> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://developers.telnyx.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Update an inbox message

> Updates the explicit read state of an account-scoped inbound message. Set `read_at`
to `true` to mark the message read at the server's current time, to an ISO 8601
timestamp to use that timestamp, or to `null` to mark the message unread. Repeating
the same update is idempotent.




## OpenAPI

````yaml /openapi/generated/email/inboxes.yml patch /email_inboxes/{inbox_id}/messages/{message_id}
openapi: 3.1.0
info:
  contact:
    email: support@telnyx.com
  description: API for managing email inboxes, drafts, messages, filters, and threads.
  title: Telnyx Email Inboxes API
  version: 2.0.0
servers:
  - url: https://api.telnyx.com/v2
security:
  - bearerAuth: []
paths:
  /email_inboxes/{inbox_id}/messages/{message_id}:
    patch:
      tags:
        - Email Inboxes
      summary: Update an inbox message
      description: >
        Updates the explicit read state of an account-scoped inbound message.
        Set `read_at`

        to `true` to mark the message read at the server's current time, to an
        ISO 8601

        timestamp to use that timestamp, or to `null` to mark the message
        unread. Repeating

        the same update is idempotent.
      operationId: UpdateEmailInboxMessage
      parameters:
        - name: inbox_id
          in: path
          required: true
          description: Email inbox UUID.
          schema:
            type: string
            format: uuid
        - name: message_id
          in: path
          required: true
          description: Inbound email message UUID.
          schema:
            type: string
            format: uuid
      requestBody:
        required: true
        content:
          application/json:
            schema:
              $ref: '#/components/schemas/UpdateInboundMessageRequest'
            examples:
              markRead:
                value:
                  read_at: true
              markUnread:
                value:
                  read_at: null
              explicitTimestamp:
                value:
                  read_at: '2026-07-23T12:34:56Z'
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Updated inbox message.
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/InboundMessageResponse'
        '401':
          $ref: '#/components/responses/email_UnauthorizedResponse'
        '404':
          $ref: '#/components/responses/email_NotFoundResponse'
        '422':
          $ref: '#/components/responses/ValidationErrorResponse'
        '503':
          $ref: '#/components/responses/email_ServiceUnavailableResponse'
      x-codeSamples:
        - lang: JavaScript
          source: >-
            import Telnyx from 'telnyx';


            const client = new Telnyx({
              apiKey: process.env['TELNYX_API_KEY'], // This is the default and can be omitted
            });


            const InboundMessage = await
            client.emailInboxes.messages.update('inbox_id', 'message_id', {
              read_at: 'True',
            });


            console.log(InboundMessage.data);
        - lang: Python
          source: |-
            import os
            from telnyx import Telnyx

            client = Telnyx(
                api_key=os.environ.get("TELNYX_API_KEY"),  # This is the default and can be omitted
            )
            inbound_message = client.email_inboxes.messages.update(
                inbox_id="inbox_id",
                message_id="message_id",
                read_at="True",
            )
            print(inbound_message.data)
        - lang: Go
          source: "package main\n\nimport (\n\t\"context\"\n\t\"fmt\"\n\n\t\"github.com/team-telnyx/telnyx-go\"\n\t\"github.com/team-telnyx/telnyx-go/option\"\n)\n\nfunc main() {\n\tclient := telnyx.NewClient(\n\t\toption.WithAPIKey(\"My API Key\"),\n\t)\n\tmessage, err := client.EmailInboxes.Messages.Update(\n\t\tcontext.TODO(),\n\t\t\"inbox_id\",\n\t\t\"message_id\",\n\t\ttelnyx.EmailInboxeMessageUpdateParams{\n\t\t\tReadAt: \"read_at\",\n\t\t},\n\t)\n\tif err != nil {\n\t\tpanic(err.Error())\n\t}\n\tfmt.Printf(\"%+v\\n\", message.Data)\n}\n"
        - lang: Java
          source: >-
            package com.telnyx.sdk.example;


            import com.telnyx.sdk.client.TelnyxClient;

            import com.telnyx.sdk.client.okhttp.TelnyxOkHttpClient;

            import
            com.telnyx.sdk.models.emailInboxes.messages.MessageUpdateParams;


            public final class Main {
                private Main() {}

                public static void main(String[] args) {
                    TelnyxClient client = TelnyxOkHttpClient.fromEnv();

                    MessageUpdateParams params = MessageUpdateParams.builder()
                        .readAt(MessageUpdateParams.ReadAt.TRUE)
                        .build();
                    var response = client.emailInboxes().messages().update("inbox_id", "message_id", params);
                }
            }
        - lang: Ruby
          source: >-
            require "telnyx"


            telnyx = Telnyx::Client.new(api_key: "My API Key")


            inbound_message = telnyx.email_inboxes.messages.update("inbox_id",
            "message_id", read_at: :True)


            puts(inbound_message)
        - lang: PHP
