Get a message

GET

/v1/email/messages/{message_id}

const msg = await bird.email.get("em_abc123");
msg.status; // "accepted" | "processed" | "delivered" | "bounced" | …
msg.delivered_count;
msg.bounced_count;

message = client.email.get("em_abc123")
print(message.id, message.status, message.delivered_count)

package main

import (
	"context"
	"fmt"
	"log"
	"os"

	bird "github.com/messagebird/bird-sdk-go"
	"github.com/messagebird/bird-sdk-go/option"
)

func main() {
	client, err := bird.NewClient(option.WithAPIKey(os.Getenv("BIRD_API_KEY")))
	if err != nil {
		log.Fatal(err)
	}
	msg, err := client.Email.Get(context.Background(), "em_abc123")
	if err != nil {
		log.Fatal(err)
	}
	fmt.Println(*msg.Status, *msg.DeliveredCount)
}

$message = $bird->email->get('em_01krdgeqcxet5s7t44vh8rt9mg');
echo $message->getStatus();

bird email get <message-id>

curl -X GET "https://us1.platform.bird.com/v1/email/messages/{message_id}" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"

Response200

{
  "id": "em_01krdgeqcxet5s7t44vh8rt9mg",
  "from": {
    "email": "onboarding@messagebird.dev",
    "name": "Bird"
  },
  "to": [
    {
      "email": "delivered@messagebird.dev"
    }
  ],
  "subject": "Hello from Bird",
  "category": "marketing",
  "status": "accepted",
  "broadcast_id": "eb_01krdgeqcxet5s7t44vh8rt9mg",
  "accepted_count": 1,
  "processed_count": 0,
  "delivered_count": 0,
  "bounced_count": 0,
  "complained_count": 0,
  "deferred_count": 0,
  "rejected_count": 0,
  "open_count": 0,
  "click_count": 0,
  "track_opens": false,
  "track_clicks": false,
  "created_at": "2026-07-01T12:00:00Z"
}

Returns a single message with its aggregate delivery status and per-state recipient counts. The response never includes the html/text bodies. When content storage is enabled for the send, fetch the stored bodies with Get stored message content. Per-recipient statuses and the event timeline are separate sub-resources.

Parameters

message_idstring

ID of the message to fetch. A broadcast records one message per recipient, and List email messages returns those copies alongside ordinary sends. For a single send, this is the message's own ID, from the send response's id field.

Response Payload

id

string

required

Message ID.

from

object

required

Sender address. name is present when a display name was provided on the send.

Show child attributes

from.email

string

required

Email address.

from.name

string

Display name shown alongside the address in mail clients.

to

array of object

required

Primary recipients. Length is the recipient count. Use the broadcasts endpoint for audience-targeted sends. Each entry's name is present when a display name was provided on the send.

Show child attributes

to.email

string

required

Email address.

to.name

string

Display name shown alongside the address in mail clients.

cc

array of object

CC recipients.

Show child attributes

cc.email

string

required

Email address.

cc.name

string

Display name shown alongside the address in mail clients.

bcc

array of object

BCC recipients.

Show child attributes

bcc.email

string

required

Email address.

bcc.name

string

Display name shown alongside the address in mail clients.

subject

string

required

The subject line as delivered. For a send that used a template, the stored subject is the template's, so this reports it with the send's parameters substituted in, which is what the recipient saw.

category

string

required

Content classification, which controls suppression policy:

marketing: Blocks on all suppression reasons.
transactional: Allows delivery through complaint and unsubscribe suppressions, for receipts, password resets, and similar operational mail.

Possible values: marketing, transactional

reply_to

nullable array

Reply-To addresses, if set on the send. Empty/null when no Reply-To was provided.

status

string

required

accepted_count

integer

required

How many recipients are in the accepted state, meaning we have the message and are getting ready to deliver it.

processed_count

integer

required

How many recipients the message has been prepared for and queued for delivery.

delivered_count

integer

required

How many recipients' messages were accepted by their mail server.

bounced_count

integer

required

Number of recipients that resulted in a permanent delivery failure.

complained_count

integer

required

Number of recipients that reported spam.

deferred_count

integer

required

Number of recipients in transient delivery deferral. Their mail server asked for a retry, and delivery attempts continue.

rejected_count

integer

required

Number of recipients rejected before delivery. Read the per-recipient rejection_reason field on GET /v1/email/messages/{message_id}/recipients for the specific cause.

processing_latency_ms

nullable integer

Time between the send being accepted and the message being prepared for delivery, in milliseconds, for the fastest recipient. Null until the first recipient reaches processed.

delivery_latency_ms

nullable integer

Time between the message being processed and the receiving mail server accepting it, in milliseconds, for the fastest delivered recipient. Null until the first recipient is delivered.

total_latency_ms

nullable integer

End-to-end accept → delivered time for the fastest delivered recipient, in milliseconds. Null until the first recipient is delivered.

open_count

integer

required

Total open events across all recipients.

