call-adcp-agent

Call an AdCP agent

Overview

AdCP (Ad Context Protocol) agents expose a fixed tool surface (get_products, create_media_buy, get_signals, …) over MCP or A2A. Tool names come from get_adcp_capabilities; exact request/response shapes come from get_schema(tool_name) when the agent exposes it, otherwise from the bundled JSON Schemas your SDK ships (the layout differs by SDK — see "Discovery chain" below). This skill teaches the invariants that don't live cleanly in any schema: cross-tool patterns, async flow, error recovery.

When to Use

• User wants to call a publisher / SSP / retail media network over AdCP
• Tool names like get_products, create_media_buy, sync_creatives, get_signals appear in the available-tools list
• Agent card advertises protocolVersion: '0.3.0' with skills listing AdCP tool names
• Not this skill: building an AdCP seller agent (see @adcp/client/skills/build-seller-agent/ and analogous SDK skills)

Discovery chain

Walk these in order on first contact:

1. Agent card (A2A) or tools/list (MCP): returns tool NAMES. AdCP MCP servers no longer publish per-tool parameter schemas in tools/list — everything shows {type: 'object', properties: {}}. Don't try to infer shape from here.
2. get_adcp_capabilities: returns supported protocols (media_buy, signals, creative, …), AdCP major versions, feature flags. Tells you WHICH tools this agent supports, not how to call them.
3. get_schema(tool_name) (when the agent exposes it — pending standardization in #3057, not yet universal): returns the JSON Schema for a tool's request/response. Preferred over reading bundled schemas when available.
4. Bundled schemas (offline, authoritative): every SDK ships the AdCP JSON Schemas locally. Path differs by SDK — spec repo source uses dist/schemas/<version>/bundled/, @adcp/client puts them at schemas/cache/<version>/bundled/ after npm run sync-schemas, Python and Go SDKs use their own conventions. Don't hardcode a path — let the SDK's loader find them, or ask the developer. Each schema is <protocol>/<tool>-{request,response}.json once you locate the bundle. The canonical source for every SDK is https://adcontextprotocol.org/protocol/<version>.tgz.

Non-obvious rules every buyer must follow

idempotency_key is required on every mutating tool

UUID format. The key is your retry-safety guarantee — and the most common way naive callers create duplicate media buys is by misunderstanding it:

• Same key on retry → replay. The server returns the SAME response — same task_id, same media_buy_id, same shape, byte-for-byte. Use this for transport-level retries (timeout, 5xx, dropped connection).
• Fresh key on retry → NEW operation. Generating a new UUID because the previous attempt failed is how you double-book. Reuse the key until you've seen a terminal response (success, error, or non-retryable error).
• Same key, different body → server-defined. Most agents return the original cached response and ignore the body change. Don't rely on it — pick a fresh key only when you genuinely want a new operation.
• For async flows, the replayed response carries the same task_id, so polling continues against the same task instead of forking a duplicate.

Required on: create_media_buy, update_media_buy, sync_creatives, sync_audiences, sync_accounts, sync_catalogs, sync_event_sources, sync_plans, sync_governance, activate_signal, acquire_rights, log_event, report_usage, provide_performance_feedback, report_plan_outcome, create_property_list, update_property_list, delete_property_list, create_collection_list, update_collection_list, delete_collection_list, create_content_standards, update_content_standards, calibrate_content, si_initiate_session, si_send_message.

Missing the key → adcp_error.code: 'VALIDATION_ERROR' with /idempotency_key in issues.

account is a oneOf — pick ONE variant, send ONLY its fields

Probably the single most common stumble for naive LLMs. account is a discriminated union. Per AdCP 3.0, two variants on create_media_buy / update_media_buy:

// variant 0: by seller-assigned id (from sync_accounts or list_accounts)
"account": { "account_id": "seller_assigned_id" }

// variant 1: by natural key (brand + operator, optional sandbox)
"account": { "brand": { "domain": "acme.com" }, "operator": "sales.example" }

Do NOT merge required fields across variants — additionalProperties: false on each variant means {account_id, brand} fails BOTH. Pick one variant and send only its fields. Always check the specific tool's schema because other tools (e.g. sync_creatives) may accept a superset.

brand takes {domain} — not {brand_id}

"brand": { "domain": "acme.example" }

Async responses: status: 'submitted' means "queued, poll later"

A mutating tool can return one of three shapes:

// Success (sync): the work is done
{ "media_buy_id": "mb_123", "packages": [...], "confirmed_at": "..." }

// Submitted (async): the work is queued
{ "status": "submitted", "task_id": "tk_abc", "message": "Awaiting IO signature" }

// Error: don't retry without fixing
{ "errors": [{ "code": "PRODUCT_NOT_FOUND", "message": "..." }] }

When you see status: 'submitted', the work is NOT complete. Poll via tasks/get (A2A) or the MCP async task extension, using the task_id. Over A2A the AdCP task_id also rides on artifact.metadata.adcp_task_id — both work.

packages[*] on media buys

"packages": [
  { "buyer_ref": "pkg_1", "product_id": "p_from_catalog", "budget": 10000, "pricing_option_id": "po_xyz" }
]

budget is a number (not {amount, currency} — currency is implied by the pricing option). Required per package: product_id, budget, pricing_option_id. buyer_ref is optional but strongly recommended as a buyer-side correlation id across retries and reporting.

