---
title: "Get a thread"
method: GET
path: "/v1/email/threads/{thread_id}"
tags: ["email-threads"]
---

# Get a thread

`GET /v1/email/threads/{thread_id}`

## Request

- Base URL: `https://us1.platform.bird.com`
- URL: `https://us1.platform.bird.com/v1/email/threads/{thread_id}`
- Auth: one of:
  - HTTP bearer
  - API key in cookie `bird_session`

Returns a single conversation. Fetch the messages in the conversation with [List messages in a thread](/docs/api/reference/list-email-thread-messages). A thread whose retention tier has ended returns `410 Gone`.

## Headers

- `X-Workspace-Id` string
- `X-Organization-Id` string

## Response `200`

Thread object.

- EmailThread: A conversation in a mailbox. It groups every message in both directions, the mail the mailbox received and the replies it sent, and it holds the conversation's read state, labels, and participant list. A message is retained until it is trashed or ages past the mailbox's retention tier. Only retained messages count toward the totals below.
  - `id` string, required
  - `mailbox_id` string, required
  - `channel` string, required: Channel this conversation lives on. Always `email`.
  - `contact_id` string, required
  - `subject` string, nullable, required: Subject of the conversation, taken from its first message. Null when that message had no subject.
  - `participants` string[], required: Addresses that appear on the retained messages in this conversation, including the mailbox's own address.
  - `message_count` integer, required: Number of retained messages in this conversation, both directions.
  - `unread_count` integer, required: Number of retained received messages that are still unread. Spam and blocked mail is not counted.
  - `last_message_at` string, date-time, required: When the most recent retained message in this conversation was received or sent.
  - `last_direction` 'inbound' | 'outbound', required: Direction of the most recent message: `inbound` for a received message, `outbound` for a sent one.
  - `labels` string[], required: Labels on this conversation. Exactly one system placement label is always present, set by the message that started the conversation: - `inbox`: The conversation is in the inbox. - `archive`: The conversation was filed away and is done for now. - `spam`: The conversation's opening message is filed in Spam. - `blocked`: The conversation's opening message was rejected by the mailbox's receive policy or rules. Move a conversation by updating its labels. Add `spam` to file it as spam, add `archive` to clean it out of the inbox, and add `inbox`, or remove `spam`, `blocked`, or `archive`, to bring it back. An archived conversation returns to the inbox by itself when a new message arrives. Custom labels share the same list, and a conversation has at most 20 labels in total.
  - `created_at` string, date-time, required: When the thread was created.
  - `updated_at` string, date-time, required: When the thread last changed.
  - `highlights` EmailThreadHighlights: Matched search fragments for a thread, one array per field the query matched, with the matched terms wrapped in `**`. A field is present only when the query matched it, so the keys that are present tell you which fields produced the hit. Returned only on thread search results.
    - `subject` string[]: Matched fragments from the conversation's subject.
    - `text` string[]: Matched fragments from a message's body text.

## Other responses

- `400`: Bad request
- `401`: Authentication required
- `403`: Insufficient permissions
- `404`: Resource not found
- `410`: The resource existed but is no longer available.
- `422`: The request has invalid field values, violates a business rule, or carries a query parameter the endpoint does not declare. Field validation errors use `type: validation_error` and include the affected fields in `details`. Business-rule errors identify the failed rule in `type`.
- `429`: Rate limit exceeded
- `500`: Internal server error

---

[API](https://skmtc.dev/messagebird/apis/bird-api.md) · [All operations](https://skmtc.dev/messagebird/apis/bird-api/llms.txt) · [OpenAPI document](https://skmtc.dev/messagebird/apis/bird-api/revisions/6dfce1179799?raw)