click_count

integer

required

Total click events across all recipients.

requested_language

nullable string

The template language this send asked for, in canonical form (pt-BR for a request of pt-br). Null when the send named no language (it took the template's default) or used no template at all. Compare it with resolved_language: when they differ, the language you asked for was not available and the template's on_missing_language policy chose the one shown there instead.

resolved_language

nullable string

The template language this send was actually delivered in, in canonical form. Null when the send used no template. A non-null value with a null requested_language means the send named no language and took the template's default.

template_id

nullable string

The template this send rendered from, or null for a send that supplied its content inline.

template_version_id

nullable string

The exact template version this send rendered from, or null for an inline send. A template's live version changes every time you submit it, so this is what identifies the wording that was actually delivered, together with resolved_language.

broadcast_id

string

The broadcast that sent this message. Absent for a send that was not part of a broadcast. A broadcast records one message per recipient, and every one of them carries the same value here.

tags

array of object

Labels on this message, each one a name and a value, that you can filter and search messages by. Use tags for anything you want to find messages by later, and metadata for data you only want handed back to you.

Show child attributes

tags.name

string

required

Tag name. ASCII letters, digits, underscore, and hyphen only. Case-sensitive. Maximum 32 characters.

tags.value

string

required

Tag value. ASCII letters, digits, underscore, and hyphen only. Case-sensitive. Maximum 64 characters.

metadata

object

Any JSON you kept on the message. We store it and hand it back in webhook payloads, and that is all it does. If you want to search or filter by it, use tags instead.

parameters

nullable object

The substitution values this send supplied, whether inline or from a template, or null if none were supplied. They are the values applied to subject and to the bodies the content endpoint returns, kept so you can see what produced the delivered copy and not only the result.

attachments

array of object

Attachment metadata for the send. Empty when no attachments were included. Raw content is not echoed. When content storage is enabled, download an attachment by its id via the message's attachment endpoint.

Show child attributes

attachments.id

string

Attachment ID, stable per email send.

attachments.filename

string

required

Filename as shown to the recipient.

attachments.content_type

string

Resolved MIME type at send time.

attachments.size

integer

required

Decoded size in bytes.

attachments.inline

boolean

True when the attachment was sent inline via a content_id reference in the HTML body, false for regular file attachments.

attachments.content_id

nullable string

The Content-ID set at send time, when the attachment was inline.

track_opens

boolean

required

Whether open tracking is enabled for this send.

track_clicks

boolean

required

Whether click tracking is enabled for this send.

created_at

string

required

When the send request was accepted.

thread_id

nullable string

Thread this message belongs to, or null when the message is not part of one.

in_reply_to_message_id

nullable string

The message this one is a reply to, if any.

delivered_at

nullable string

When all recipients reached a terminal delivered state, or null if not yet fully delivered.

scheduled_at

string

When this message is scheduled to send, for a send created with a future send time. Absent for an immediate send. Stays set after the scheduled send fires.

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

Try the practice and get an implementation brief

const msg = await bird.email.get("em_abc123");
msg.status; // "accepted" | "processed" | "delivered" | "bounced" | …
msg.delivered_count;
msg.bounced_count;

message = client.email.get("em_abc123")
print(message.id, message.status, message.delivered_count)

package main

import (
	"context"
	"fmt"
	"log"
	"os"

	bird "github.com/messagebird/bird-sdk-go"
	"github.com/messagebird/bird-sdk-go/option"
)

func main() {
	client, err := bird.NewClient(option.WithAPIKey(os.Getenv("BIRD_API_KEY")))
	if err != nil {
		log.Fatal(err)
	}
	msg, err := client.Email.Get(context.Background(), "em_abc123")
	if err != nil {
		log.Fatal(err)
	}
	fmt.Println(*msg.Status, *msg.DeliveredCount)
}

$message = $bird->email->get('em_01krdgeqcxet5s7t44vh8rt9mg');
echo $message->getStatus();

bird email get <message-id>

curl -X GET "https://us1.platform.bird.com/v1/email/messages/{message_id}" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"

Response200

{
  "id": "em_01krdgeqcxet5s7t44vh8rt9mg",
  "from": {
    "email": "onboarding@messagebird.dev",
    "name": "Bird"
  },
  "to": [
    {
      "email": "delivered@messagebird.dev"
    }
  ],
  "subject": "Hello from Bird",
  "category": "marketing",
  "status": "accepted",
  "broadcast_id": "eb_01krdgeqcxet5s7t44vh8rt9mg",
  "accepted_count": 1,
  "processed_count": 0,
  "delivered_count": 0,
  "bounced_count": 0,
  "complained_count": 0,
  "deferred_count": 0,
  "rejected_count": 0,
  "open_count": 0,
  "click_count": 0,
  "track_opens": false,
  "track_clicks": false,
  "created_at": "2026-07-01T12:00:00Z"
}

Get a message

Parameters

Response Payload

Related resources