How to Connect the Meta Ads MCP Server to Claude
Meta now runs its own ads MCP server, an official connector that lets an AI assistant read your reporting and manage campaigns, ad sets, ads, catalogs, audiences and experiments through structured, permission-scoped tools. It lives at one URL, https://mcp.facebook.com/ads, and Claude supports it out of the box.
This guide walks through the setup in Claude (web and desktop) and Claude Code, the first prompts worth trying, and how to set guardrails so the agent can't do more than you want it to.
Time needed: about 5 minutes. Code needed: none (unless you use Claude Code, and then it's one command).
What you need before you start
- A Claude account. Custom connectors work on Free, Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise. Free plans are limited to one custom connector.
- A Facebook account with access to at least one ad account, directly or through a Business portfolio.
- No Meta developer app. You don't need to create one. Meta's own docs say owning an app isn't a prerequisite for the supported AI clients (Claude, Claude Code, ChatGPT and Perplexity). You only need your own app if you're building a custom integration.
How it works
Claude never gets your Facebook password. You sign in once through Facebook Login for Business, pick which businesses and ad accounts to share, and Claude receives a scoped token. Every request goes through Meta's server, which enforces your permissions and any agent rules you've set in Business Suite (more on those below).
Connect Meta Ads to Claude (web and desktop)
These steps are the same on claude.ai and in the Claude Desktop app. Connectors sync across both, and the mobile apps.
Step 1: Open Connectors and add a custom connector
Go to Customize → Connectors, click +, then Add custom connector.
On a Team or Enterprise plan? Only an Owner can add a custom connector. The Owner goes to Organization settings → Connectors → Add → Custom → Web and adds the URL once. Everyone else then finds it under Customize → Connectors and clicks Connect.
Step 2: Paste Meta's server URL
Give it a name (for example Meta Ads) and paste the server URL:
https://mcp.facebook.com/adsLeave Advanced settings empty. The OAuth client ID and secret fields are only for people connecting through their own Meta developer app. Click Add.
Step 3: Sign in with Facebook and choose your ad accounts
Click Connect on the new connector. A Facebook Login for Business window opens. Sign in with your Facebook account (or your Meta Managed Account), choose the businesses and ad accounts you want Claude to reach, and approve the permissions.
The permissions cover reading and managing ads, business assets, Pages and linked Instagram accounts, plus catalog management. Only share the ad accounts you actually want Claude working in. You can come back and change this later.
Step 4: Turn the connector on in a chat
Start a new chat, click + in the message box, open Connectors, and switch Meta Ads on. You can toggle it per conversation, so it's easy to keep it off in chats that have nothing to do with ads.
Step 5: Ask your first question
That's it. Ask something about your account and Claude will call the Meta tools it needs:
The first time Claude uses a tool, it asks for permission. Read the request, then choose Allow once or Allow always. We'd keep write tools (anything that creates, edits or activates) on Allow once.
Connect Meta Ads to Claude Code
If you live in the terminal, add the server with one command:
claude mcp add --transport http meta-ads https://mcp.facebook.com/adsThen start claude, run /mcp, select meta-ads and choose Authenticate. Your browser opens the same Facebook Login for Business flow as above.
Using your own Meta developer app instead? Add the Create & manage ads with ads MCP server use case to it, set the redirect URL in its Facebook Login for Business settings, and pass the app ID:
claude mcp add --transport http --client-id <META_APP_ID> meta-ads https://mcp.facebook.com/adsAdd --scope project if you want the server saved to the repo's .mcp.json so your whole team gets it.
What Claude can do with Meta Ads
Meta groups the server's tools into seven areas:
| Area | Examples of what you can ask |
|---|---|
| Reporting | "Top 10 ads by ROAS last 14 days." "Why did CPM jump yesterday?" "How do we compare to industry benchmarks?" |
| Ad creation and management | "Create a traffic campaign with two ad sets." "Duplicate this ad set with a 20% higher budget." |
| Catalogs | "Why are 40 products not showing in my catalog?" "Create a product set for items under $50." |
| Signals and datasets | "How healthy is my pixel?" "Which events have the lowest match quality?" |
| Help and troubleshooting | "What does this delivery error mean and how do I fix it?" |
| A/B tests and lift studies | "Set up an A/B test between these two creatives." "Show results for our running lift study." |
| Activity logs | "Who changed the budget on this campaign last week?" |
Two things worth knowing:
- Everything is created paused. New campaigns, ad sets and ads start paused, and Claude asks for confirmation before it activates anything that spends money.
