---
title: "List threads"
method: GET
path: "/v1/email/threads"
tags: ["email-threads"]
---

# List threads

`GET /v1/email/threads`

## Request

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

Returns a paginated list of conversations across the workspace's mailboxes, most recently active first. `label` selects the view: the inbox (the default when omitted), `archive`, `spam`, `blocked`, or any custom label. You can also filter by mailbox, by linked contact, by participant address, or by a subject substring.

This listing filters; it does not search message content.
Conversations whose every message is trashed are excluded; restoring a message
returns the conversation to the list.

`before` and `after` filter by time. To page through the results, pass the response cursors back as `starting_after` or `ending_before`.

## Query parameters

- `mailbox_id` string
- `contact_id` string
- `label` string[]
- `has_unread` boolean
- `participant` string
- `subject` string
- `after` string, date-time
- `before` string, date-time
- `limit` integer
- `starting_after` string
- `ending_before` string

## Headers

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

## Response `200`

Paginated list of threads.

- EmailThreadList
  - `data` EmailThread[], required
    - `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.
  - `next_cursor` string, nullable, required: Cursor for the next page. Pass back as `starting_after` to advance forward. `null` when no next page exists.
  - `prev_cursor` string, nullable, required: Cursor for the previous page. Pass back as `ending_before` to step backward. `null` when no previous page exists.
  - `refresh_cursor` string, nullable, required: Refresh anchor, the first row of this response. Pass back as `ending_before` to fetch what precedes it in the current sort order. On a newest-first sort those are the items that have appeared since; on any other sort they are the items that sort earlier, so refreshing such a list means re-fetching it instead. Non-`null` whenever `data` is non-empty; `null` only on an empty page. Distinct from `prev_cursor`.

## Other responses

- `400`: Bad request
- `401`: Authentication required
- `403`: Insufficient permissions
- `404`: Resource not found
- `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)