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Get an email address lookup by URL

GET
/v1/lookup/email/{address}
curl -X GET "https://us1.platform.bird.com/v1/lookup/email/{address}" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"
Response200
{
  "email": "aisha.khan@example.com",
  "valid": true,
  "result": "risky",
  "delivery_confidence": 42,
  "flags": [
    "role",
    "free_provider"
  ]
}

Performs the same deliverability lookup as Create an email address lookup, with the address in the URL. The response includes a result, confidence score, address characteristics, assessment reason, and suggested correction when available. Treat unknown result and reason values as valid additions.

Because the address is in the URL, it can appear in proxies, access logs, and browser history. This form does not accept an Idempotency-Key; each retry performs and charges for another lookup.

Parameters

addressstring

The email address to look up. Percent-encode it, because a local part may legally contain characters a URL path reads as structure. The @ itself is safe either way.

Response Payload

email
string
required

The address that was looked up, exactly as you sent it.

valid
boolean
required

The provider's validity assessment for the address. Read it with result and delivery_confidence when deciding whether to send; it does not guarantee delivery.

result
string
required
delivery_confidence
integer
required

How likely mail to this address is to be delivered, from 0 (certain not to be) to 100 (certain to be). Read it alongside result rather than instead of it, because the same score can sit under neutral or risky for different reasons.

flags
array of string
required

Notable characteristics of the address. Empty when none apply.

reason
string

An explanation for the assessment. Can accompany an undeliverable, risky, or typo result; omitted when no recognized reason is available.

did_you_mean
string

The address this one looks like a misspelling of. Absent unless a correction was found, which in practice means result is typo. Offer it to whoever typed the original rather than sending to it unasked, because it is a guess and the address they meant may be neither one.

Related resources

Continue with the documentation, guides and examples for this topic.

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