Get Email


GET /v1/emails/:id

Retrieves an email with its current status and full event history.

Example

Node.js


const { data, error } = await retransmit.emails.get("em_xxxxxxxxxxxx");

Response

200 OK


{
  "id": "em_xxxxxxxxxxxx",
  "batch_id": null,
  "from": "Acme <hello@yourdomain.com>",
  "to": ["user@example.com"],
  "cc": null,
  "bcc": null,
  "reply_to": null,
  "subject": "Your receipt",
  "marketing": false,
  "tags": [{ "name": "category", "value": "receipt" }],
  "headers": { "X-Entity-Ref-ID": "order_4821" },
  "status": "delivered",
  "error": null,
  "bounce_reason": null,
  "created_at": "2026-09-01T12:00:00.000Z",
  "scheduled_at": null,
  "last_event_at": "2026-09-01T12:00:03.000Z",
  "events": [
    { "type": "email.sent", "created_at": "2026-09-01T12:00:01.000Z" },
    { "type": "email.delivered", "created_at": "2026-09-01T12:00:03.000Z" }
  ],
  "attachments": [
    {
      "id": "att_xxxxxxxxxxxx",
      "filename": "invoice.pdf",
      "content_type": "application/pdf",
      "size": 48213,
      "content_id": null,
      "inline": false
    }
  ]
}

attachments lists what was sent, without download links. To download a file, use Attachments.

Email statuses

Status	Meaning
`queued`	Waiting for the worker, or being retried.
`scheduled`	Scheduled for a later send.
`sent`	Handed to the upstream provider.
`delivery_delayed`	The receiving server temporarily deferred delivery.
`delivered`	Accepted by the recipient’s mail server.
`opened`	The recipient opened the email.
`clicked`	The recipient clicked a link.
`bounced`	The recipient’s server permanently rejected it.
`complained`	The recipient marked it as spam.
`suppressed`	Not sent. The address is on a suppression list.
`canceled`	A scheduled send was canceled. See Schedule Email.
`rejected`	Rejected before sending.
`failed`	The send failed after all retries. `error` contains the reason.

Bounce reasons

When the status is bounced, bounce_reason says why the receiving server refused the message, read from the SMTP response it returned. error carries the same thing as a sentence, with the raw response.

The distinction that matters is whether the address is bad or whether your sending was refused. Only the first kind adds the recipient to your suppression list; the second leaves the address alone, because the mailbox is fine and will accept mail again once the underlying problem is fixed.

Reason	Suppressed	Meaning
`mailbox_not_found`	Yes	No account with that address.
`mailbox_inactive`	Yes	The account is disabled, suspended or unused.
`dns_failure`	Yes	The domain has no reachable mail server.
`policy_block`	Yes	A rule on the recipient’s side refused the message, such as accepting internal mail only.
`provider_suppressed`	Yes	The address is on the upstream provider’s suppression list from an earlier bounce.
`mailbox_full`	No	Over quota. Usually clears on its own.
`spam_block`	No	A spam filter rejected the content. Check the subject, links and text-to-image ratio.
`reputation_block`	No	Your sending IP or domain is blocked or on a blocklist.
`authentication_failure`	No	SPF, DKIM or DMARC did not pass at the receiver. Check the domain’s DNS records.
`rate_limited`	No	The receiving server is throttling you. Send more slowly.
`message_too_large`	No	Over the receiver’s size limit. Link to large files instead of attaching them.
`content_rejected`	No	An attachment or the body was refused, often by a virus scanner.
`unknown`	Yes	The server gave no reason we recognise. Treated as a bad address, since it cannot be told apart from one.

No mailbox provider tells a sender whether a message reached the inbox or the spam folder, so a spam_block bounce is the only direct signal you get that filtering is happening. Emails that are silently filed as junk are delivered as far as the API is concerned.

Errors

Status	Code	Cause
`404`	`not_found`	No email with this id on your account.
`401`	`unauthorized`	Missing, malformed, or revoked API key.