Google Ads MCP Admin

An extension of Google's official Google Ads MCP that adds confirmed campaign administration across client accounts managed by a Google Ads manager account.

Read tools run directly. Every persistent write requires an immutable plan, a preview, interactive approval, and post-write verification. High-risk changes require two independent approvals.

Safety model

• Mutation plans are immutable, expire after 15 minutes, and can be applied only once.

• The server revalidates the client hierarchy immediately before a write.

• Normal writes require approval for mutations_apply_mutation_plan.

• High-risk writes first require mutations_acknowledge_high_risk_plan, followed by a separate apply approval.

• Ambiguous API responses are never retried automatically.

• Audit records contain metadata and request IDs, not credentials or complete payloads.

Related MCP server: flour-ads

Prerequisites

• macOS, Windows, or Linux.

• Python 3.11 or later.

• uv.

• Google Cloud CLI (gcloud).

• A Google Cloud project with the Google Ads API enabled.

• A Desktop OAuth client authorized for a Google user who can access the target manager account.

• An approved Google Ads API developer token.

Install the pinned dependencies:

uv sync --extra dev

Configure Codex

Copy the public configuration template and replace its cwd value with the absolute path to this repository:

cp .codex/config.toml.example .codex/config.toml

The local .codex/config.toml file is ignored by Git. Provide these non-secret variables to the Codex process. POSIX shell:

export GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT="your-google-cloud-project"
export GOOGLE_ADS_LOGIN_CUSTOMER_ID="1234567890"

PowerShell:

$env:GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT = "your-google-cloud-project"
$env:GOOGLE_ADS_LOGIN_CUSTOMER_ID = "1234567890"

Google Ads account IDs must contain digits only, without hyphens. GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS is optional when Application Default Credentials are stored in the standard gcloud location.

You may place non-secret local values in the ignored configuration instead:

[mcp_servers.google_ads_admin.env]
GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT = "your-google-cloud-project"
GOOGLE_ADS_LOGIN_CUSTOMER_ID = "1234567890"

Never place the developer token, OAuth client secret, or ADC refresh token in this repository.

Configure OAuth

Create a Desktop OAuth client in Google Auth Platform and download its JSON file outside the repository. On macOS or Linux, run the optional helper:

export GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT="your-google-cloud-project"
scripts/configure-google-ads-oauth.sh "/absolute/path/to/oauth-client.json"

On Windows PowerShell, run the equivalent Google Cloud CLI commands:

$env:GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT = "your-google-cloud-project"
gcloud services enable googleads.googleapis.com --project $env:GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT
gcloud auth application-default login `
  --scopes="https://www.googleapis.com/auth/adwords,https://www.googleapis.com/auth/cloud-platform" `
  --client-id-file="C:\absolute\path\to\oauth-client.json"

The helper enables googleads.googleapis.com and requests only these scopes:

• https://www.googleapis.com/auth/adwords

• https://www.googleapis.com/auth/cloud-platform, required for Application Default Credentials

The resulting ADC file is stored outside the repository by gcloud.

Store the developer token

Store or replace the token with a hidden prompt:

uv run google-ads-mcp-admin-credentials set

The command uses the native credential store selected by Python keyring:

• macOS Keychain.

• Windows Credential Locker.

• Linux Secret Service or KWallet when a compatible backend is available.

Check which source is active without displaying the token:

uv run google-ads-mcp-admin-credentials status

Delete only the native credential with:

uv run google-ads-mcp-admin-credentials delete

On desktop Linux, install the Secret Service or KWallet packages recommended by your distribution and run the application in an active D-Bus session. keyring diagnose reports the selected backend. Headless Linux, CI, and containers can use the environment fallback instead.

POSIX shell fallback:

export GOOGLE_ADS_DEVELOPER_TOKEN="your-developer-token"

PowerShell fallback:

$env:GOOGLE_ADS_DEVELOPER_TOKEN = "your-developer-token"

The native credential has priority when both sources are configured. Never place the token in .codex/config.toml, .env, command arguments, or this repository.

