Operate Advertising.chat from Claude

@advertising-chat/mcp-manage is a local MCP server that turns Claude Desktop, Claude Code, or any MCP-capable agent host into a management console for your Advertising.chat account: ad units, line items, creatives (including flows), campaigns, API keys, and live performance — about 39 tools, all running with your account and permissions.

Ask things like:

• "How many impressions did we serve this week, and from which ad units?"
• "Create a line item for the homepage ad unit with the summer-sale creative — leave it disabled, I'll review first."
• "Pause every creative that mentions the old pricing."

1. Log in once

mcp-manage reuses the Advertising.chat CLI's authentication. Install ads-cli and run:

ads login

This runs a browser device-flow sign-in and caches a token at ~/.ads-cli. mcp-manage picks it up — and refreshes it — automatically. (Alternatively, set ADCHAT_TOKEN to an access token in the server's environment.)

2. Add the server to your MCP host

Claude Desktop (claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "advertising-chat-manage": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@advertising-chat/mcp-manage"]
    }
  }
}

Claude Code:

claude mcp add advertising-chat-manage -- npx -y @advertising-chat/mcp-manage

Optional environment variables:

Env var	Meaning
ADCHAT_ORG	Org id to operate on. Default: your own org. You must be a member of the target org.
ADCHAT_TOKEN	Explicit access token (instead of the ~/.ads-cli cache).

Restart the host and ask whoami — the agent should report your email, org, and role.

3. What your agent can do

Every tool is a thin projection of the same management API the Console uses, called with your token. Your role applies unchanged: a viewer can read everything below but every mutation fails with a permission error; editor and up can mutate.

Area	Tools
Context	whoami
Ad units	list_ad_units, get_ad_unit, create_ad_unit, update_ad_unit, delete_ad_unit, suggest_targeting_keys
Line items	list_line_items, get_line_item, create_line_item, update_line_item, enable_line_item, disable_line_item, delete_line_item
Creatives	list_creatives, get_creative, create_creative, update_creative, pause_creative, resume_creative, delete_creative
Campaigns	list_campaigns, get_campaign, create_campaign, update_campaign, pause_campaign, resume_campaign, delete_campaign
Ad groups	list_ad_groups, get_ad_group, create_ad_group, update_ad_group, delete_ad_group
API keys	list_api_keys, create_api_key
Performance	query_counters, query_uniques, query_publisher_journal, get_entity_stats

Flow creatives (format: "Flow") get special treatment: the conversation graph is validated locally against the flow creative spec — node bounds, edge integrity, depth, required disclosure — before anything is sent, so authoring mistakes come back instantly with exact, fixable errors.

Safety model

• Your authority, nothing more. Every request carries your token and target org; membership and role checks happen server-side exactly as they do for the Console. There is no service credential anywhere in the loop.
• Created disabled. New ad units, line items, and campaigns default to enabled: false — nothing serves until you review and enable it, unless you explicitly ask the agent to launch.
• Deletes are double-gated. Destructive tools refuse to run without an explicit confirm: true argument (the agent must show you what it's deleting and get your go-ahead), and MCP hosts prompt on non-read-only tools as well.
• Attributed. Requests are tagged X-Adchat-Agent: mcp-manage, so agent-made changes are distinguishable in platform logs.
• The server never logs your token.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Fix
"Not authenticated. Either run ads login …"	Run ads login; check ~/.ads-cli exists.
"Session expired and no refresh token…"	Run ads login again.
401 on every call	Your token expired and could not refresh — ads login. If you set ADCHAT_ORG, confirm you are a member of that org.
Mutations return 403, reads work	Your role in the org is viewer. Ask an org admin for editor.