Connect Meta with your own token

How it works

You create a Meta app and a system user in your own business portfolio, give that user the ad accounts and Pages Adako should work on, and generate an access token for it. Pasted on Connections, the token lets Adako call the Marketing API for you, as your service provider under Meta’s Platform Terms (see the Terms).

The token is encrypted server-side and never sent to your assistant. A system user is not a person, so the token does not end when someone changes their Facebook password.

What you need

• A Meta business portfolio where you are an admin.
• The ad account in that portfolio. Agencies can use client ad accounts shared with their portfolio.
• The Facebook Pages your ads run from, in the same portfolio.
• A Facebook account registered as a Meta developer. Registration is free.

1. Create a Meta app

1. Open developers.facebook.com/apps and choose Create app.
2. Pick Business as the app type, or the use case for managing ads when Meta asks for one.
3. Connect the app to your business portfolio when Meta asks which one it belongs to.
4. Add the Marketing API product.

2. Switch the app to Live

In App settings → Basic, add a privacy policy URL and a category, then switch the app mode to Live. No App Review is needed for ad accounts in your own portfolio.

3. Add a system user

1. Open Business settings, then Users → System users, and choose Add.
2. Name it (Adako, for example) and give it the Admin or Employee role.
3. Choose Assign assets. Give it the ad accounts with full control, the Pages with full control, and your app.

4. Generate the token

1. On the system user, choose Generate token and pick your app.
2. Set the expiry to Never. If you choose 60 days, Adako emails you a week before it lapses.
3. Tick ads_read, ads_management, business_management, pages_show_list, pages_read_engagement. To read lead form submissions, also tick leads_retrieval, pages_manage_ads.
4. Generate, then copy the token straight away. Meta does not show it again.

5. Paste it on Connections

Open Connections, paste the token into the Meta Ads card and choose Connect with token. Adako asks Meta whether the token works, carries the permissions above and reaches an ad account, and stores nothing until all three hold. The ad accounts it reaches are listed; turn on the ones Adako may work on.

Leave App secret empty unless your app has Require app secret switched on (App settings → Advanced). If it does, copy the secret from App settings → Basic and paste it with the token.

If Connections refuses the token

• Missing permissions. Generate the token again with every permission above ticked.
• No ad account. Assign the ad account to the system user, then paste the token again.
• App secret required or wrong. Copy the secret of the app that issued the token from App settings → Basic.
• Expired. Generate a new token with Never as the expiry.

Replacing and revoking

To swap tokens, open the Meta Ads card on Connections and paste the new one under Paste a new token. Disconnecting erases Adako’s copy but leaves the token valid at Meta, because it belongs to your app. To end it there too, open Business settings → System users, pick the user and revoke its tokens.