- Ask for the tool list. Meta keeps adding tools. Asking Claude "What Meta Ads tools do you have?" gives you the current inventory.
Prompts to try first
- "List my ad accounts and flag any with delivery or payment issues."
- "Summarize the top-spending campaigns in
<ad account>over the last 30 days, with CPA and ROAS." - "Find ads whose CTR dropped more than 30% week over week. They're probably fatigued."
- "What's my account's opportunity score, and which recommendations are worth doing?"
- "Draft a new ad set in my prospecting campaign that optimizes for purchases. Keep it paused."
Set guardrails in Meta Business Suite
This is the part most people skip, and it's the one that matters. If you have full control of a business portfolio, you can decide exactly what an AI agent is allowed to do per ad account and per catalog, and Meta's server enforces it no matter what the agent is asked.
- Open Settings in Meta Business Suite.
- Under Integrations, select Ads MCP server.
- Pick the ad account or catalog.
- Switch individual actions between Allowed and Blocked.
Useful setups:
- Read-only analyst: block creating campaigns, creating ads, and editing budgets. Claude can still report and diagnose.
- Budget ceiling: allow budget edits, but set Budgets set above this amount to Blocked with a cap (for example USD 1,000). Any request above it is denied.
- Agencies: partners with access to your ad accounts can set their own rules, and those apply only to the partner's own people.
When some actions are blocked, the account shows Limited next to Take actions in this ad account. If you don't see Ads MCP server under Integrations yet, the feature hasn't rolled out to your business.
Troubleshooting
The Facebook window opens and then fails, or says the app isn't available. Make sure you're signing in with a Facebook account that has a role on the business or ad account. If you added the connector with your own app's client ID, check that the app has the ads MCP server use case and that its redirect URL matches Claude's.
Claude says it can't see an ad account I own. You probably didn't select it during sign-in. Disconnect the connector in Customize → Connectors, reconnect, and tick the missing account.
A write action is denied. Check the Ads MCP server rules in Business Suite. A blocked action or a budget cap will reject the request even though you have access in Ads Manager.
The connector won't connect at all on a Team plan. Custom connectors on Team and Enterprise have to be added by an Owner first. Ask them to add https://mcp.facebook.com/ads under Organization settings → Connectors.
Will connecting an AI agent get my ad account banned? Meta says no. Bans come from breaking advertising policy, not from using the ads MCP server. Normal policy rules still apply to whatever the agent creates.
Want Meta plus every other channel in one connector?
The Meta ads MCP server covers Meta. If you also run TikTok, Google, Snapchat, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Reddit or X, the AdManage connector for Claude includes Meta's official ads_* tools alongside bulk launching, cross-channel reporting, creative library search and automations, all behind one login. Connect it the same way (Customize → Connectors) and ask Claude to launch, report, or compare across every account you run.
FAQ
Is the Meta ads MCP server free? There's no separate charge from Meta. You pay for your Claude plan and your ad spend as usual.
Do I need a Meta developer app? No, not for Claude, Claude Desktop or Claude Code. You only need one for a custom integration or an AI client Meta doesn't support directly.
Can Claude spend money without asking? New entities are created paused, and activation needs your confirmation. For a hard limit, block activation or cap budgets in Business Suite.
Which Claude plans support it? Any plan with custom connectors: Free (one connector), Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise.
Can I use it with Claude Code? Yes: claude mcp add --transport http meta-ads https://mcp.facebook.com/ads, then authenticate from /mcp.
How do I disconnect? Remove the connector in Customize → Connectors. You can also remove Claude's access from your Facebook business integrations settings.
