diff --git a/config.properties.example b/config.properties.example
index 1a60b9b27..15e1942ba 100644
--- a/config.properties.example
+++ b/config.properties.example
@@ -174,7 +174,7 @@ kafka.acks=1
 #           *** partitioning ***
 
 # What part of the data do we partition by?
-#producer_partition_by=database # [database, table, primary_key, transaction_id, column]
+#producer_partition_by=database # [database, table, primary_key, transaction_id, thread_id, column]
 
 # specify what fields to partition by when using producer_partition_by=column
 # column separated list.
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/MaxwellConfig.java b/src/main/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/MaxwellConfig.java
index 6061b892e..62797b489 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/MaxwellConfig.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/MaxwellConfig.java
@@ -636,11 +636,11 @@ private void validatePartitionBy() {
 			this.producerPartitionFallback = this.kafkaPartitionFallback;
 		}
 
-		String[] validPartitionBy = {"database", "table", "primary_key", "transaction_id", "column", "random"};
+		String[] validPartitionBy = {"database", "table", "primary_key", "transaction_id", "thread_id", "column", "random"};
 		if ( this.producerPartitionKey == null ) {
 			this.producerPartitionKey = "database";
 		} else if ( !ArrayUtils.contains(validPartitionBy, this.producerPartitionKey) ) {
-			usageForOptions("please specify --producer_partition_by=database|table|primary_key|transaction_id|column|random", "producer_partition_by");
+			usageForOptions("please specify --producer_partition_by=database|table|primary_key|transaction_id|thread_id|column|random", "producer_partition_by");
 		} else if ( this.producerPartitionKey.equals("column") && StringUtils.isEmpty(this.producerPartitionColumns) ) {
 			usageForOptions("please specify --producer_partition_columns=column1 when using producer_partition_by=column", "producer_partition_columns");
 		} else if ( this.producerPartitionKey.equals("column") && StringUtils.isEmpty(this.producerPartitionFallback) ) {
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/producer/partitioners/AbstractMaxwellPartitioner.java b/src/main/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/producer/partitioners/AbstractMaxwellPartitioner.java
index 5a88698d4..6da79111d 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/producer/partitioners/AbstractMaxwellPartitioner.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/producer/partitioners/AbstractMaxwellPartitioner.java
@@ -26,6 +26,8 @@ private PartitionBy partitionByForString(String key) {
 				return PartitionBy.PRIMARY_KEY;
 			case "transaction_id":
 				return PartitionBy.TRANSACTION_ID;
+			case "thread_id":
+				return PartitionBy.THREAD_ID;
 			case "column":
 				return PartitionBy.COLUMN;
 			case "random":
@@ -65,6 +67,8 @@ public String getHashString(RowMap r, PartitionBy by) {
 				return r.getRowIdentity().toConcatString();
 			case TRANSACTION_ID:
 				return String.valueOf(r.getXid());
+			case THREAD_ID:
+				return String.valueOf(r.getThreadId());
 			case COLUMN:
 				String s = r.buildPartitionKey(partitionColumns);
 				if ( s.length() > 0 )
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/producer/partitioners/PartitionBy.java b/src/main/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/producer/partitioners/PartitionBy.java
index 6a785a03f..9de1cdd7f 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/producer/partitioners/PartitionBy.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/zendesk/maxwell/producer/partitioners/PartitionBy.java
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ public enum PartitionBy {
 	TABLE,
 	PRIMARY_KEY,
 	TRANSACTION_ID,
+	THREAD_ID,
 	COLUMN,
 	RANDOM
 }