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Check whether a sending domain's infrastructure is blocklisted

GET
/v1/email/inbox-insights/blocklists
// Requires Insights preview access for the organization.
let sendingDomain: string | undefined;
for await (const domain of bird.email.inboxInsights.domains.list({ search: "mail.example.com" })) {
  if (domain.domain === "mail.example.com") { sendingDomain = domain.domain; break; }
}
if (!sendingDomain) throw new Error("Verify mail.example.com in this workspace first");
const report = await bird.email.inboxInsights.blocklists({ sending_domain: sendingDomain });
console.log(report);
Response200
{
  "resource": "placement",
  "domain": "mail.acme.com",
  "measurement": {
    "sources": [
      "panel",
      "intelliseed_public"
    ],
    "weighting": {
      "weight_set_id": "12",
      "source": "account",
      "basis": "weighted-mean-of-per-isp-rates"
    }
  },
  "generated_at": "2026-08-18T09:34:00Z",
  "freshness": {
    "as_of": "2026-08-17",
    "lag_hint": "daily"
  },
  "cached_at": "2026-08-18T09:40:02Z",
  "active_count": 0,
  "targets": [
    {
      "target": "147.253.40.18",
      "target_type": "ip",
      "is_listed": false,
      "status": "ok",
      "checked_at": "2026-08-20T09:12:04Z",
      "listings": [
        {
          "is_active": false,
          "reason_code": "CSS",
          "provider": "Spamhaus CSS",
          "reason": "Automated listing of a suspected snowshoe range",
          "first_detected": "2026-07-31T00:00:00Z",
          "last_detected": "2026-08-04T00:00:00Z"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Checks the sending IPs behind a sending domain against the blocklists receivers consult, and returns what is listed now plus the listings seen recently against each target. The vendor's default target selection includes IPs seen sending in the last 30 days and the domain itself. The returned targets and their statuses describe the coverage of this lookup; an empty target list does not establish that the domain or its IPs are clear. The 30-day period selects targets; listing status reflects the current lookup.

The check runs when the request is made, so this is a live lookup rather than a measurement over a period: there is no window, and only the freshness lag hint applies. Providers that publish several lists are reported per list, because what a listing means and how it is cleared differ between them.

Each target is looked up separately, so one can fail while the rest succeed. A target nobody managed to check comes back with its status reporting that and its checked_at null, rather than as a target that came back clear. active_count is null when the lookup service supplies no count; do not treat null as zero. Zero does not establish complete coverage: inspect the returned targets and their statuses. A 503 means Bird could not reach the lookup service at all, which is a different answer from a lookup that ran and reported nothing.

API-key calls require Insights preview access for your organization.

Query Parameters

sending_domainstring

The sending domain to check: one of the workspace's verified sending domains, exactly as it appears there. Inspect the returned targets and their statuses for lookup coverage. A domain that is not verified in this workspace answers not-found.

Response Payload

resource
string
required

Which resource this response is, echoed for self-description.

domain
string
required

The sending domain the figures describe.

measurement
object

How the figures were measured. Present only where a figure was weighted or drawn from a named set of sources, which today means placement and the industry benchmark. Absent on the reputation resources and on a live lookup, neither of which weights anything.

Show child attributes
generated_at
string
required

When these figures were computed. The measurement service's own stamp where it publishes one; on the resources Bird derives from daily rates it has none to publish, and this is when Bird computed them.

freshness
object
required

How current the figures are. Freshness differs per resource (authentication data can lag a day or more while blocklist lookups are near real time), so any "as of" label binds from this field, never from a fixed string.

Show child attributes
cached_at
string

Present when the response was served from a short-lived copy rather than fetched for this request: when that copy was fetched.

active_count
nullable integer
required

Number of successfully checked targets reported with an active listing. A target on three blocklists counts once. Null when the lookup service supplies no count; do not treat null as zero. Zero does not establish that the domain or its IPs were checked. Inspect targets and each target's status for lookup coverage, including partial failures.

targets
array of object
required

Returned sending IP or domain lookup results, including failed lookups. An empty array does not establish that the domain or its IPs are clear.

Show child attributes
targets.target
string
required

The sending IP or domain selected for lookup.

targets.target_type
nullable string
required

Whether this target is an IP address or a hostname. Null when the measurement did not report a kind for it, which is possible on a target whose check did not complete.

Possible values (may grow over time): ip, domain

targets.is_listed
boolean
required

Whether the target is on at least one blocklist right now. Meaningful only when status is ok: on any other status this target was not checked, so the value carries no finding either way.

targets.status
string
required

Whether this target was actually checked. unavailable means the lookup failed or timed out for this target while others may have succeeded, so the honest rendering is "could not check" rather than a result.

Possible values: ok, no_data, not_configured, unavailable, not_applicable

targets.checked_at
nullable string
required

When this target was looked up, or null when it was not. Per target rather than per response, because each is a separate live lookup.

targets.listings
array of object
required

Listings seen against this target, including ones that have since cleared, so a recent history is visible even when nothing is active. Read each listing's is_active rather than assuming every entry is current.

Show child attributes

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