed from a distance.
Sending nothing today is a normal answer. It is not cold. It is you choosing when.
You paste the thread. It reads "i miss you" against him rather than against a list — whether he has said it before, what happened after, what time he sent it, and whether this is his normal way of talking or a change.
Then it writes the reply back in 4 tones, and tells you if the better move today is to wait instead of sending anything.
Try it on your conversation