Migration from the macOS-only release

Run uv run google-ads-mcp-admin-credentials set and paste the existing token into the hidden prompt. After status reports native, remove the legacy codex-google-ads-developer-token item with the Keychain Access application. Automatic migration is intentionally not performed.

Start the MCP server

Set the manager account and start the server manually to verify startup:

export GOOGLE_ADS_LOGIN_CUSTOMER_ID="1234567890"
uv run google-ads-mcp-admin

PowerShell:

$env:GOOGLE_ADS_LOGIN_CUSTOMER_ID = "1234567890"
uv run google-ads-mcp-admin

After editing .codex/config.toml:

1. Restart Codex or reopen the project.

2. Open /mcp and confirm that google_ads_admin is available.

3. Confirm that the official read tools and the five mutations_* tools are present.

Do not weaken the write approval policies when the server can access production accounts.

Read-only verification

Offline checks require no credentials:

uv run pytest -m "not integration" -q

After OAuth and credential setup, run the opt-in live read test. The test resolves the native token first and uses the environment fallback when needed:

export GOOGLE_ADS_LOGIN_CUSTOMER_ID="1234567890"
GOOGLE_ADS_RUN_INTEGRATION=1 \
  uv run pytest tests/integration/test_google_ads_read.py -v

The test discovers enabled, non-manager client accounts and queries one of them without writing.

Mutation workflow

1. Call mutations_plan_mutations with a ten-digit customer_id and structured operations.

2. Review preview, old_values, new_values, warnings, risk, plan_id, plan_hash, and expiration.

3. Approve mutations_apply_mutation_plan in Codex for a normal-risk plan.

4. The server revalidates manager access, claims the plan to prevent replay, dispatches it once, and reads the resulting resources.

5. Review request_ids and verification.

Use mutations_cancel_mutation_plan with the plan ID and hash to invalidate a pending plan. Plans are held only in memory and disappear when the server restarts.

High-risk changes

The following operations are high risk:

• Enabling a campaign.

• Creating a budget.

• Increasing a budget by more than 25 percent.

• Removing ten or more resources in one batch.

First approve mutations_acknowledge_high_risk_plan. Codex then requests a separate approval for mutations_apply_mutation_plan. Neither call can replace or alter the saved operations.

Supported resources

• campaign_budget

• campaign

• ad_group

• ad_group_ad

• ad_group_criterion, including keywords

• campaign_criterion, including targeting

Supported actions are create, update with an explicit update_mask, and remove. Google Ads removal commonly changes status to REMOVED; it is not physical deletion and may be irreversible.

First persistent write

Complete these checks before any persistent write:

1. uv run ruff check .

2. uv run pytest -m "not integration" -q

3. The live read-only integration test.

4. validate_only against a dedicated test account:

export GOOGLE_ADS_TEST_CUSTOMER_ID="1234567890"
GOOGLE_ADS_RUN_INTEGRATION=1 \
  uv run pytest tests/integration/test_google_ads_validate_only.py -v

The first persistent test should create a PAUSED campaign with the minimum practical budget in a test account. Review and approve its plan, verify the resources, then create and approve a separate removal plan.

If no test account is available, stop after validate_only. A first write to production requires separate explicit authorization and should be limited to one paused resource with minimal financial impact.

Recovery and auditing

• Expired or cancelled plan: create a new plan; it cannot be reactivated.

• Revoked OAuth grant: rerun scripts/configure-google-ads-oauth.sh.

• Replaced developer token: run uv run google-ads-mcp-admin-credentials set again.

• Ambiguous write response: do not retry; query state once and preserve the returned request ID.

• Quota, permission, or policy error: preserve the Google Ads request ID for diagnosis.

• Client removed from the manager hierarchy: the pre-write revalidation rejects the operation.

Local audit events are written to audit/google_ads_mcp.jsonl, rotate at 5 MiB, and contain account, plan, resource counts, result, and request IDs. They do not contain complete mutation payloads or credentials.

Development

uv run ruff check .
uv run pytest -m "not integration" -v
uv build
git diff --check

The official server dependency is pinned to upstream commit f48a6b85e1f43ebd44a72531c9611e2b7265ca28. Review upstream changes, rerun all checks, and inspect MCP tool annotations before updating it.

License

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0. See LICENSE.