          source: >-
            <?php


            require_once dirname(__DIR__) . '/vendor/autoload.php';


            use Telnyx\Client;

            use Telnyx\Core\Exceptions\APIException;


            $client = new Client(apiKey: getenv('TELNYX_API_KEY') ?: 'My API
            Key');


            try {
              $inbound_message = $client->emailInboxes->messages->update(
                'inbox_id',
                'message_id',
                read_at: 'True',
              );

              var_dump($inbound_message);
            } catch (APIException $e) {
              echo $e->getMessage();
            }
        - lang: CLI
          source: |-
            telnyx email-inboxes:messages update \
              --api-key 'My API Key' \
              --inbox-id inbox_id \
              --message-id message_id \
              --read-at True
components:
  schemas:
    UpdateInboundMessageRequest:
      type: object
      properties:
        read_at:
          description: >-
            Set to `true` for server time, an ISO 8601 timestamp for an explicit
            read time, or `null` to mark unread.
          oneOf:
            - type: boolean
              enum:
                - true
            - type: string
              format: date-time
            - type:
                - string
                - 'null'
              enum:
                - null
      required:
        - read_at
    InboundMessageResponse:
      type: object
      properties:
        data:
          $ref: '#/components/schemas/InboundMessage'
      required:
        - data
    InboundMessage:
      allOf:
        - $ref: '#/components/schemas/ThreadMessage'
        - type: object
          properties:
            direction:
              type: string
              enum:
                - inbound
            status:
              type: string
              enum:
                - received
    email_ErrorResponse:
      type: object
      properties:
        errors:
          type: array
          items:
            $ref: '#/components/schemas/ErrorObject'
        suppressed:
          type: array
          description: >-
            Present when every recipient is suppressed, so the request is
            rejected and no message is created.
          items:
            $ref: '#/components/schemas/SuppressedRecipient'
      required:
        - errors
    ThreadMessage:
      type: object
      properties:
        id:
          type: string
          format: uuid
        record_type:
          type: string
          enum:
            - email_message
        direction:
          type: string
          enum:
            - inbound
            - outbound
        status:
          type: string
          description: >-
            Received for inbound messages; the current send status for outbound
            messages.
        inbox_id:
          type: string
          format: uuid
        thread_id:
          type: string
          format: uuid
        message_id:
          type:
            - string
            - 'null'
          description: >-
            RFC Message-ID header. Null is possible for legacy outbound
            messages.
        in_reply_to:
          type:
            - string
            - 'null'
        references:
          type: array
          description: Ordered RFC Message-ID values from the References header.
          items:
            type: string
        from:
          $ref: '#/components/schemas/InboundEmailAddress'
        to:
          type: array
          items:
            $ref: '#/components/schemas/InboundEmailAddress'
        cc:
          type: array
          items:
            $ref: '#/components/schemas/InboundEmailAddress'
        bcc:
          type: array
          items:
            $ref: '#/components/schemas/InboundEmailAddress'
        reply_to:
          type: array
          items:
            $ref: '#/components/schemas/InboundEmailAddress'
        subject:
          type:
            - string
            - 'null'
        text_body_url:
          type:
            - string
            - 'null'
          format: uri
          description: >-
            URL for an offloaded plain-text body. Null means the body is not
            offloaded to a URL; an inline plain-text body may still exist but is
            not returned on list reads. `reply_text` and `has_quoted_text` are
            persisted during ingest before any body offload.
        html_body_url:
          type:
            - string
            - 'null'
          format: uri
          description: >-
            URL for an offloaded HTML body. Null means the body is not offloaded
            to a URL; an inline HTML body may still exist but is not returned on
            list reads. Reply extraction uses only the plain-text body during
            ingest.
        reply_text:
          type:
            - string
            - 'null'
          description: >-
            Conservatively extracted new-reply content persisted from the
            plain-text body during ingest. Null means no plain-text extraction
            input was available or extraction was skipped or failed; HTML bodies
            are not parsed.
        has_quoted_text:
          type: boolean
          description: >-
            Whether conservative plain-text extraction detected a quoted tail.
