diff --git a/lib/types/thread-types.js b/lib/types/thread-types.js
--- a/lib/types/thread-types.js
+++ b/lib/types/thread-types.js
@@ -40,7 +40,12 @@
 import type { UserInfo, UserInfos } from './user-types.js';
 import type { SpecialRole } from '../permissions/special-roles.js';
 import { type ThreadEntity } from '../utils/entity-text.js';
-import { tID, tShape, tUserID } from '../utils/validation-utils.js';
+import {
+  tID,
+  tShape,
+  tUserID,
+  thickIDRegex,
+} from '../utils/validation-utils.js';
 
 export type LegacyMemberInfo = {
   +id: string,
@@ -537,3 +542,7 @@
   +threadInfo: ThreadInfo,
   +pendingPersonalThreadUserInfo?: UserInfo,
 };
+
+export function threadIDIsThick(threadID: string): boolean {
+  return thickIDRegex.test(threadID);
+}
diff --git a/web/redux/initial-state-gate.js b/web/redux/initial-state-gate.js
--- a/web/redux/initial-state-gate.js
+++ b/web/redux/initial-state-gate.js
@@ -12,12 +12,12 @@
 import { getMessageSearchStoreOps } from 'lib/reducers/db-ops-reducer.js';
 import { allUpdatesCurrentAsOfSelector } from 'lib/selectors/keyserver-selectors.js';
 import type { RawThreadInfo } from 'lib/types/minimally-encoded-thread-permissions-types.js';
+import { threadIDIsThick } from 'lib/types/thread-types.js';
 import { getConfig } from 'lib/utils/config.js';
 import { convertIDToNewSchema } from 'lib/utils/migration-utils.js';
 import { entries, values } from 'lib/utils/objects.js';
 import { useDispatch } from 'lib/utils/redux-utils.js';
 import { infoFromURL } from 'lib/utils/url-utils.js';
-import { thickIDRegex } from 'lib/utils/validation-utils.js';
 
 import {
   setInitialReduxState,
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@
       try {
         let urlInfo = infoFromURL(decodeURI(window.location.href));
         const isThickThreadOpen =
-          urlInfo.thread && thickIDRegex.test(urlInfo.thread);
+          urlInfo.thread && threadIDIsThick(urlInfo.thread);
         // Handle older links
         if (urlInfo.thread && !isThickThreadOpen) {
           urlInfo = {