Connect Meta Ads to Claude Code

Why Connect Meta to Claude Code

ChatGPT can write ad copy for you. But it can't log into your Meta account, pull real numbers, and tell you which campaign to kill.

Claude Code with MCP can. It connects directly to the Meta Marketing API, pulls live data (CPM, CPC, CTR, ROAS), analyzes performance, and gives recommendations based on real data - not made-up numbers.

The connection runs locally on your machine. No proxy server, no third party, no subscription fees. Data flows directly from Meta to you.

Create a Meta Developer App

If you already have a Meta developer app, skip to the next section.

• •Go to developers.facebook.com/apps
• •Click "Create App"
• •Select "Other" then "Business"
• •Name your app (e.g., "My Ads MCP")
• •Connect your Business Portfolio
• •Under Use Cases, select "Create & manage ads"

Generate a System User Token (safe + permanent)

This is the most important step. Instead of generating a personal token that expires in 1-2 hours, we'll create a System User Token that never expires and isn't tied to your personal Facebook account.

• •Go to business.facebook.com/settings
• •Left sidebar: Users > System users
• •Select an existing System User or create a new one (with Employee role)
• •Click "Generate token"
• •Select your app
• •Choose permissions (see Part 07 - Permissions)
• •Click "Generate Token"
• •Copy the token and save it somewhere safe!

Install the Meta Ads MCP Server

Run in your terminal:

git clone https://github.com/brijr/meta-mcp.git meta-ads-mcp
cd meta-ads-mcp
npm install @modelcontextprotocol/sdk@1.25.2 --save-exact
npm install

Connect to Claude Code

Run in your terminal (replace YOUR_TOKEN with the token you copied):

claude mcp add meta-ads --scope user \
  -e META_ACCESS_TOKEN=YOUR_TOKEN \
  -- npx tsx /path/to/meta-ads-mcp/src/index.ts

Replace /path/to/ with the full path to where you cloned the project. After running the command, restart Claude Code.

Verify It Works

After restarting Claude Code, ask:

"Show me all my ad accounts"

If everything is working, you'll see a list of your ad accounts with name, currency, and timezone.

More things you can ask:

"List my active campaigns"
"Analyze last week's performance"
"What's the ROAS for each campaign?"
"Which campaign is most profitable and which should I kill?"
"Compare campaign A vs campaign B"
"Show me audience breakdown by age and gender"

Permissions - Basic vs Advanced

When generating the token, you choose which permissions to grant. Three tiers:

For the workshop dashboard: use the second tier (Ads + Instagram) for the full picture.

What You Get After Connecting

53 tools available via the MCP:

• •View: Campaigns, ad sets, ads, audiences, creatives
• •Analyze: ROAS, CPM, CPC, CTR, cost per lead, comparisons
• •Breakdowns: Segment by age, gender, placement, device, country
• •Date Ranges: Today, yesterday, last 7/30/90 days, custom range
• •Manage (advanced): Pause/resume campaigns, update budgets, create campaigns
• •Audiences (advanced): Create Custom and Lookalike audiences, estimate size
• •Creative (advanced): Upload images, create ads, A/B tests, preview ads
• •Diagnostics: Account health check, error resolution, API v23 compliance

Troubleshooting

Run claude mcp list and look for meta-ads:

• •Connected - all good
• •Failed to connect - check:

• •Is the token valid? (not expired, not truncated)
• •Is the path to src/index.ts correct?
• •Did you install @modelcontextprotocol/sdk@1.25.2?
• •Is npx tsx available?

"Invalid token" error:The token expired or isn't authorized. Go back to Business Manager > System Users > Generate Token and create a new one.

SDK error:If you see errors about "Zod schema" or "ToolAnnotations", the SDK version is wrong. Run npm install @modelcontextprotocol/sdk@1.25.2 --save-exact.