            False does not prove that the source contains no quoted content.
        headers:
          type: object
          additionalProperties: true
        inline_files:
          type: array
          items:
            type: object
            additionalProperties: true
        attachments:
          type: array
          items:
            type: object
            additionalProperties: true
        labels:
          type: array
          description: >-
            Mutable message labels used for agent workflow state (for example
            `spam`, `needs_review`, `processed`). Distinct from the immutable
            send-time `tags` on outbound messages: labels are never propagated
            to Email Detail Records or Mission Control reporting. Always empty
            for outbound messages. Labels on a message are independent of the
            labels on its thread.
          items:
            type: string
            maxLength: 255
          maxItems: 50
        read_at:
          type:
            - string
            - 'null'
          format: date-time
          description: Time the inbound message was marked read. Null means unread.
        received_at:
          type:
            - string
            - 'null'
          format: date-time
          description: Receipt time for inbound messages; null for outbound messages.
        sent_at:
          type:
            - string
            - 'null'
          format: date-time
          description: >-
            Creation/send-acceptance time for outbound messages; null for
            inbound messages.
        created_at:
          type: string
          format: date-time
        updated_at:
          type: string
          format: date-time
      required:
        - id
        - record_type
        - direction
        - status
        - inbox_id
        - thread_id
        - message_id
        - in_reply_to
        - references
        - from
        - to
        - cc
        - bcc
        - reply_to
        - subject
        - text_body_url
        - html_body_url
        - reply_text
        - has_quoted_text
        - headers
        - inline_files
        - attachments
        - labels
        - read_at
        - received_at
        - sent_at
        - created_at
        - updated_at
    ErrorObject:
      type: object
      properties:
        code:
          type: string
          description: >-
            Telnyx error code. Edge idempotency errors use 10027 or 10036.
            Fallback 404/500 responses from the framework may use string status
            codes ('404', '500') instead.
          enum:
            - '10001'
            - '10006'
            - '10007'
            - '10015'
            - '10016'
            - '10019'
            - recipient_suppressed
            - reputation_suspended
            - '404'
            - '500'
            - '10027'
            - '10036'
        title:
          type: string
        detail:
          description: >-
            Human-readable error detail. Changeset responses may return a
            structured object.
          oneOf:
            - type: string
            - type: object
              additionalProperties: true
        source:
          type:
            - object
            - 'null'
          additionalProperties: true
        meta:
          type:
            - object
            - 'null'
          additionalProperties: true
          description: Additional metadata. Present on 401 errors with a documentation URL.
      required:
        - code
        - title
        - detail
    SuppressedRecipient:
      type: object
      properties:
        to:
          type: string
          format: email
          description: Suppressed recipient email address.
        reason:
          type: string
          description: Suppression reason returned by the recipient suppression service.
        scope:
          type: string
          description: Scope at which the suppression applies.
        override_allowed:
          type: boolean
          description: Whether an authorized send may override this suppression.
      required:
        - to
        - reason
        - scope
        - override_allowed
    InboundEmailAddress:
      type: object
      properties:
        email:
          type: string
          format: email
        name:
          type: string
      required:
        - email
  responses:
    email_UnauthorizedResponse:
      description: Not authorized (10006).
      content:
        application/json:
          schema:
            $ref: '#/components/schemas/email_ErrorResponse'
          example:
            errors:
              - code: '10006'
                title: Not authorized
                detail: Invalid API key
                meta:
                  url: https://developers.telnyx.com/docs/overview/errors/10006
    email_NotFoundResponse:
      description: Resource not found (10001).
      content:
        application/json:
          schema:
            $ref: '#/components/schemas/email_ErrorResponse'
          example:
            errors:
              - code: '10001'
                title: Not Found
                detail: The requested resource was not found
    ValidationErrorResponse:
      description: Validation Failed (10015) or changeset validation error.
      content:
        application/json:
          schema:
            $ref: '#/components/schemas/email_ErrorResponse'
          example:
            errors:
              - code: '10015'
                title: Validation Failed
                detail: subject can't be blank
                source:
                  pointer: /data/attributes/subject
    email_ServiceUnavailableResponse:
      description: >-
        Service unavailable (10016), including an unavailable upstream
        dependency or unavailable Edge idempotency protection for a keyed
        request.
      content:
        application/json:
          schema:
            $ref: '#/components/schemas/email_ErrorResponse'
          example:
            errors:
              - code: '10016'
                title: Service Unavailable
                detail: >-
                  The email domain service is temporarily unavailable. Please
                  try again later.
  securitySchemes:
    bearerAuth:
      scheme: bearer
      type: http

````