list_threads
Retrieve and organize email threads in your Gmail mailbox using filters, labels, and pagination. Supports querying, label-based filtering, and including spam/trash results for efficient thread management.
Instructions
List threads in the user's mailbox
Input Schema
TableJSON Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| includeBodyHtml | No | Whether to include the parsed HTML in the return for each body, excluded by default because they can be excessively large | |
| includeSpamTrash | No | Include threads from SPAM and TRASH in the results | |
| labelIds | No | Only return threads with labels that match all of the specified label IDs | |
| maxResults | No | Maximum number of threads to return | |
| pageToken | No | Page token to retrieve a specific page of results | |
| q | No | Only return threads matching the specified query |
Implementation Reference
- src/index.ts:763-786 (handler)Handler function for the 'list_threads' tool. It invokes handleTool to authenticate, calls the Gmail API to list threads with given parameters, processes thread messages by decoding payloads if includeBodyHtml is true, and formats the response.async (params) => { return handleTool(config, async (gmail: gmail_v1.Gmail) => { const { data } = await gmail.users.threads.list({ userId: 'me', ...params }) if (data.threads) { data.threads = data.threads.map(thread => { if (thread.messages) { thread.messages = thread.messages.map(message => { if (message.payload) { message.payload = processMessagePart( message.payload, params.includeBodyHtml ) } return message }) } return thread }) } return formatResponse(data) }) }
- src/index.ts:756-762 (schema)Zod input schema defining parameters for the list_threads tool: maxResults, pageToken, q (query), labelIds, includeSpamTrash, includeBodyHtml.maxResults: z.number().optional().describe("Maximum number of threads to return"), pageToken: z.string().optional().describe("Page token to retrieve a specific page of results"), q: z.string().optional().describe("Only return threads matching the specified query"), labelIds: z.array(z.string()).optional().describe("Only return threads with labels that match all of the specified label IDs"), includeSpamTrash: z.boolean().optional().describe("Include threads from SPAM and TRASH in the results"), includeBodyHtml: z.boolean().optional().describe("Whether to include the parsed HTML in the return for each body, excluded by default because they can be excessively large"), },
- src/index.ts:753-787 (registration)Registration of the 'list_threads' MCP tool on the server, including name, description, input schema, and handler function.server.tool("list_threads", "List threads in the user's mailbox", { maxResults: z.number().optional().describe("Maximum number of threads to return"), pageToken: z.string().optional().describe("Page token to retrieve a specific page of results"), q: z.string().optional().describe("Only return threads matching the specified query"), labelIds: z.array(z.string()).optional().describe("Only return threads with labels that match all of the specified label IDs"), includeSpamTrash: z.boolean().optional().describe("Include threads from SPAM and TRASH in the results"), includeBodyHtml: z.boolean().optional().describe("Whether to include the parsed HTML in the return for each body, excluded by default because they can be excessively large"), }, async (params) => { return handleTool(config, async (gmail: gmail_v1.Gmail) => { const { data } = await gmail.users.threads.list({ userId: 'me', ...params }) if (data.threads) { data.threads = data.threads.map(thread => { if (thread.messages) { thread.messages = thread.messages.map(message => { if (message.payload) { message.payload = processMessagePart( message.payload, params.includeBodyHtml ) } return message }) } return thread }) } return formatResponse(data) }) } )
- src/index.ts:50-80 (helper)Shared helper function used by all Gmail tools, including list_threads, to handle OAuth2 authentication, create Gmail client, execute the API call, and handle errors.const handleTool = async (queryConfig: Record<string, any> | undefined, apiCall: (gmail: gmail_v1.Gmail) => Promise<any>) => { try { const oauth2Client = queryConfig ? createOAuth2Client(queryConfig) : defaultOAuth2Client if (!oauth2Client) throw new Error('OAuth2 client could not be created, please check your credentials') const credentialsAreValid = await validateCredentials(oauth2Client) if (!credentialsAreValid) throw new Error('OAuth2 credentials are invalid, please re-authenticate') const gmailClient = queryConfig ? google.gmail({ version: 'v1', auth: oauth2Client }) : defaultGmailClient if (!gmailClient) throw new Error('Gmail client could not be created, please check your credentials') const result = await apiCall(gmailClient) return result } catch (error: any) { // Check for specific authentication errors if ( error.message?.includes("invalid_grant") || error.message?.includes("refresh_token") || error.message?.includes("invalid_client") || error.message?.includes("unauthorized_client") || error.code === 401 || error.code === 403 ) { return formatResponse({ error: `Authentication failed: ${error.message}. Please re-authenticate by running: npx @shinzolabs/gmail-mcp auth`, }); } return formatResponse({ error: `Tool execution failed: ${error.message}` }); } }
- src/index.ts:94-108 (helper)Helper function to recursively process and decode message parts (base64 to utf-8), filter headers, used in list_threads handler to prepare thread messages.const processMessagePart = (messagePart: MessagePart, includeBodyHtml = false): MessagePart => { if ((messagePart.mimeType !== 'text/html' || includeBodyHtml) && messagePart.body) { messagePart.body = decodedBody(messagePart.body) } if (messagePart.parts) { messagePart.parts = messagePart.parts.map(part => processMessagePart(part, includeBodyHtml)) } if (messagePart.headers) { messagePart.headers = messagePart.headers.filter(header => RESPONSE_HEADERS_LIST.includes(header.name || '')) } return messagePart }