How to Connect Claude to Meta Ads with MCP

You can connect Claude to your Meta ad account through Meta’s own remote MCP server at https://mcp.facebook.com/ads. In Claude or Claude Desktop, you add that URL as a custom connector and sign in with Facebook. In Claude Code, you register the same URL with claude mcp add. The connection can read reports and also create and edit campaigns, so how you use it matters as much as how you set it up.

Key facts (as of October 2026)

• Meta hosts the server at https://mcp.facebook.com/ads. Meta lists ChatGPT, Claude, Claude Code, and Perplexity as currently supported agents (Meta Business Help Center).
• Meta announced “Meta ads AI connectors” in open beta on April 29, 2026 (Meta for Business).
• The agent “can create and edit ads, ad sets and campaigns.” Meta says “All ads are paused by default until you set them live” (Meta Business Help Center).
• Business portfolio admins with full control can allow or block specific agent actions per ad account, such as creating campaigns or changing budgets (Meta Business Help Center).
• Free Claude plans are limited to one custom connector (Claude Help Center).

What is Meta’s ads MCP server?

MCP, the Model Context Protocol, is a standard way for AI apps to call outside tools. Meta describes its ads MCP server as “a Meta-hosted Model Context Protocol server” that lets AI agents work with Meta ads (Meta for Developers).

It is a remote server. Nothing runs on your computer. Claude talks to Meta’s server over the internet, and Meta checks your login and permissions on every request.

Meta’s Business Help Center lists what the server can help with (Meta Business Help Center):

Area	What the agent can do
Reporting	Pull insights and detailed reports on campaign performance
Ad creation and management	Create and edit campaigns, ad sets, ads, and creatives; upload images and videos
Custom audiences	Create, update, and delete custom audiences
Catalogs	Create catalogs, add or delete product data, troubleshoot feeds
Signal diagnostics	Check signal health and quality for your datasets
Help and troubleshooting	Search Meta Business Help Center articles
A/B tests and lift studies	Create and manage tests and studies
Activity logs	See account change history, like the Ads Manager history page

Notice how much of that list is write access. This is not a read-only reporting tool.

What do you need before you start?

• A Meta ad account you have access to through Facebook or a business portfolio.
• A Claude account. Custom connectors work on Free, Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise plans (Claude Help Center).
• On Team or Enterprise, an Owner must add the connector first in Organization settings > Connectors. Members then connect to it from Customize > Connectors (Claude Help Center).

You don’t need your own Meta developer app for the standard path. Meta’s developer docs say a Meta app is only needed if you want to connect with your own app (Meta for Developers).

The Help Center page also warns, “You may not have access to all tools/features yet.” Meta’s developer blog says access to specific tools is “being rolled out gradually” (Meta for Developers blog). If a tool is missing for you, that may be why.

Step 1: Add Meta Ads as a custom connector in Claude

Meta’s Help Center sends Claude users to Anthropic’s custom connector guide. These steps follow that guide for Pro and Max plans (Claude Help Center).

1. In Claude, open Customize > Connectors.
2. Click + Add, then Add custom connector.
3. Enter a name, such as Meta Ads.
4. Enter the server URL: https://mcp.facebook.com/ads.
5. Click Add.

Anthropic notes that connectors added on claude.ai are also available in Claude Desktop and the mobile apps. The connection runs from Anthropic’s servers, not your local network (Claude Help Center). We connect it this way and use it from Claude Desktop on Windows.

Step 2: Sign in with Facebook

When you connect, a login window opens for Meta. Meta’s developer docs describe the flow: the client directs you to Facebook Login for Business, you sign in with your Facebook account or Meta Managed Account, and you approve the permissions (Meta for Developers).

During this step, look carefully at which business portfolios and ad accounts you share. Share only what you plan to work with. You can’t take back a mistake an agent makes in an account it should never have seen.

Step 3: Turn the connector on in a conversation

In a chat, use the + button at the lower left, then Connectors, to enable it for that conversation (Claude Help Center).

A good first message is: “What tools does the Meta Ads connector give you? List them and mark which ones change anything.” Meta itself suggests asking the agent what tools are available (Meta Business Help Center).

How do you add it in Claude Code?

Meta’s Help Center links Claude Code users to Anthropic’s “add a remote HTTP server” instructions. The general form is (Claude Code docs):

claude mcp add --transport http meta-ads https://mcp.facebook.com/ads

Then run /mcp inside Claude Code and follow the browser login. Claude Code stores and refreshes the token for you (Claude Code docs).

If you connect through your own Meta developer app, Meta’s developer docs give this command instead, with your app ID (Meta for Developers):

claude mcp add --transport http --client-id <META_APP_ID> meta-ads https://mcp.facebook.com/ads

That path also requires adding the “Create & manage ads with ads MCP server” use case to your app.

What can you ask it?

