Connect Meta

Create the developer app

• Don’t tick Create & manage app ads with Meta Ads Manager; that card says itself that it doesn’t include the Marketing API.
• Ignore the Other card at the bottom of the All list. Meta labels it "going away soon"; it’s the old flow and nothing here needs it.

1. Open Meta for Developers, go to My Apps, and click Create App.
2. Name it after your brand, for example Example Store Ads Reporting. Don’t put "Meta" in the name; Meta rejects its own trademarks with an error.
3. On the Use cases screen, the filter starts on Featured, which hides the card you need. Switch it to Ads and monetization.
4. Tick Measure ad performance data with Marketing API. The footer reads 1 use case added.
5. On the Business step, choose the business portfolio that owns your ad account. That makes the app one of the portfolio’s owned apps automatically.
6. Requirements should read No requirements identified. If it asks for App Review or business verification, go back: the wrong use case or the wrong portfolio was picked.
7. Confirm the overview and click Create app. Leave the app unpublished, and skip the Quickstart entirely; its test tokens expire after 60 days.

Create the system user

1. Open Business Settings → System users, and check the portfolio name in the top-left is the one that owns the ad account.
2. In the left menu go to Users → System users and click Add.
3. Name it something recognisable, like Ads Reporting API. Employee access is enough; admin isn’t needed.
4. Create the system user.

Assign the app and the ad account

• Never click Revoke tokens to tidy up. It kills every token that system user has, including a live Abaxar one.

1. With the system user selected, open the ... menu next to Revoke tokens and click Assign assets.
2. Asset type Apps: tick your new app, and under Partial access switch on Develop app. Assign, then Done.
3. Reload the page. Until you do, the token dialog can claim there are no permissions available for the app.
4. Assign assets again, asset type Ad accounts: tick the ad account, and grant View performance, the lowest reporting access Meta offers. Assign, then Done.

Generate the permanent token

1. With the system user selected, click Generate token.
2. Select your app, then on Set expiration change the default 60 days to Never; it’s the option directly below.
3. On Assign permissions, tick only ads_read. Leave everything else unticked.
4. Generate, and copy the token once. Meta may not show it again.
5. From Meta Ads Manager, copy the ad account id and keep the act_ prefix.

Paste into Abaxar and verify

1. In Abaxar, open Settings → Connectors and scroll to the Meta card.
2. Paste the token into META_ACCESS_TOKEN and the id into META_AD_ACCOUNT_ID, then click Save Meta keys. The card reads Credentials saved.
3. Click Verify. Success reads Connected to your ad account’s name.
4. Choose the backfill window and click Run backfill.

If something looks wrong

• The token dialog only offers 60 days: you’re in the wrong flow (Graph API Explorer or the Quickstart). Go back to Business Settings → System users, where the dialog offers Never.
• No permissions available: the app isn’t assigned to the system user yet, or the page wasn’t reloaded after assigning it.
• The permission list has no ads_read: the app was created without the Marketing API use case. In the app dashboard click Add use cases and add Measure ad performance data with Marketing API. Don’t generate a broader token to compensate.
• Verify says the token is expired or invalid (code 190): the token was built in a temporary flow. Rebuild it from the system user with expiry Never.
• Verify says the token lacks permission for the ad account: the ad account isn’t assigned to the system user, or ads_read wasn’t ticked.

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