Start with read-only questions. They show you what the connector sees without touching anything. Some examples:

• “List the ad accounts you can access.”
• “Show spend, results, and cost per result for each active campaign in the last 14 days.”
• “Which ad sets had the highest cost per result last week? Show the numbers, not just a summary.”
• “Pull the activity log for this ad account for the last 7 days. Who changed what?”
• “Check the signal health for my dataset and explain any warnings.”
• “Search the Meta Help Center for how the learning phase works.”

Ask for the raw numbers alongside any summary. That way you can compare them with Ads Manager and spot a wrong date range or the wrong account.

Can Claude change your campaigns?

Yes. Meta’s Help Center says the agent “can create and edit ads, ad sets and campaigns,” create creatives, upload assets, and create, update, and delete custom audiences and catalog data (Meta Business Help Center).

Two safeguards come from Meta:

• “All ads are paused by default until you set them live.”
• “Any actions taken on your behalf require your authorization through the AI agent.”

The second point means Claude asks before it runs a tool that acts. Anthropic’s advice is to review each tool approval request carefully and “only click ‘Allow always’ when using a server and tool that you trust to run unsupervised” (Claude Help Center).

How do you use it safely?

Treat the connector like a junior teammate with real access to your ad account. These habits keep it useful without surprises.

Say “read-only” in your request

Begin analysis requests with a clear limit. For example: “Read-only. Don’t create, edit, pause, or activate anything. Show me last month’s results by campaign.” If Claude then asks to run a tool that changes something, you know it went off track.

Read every approval before you click

When Claude asks to run a tool, check three things:

1. The tool name. Names that include words like create, update, activate, or delete change your account. Names with get or list usually only read, but check the description if you’re unsure.
2. The target. Confirm the ad account, campaign, or ad set ID matches the one you meant.
3. The values. Check budgets, dates, audiences, and status before approving.

Don’t click “Allow always” for any tool that writes. Approve write actions one at a time.

Ask for a plan first

For any change, ask Claude to describe it before doing it: “Propose the new ad set settings in a table. Don’t create anything yet.” Review the table, then approve the single action you agree with.

Block what you don’t need

If you have full control of a business portfolio, you can set rules that Meta’s server enforces. Meta’s steps are (Meta Business Help Center):

1. Go to Settings in Meta Business Suite.
2. Under Integrations, select Ads MCP server. (If you don’t see it, you don’t have the feature yet.)
3. Select the ad account or catalog.
4. Allow or block specific actions, such as Create campaigns.

Meta’s examples include blocking all budget changes, or blocking only budgets above an amount you enter. A server-side rule holds even if you approve the wrong thing in Claude. For agencies, Meta notes that partners can set their own rules on shared ad accounts, and those rules apply only to the partner’s employees.

Test on low-stakes campaigns first

Try your first write actions on a small test campaign or an account where a mistake costs little. Created ads start paused, so check them in Ads Manager before you set anything live yourself.

Watch for hidden instructions

Meta’s general MCP documentation warns that an agent can be steered by “malicious instructions hidden in tool outputs.” It recommends minimal scopes and not giving write permissions to agents processing untrusted content (Meta for Developers). Anthropic gives a similar warning about connectors (Claude Help Center). In practice, avoid mixing this connector with tasks that read unknown web pages or files in the same chat.

What can go wrong?

• Edits reset learning. Meta says editing an ad, ad set, or campaign during the learning phase resets learning, and frequent budget changes can cause an ad set to re-enter it (Meta Business Help Center). An agent that “optimizes” too often can hurt delivery.
• Wrong account. If you shared several ad accounts, Claude may pick the wrong one. Name the account in your request.
• Missing tools. Tool access is rolled out gradually, so a tool someone else describes may not appear for you yet.
• Summaries that hide errors. A neat summary can sit on top of the wrong date range or attribution setting. Ask for the query details and raw numbers.
• Policy still applies. Meta says using the MCP server on its own does not put your account at risk, and that bans typically come from violating Meta’s advertising standards (Meta Business Help Center). Ads the agent drafts still have to follow those standards.

Limitations to know

• Meta’s announcement describes the program as an open beta, and features may change (Meta for Business).
• Meta’s documentation we checked does not state rate limits for the MCP server.
• Claude can only use what the connector exposes and what your Meta permissions allow.
• Advanced Access with app review is needed only when a developer app manages data on behalf of other businesses (Meta for Developers blog).

Checklist

• Add https://mcp.facebook.com/ads as a custom connector in Claude.
• Sign in with Facebook and share only the ad accounts you need.
• Ask Claude to list its tools and mark which ones write.
• Start every analysis request with “read-only.”
• Never use “Allow always” on create, update, activate, or delete tools.
• Set Ads MCP server rules in Meta Business Suite to block budget changes or campaign creation you don’t want.
• Check anything the agent creates in Ads Manager before setting it live.