Error envelope — read issues[] to recover

Every validation failure produces:

{
  "adcp_error": {
    "code": "VALIDATION_ERROR",
    "recovery": "correctable",
    "field": "/first/offending/pointer",
    "issues": [
      {
        "pointer": "/account",
        "keyword": "oneOf",
        "message": "must match exactly one schema in oneOf",
        "variants": [
          { "index": 0, "required": ["account_id"],        "properties": ["account_id"] },
          { "index": 1, "required": ["brand", "operator"], "properties": ["brand", "operator", "sandbox"] }
        ]
      },
      { "pointer": "/brand/domain", "keyword": "required", "message": "must have required property 'domain'" }
    ]
  }
}

• issues[].pointer — RFC 6901 JSON Pointer to the field.
• issues[].keyword — AJV keyword (required, type, oneOf, anyOf, additionalProperties, format, enum).
• issues[].variants — when the keyword is oneOf or anyOf, each entry lists one variant's required + declared properties. Pick ONE variant, send only its required fields. This is the fastest recovery path when you didn't know the field was a union.
• issues[].discriminator — when an SDK ≥6.7 picks a "best surviving variant" of a const-discriminated union, this is the [{field, value}, …] pairs that variant requires. Reads as the validator's verdict on which branch you were inferred to be targeting. Example: discriminator: [{field: 'type', value: 'key_value'}] plus pointer: '/deployments/0/activation_key/key' and keyword: 'required' means "you picked the key_value activation_key variant and it requires top-level key and value." Compound discriminators like audience-selector's (type, value_type) produce two-entry arrays.
• issues[].schemaId — $id of the rejecting schema. For tools served from the bundled tree this is usually the response root; for flat-tree tools it can land on the deeper sub-schema. Diagnostic only; the actionable lever is discriminator + variants + pointer.
• issues[].allowedValues — closed enum lists for keyword: 'enum' issues. Picking from this list closes the case in one round.
• issues[].hint — SDK ≥6.8 only. One-sentence curated recipe for known shape gotchas: discriminator nesting (activation_key, VAST delivery_type), shape mismatches (format_id object, budget number, signal_ids provenance objects), and discriminator merging (account). When present, the hint is the most-direct fix path; read it before walking variants. Absent on the long tail — no hint just means there's no curated rule for the pattern.

Recovery order: read hint first (when present, it's the validated fix path); then discriminator (names which branch to fix); then variants (lists every option if you're not in a branch); then pointer + keyword + message for the leaf fix. Patch and resend. Three attempts should cover every field.

Minimal working examples

get_products

{
  "buying_mode": "brief",
  "brief": "premium CTV sports inventory for live NBA finals in major US markets"
}

Returns { products: [{ product_id, name, description, delivery_type, pricing_options, ... }] }.

create_media_buy

{
  "idempotency_key": "<uuid>",
  "account": { "account_id": "seller_assigned_id" },
  "brand": { "domain": "acme.example" },
  "start_time": "2026-05-01T00:00:00Z",
  "end_time": "2026-05-31T23:59:59Z",
  "packages": [
    {
      "buyer_ref": "pkg_1",
      "product_id": "<product_id from get_products>",
      "budget": 10000,
      "pricing_option_id": "<pricing_option_id from product.pricing_options>"
    }
  ]
}

If you don't have a seller_assigned_id, use the natural-key variant instead: "account": { "brand": { "domain": "acme.example" }, "operator": "sales.example" }.

Returns either { media_buy_id, packages: [...], confirmed_at } (sync) or { status: 'submitted', task_id, message } (async — guaranteed / IO-signed flows).

sync_creatives

{
  "idempotency_key": "<uuid>",
  "account": { "account_id": "seller_assigned_id" },
  "creatives": [
    {
      "creative_id": "cr_1",
      "name": "My Creative",
      "format_id": { "agent_url": "https://creatives.adcontextprotocol.org", "id": "video_1920x1080" },
      "assets": {}
    }
  ]
}

Per-creative required: creative_id, name, format_id: { agent_url, id }, assets (shape depends on format_id; start with {} then fill required asset keys per format spec). Returns { creatives: [{ creative_id, action, status }] } — items may fail individually without failing the batch.

get_signals

{
  "signal_spec": "female professionals 25-54 in major US metros"
}

Returns { signals: [{ signal_agent_segment_id, match_rate, pricing, ... }] }. Note: the identifier field is signal_agent_segment_id (not signal_id) — used as input to activate_signal below.

activate_signal

{
  "idempotency_key": "<uuid>",
  "signal_agent_segment_id": "sig_premium_ctv_sports",
  "destinations": [
    { "type": "platform", "platform": "the-trade-desk" }
  ]
}

destinations[] is a oneOf: either {type: 'platform', platform, account?} OR {type, agent_url, account?}. Pick one shape per destination.

Transport notes

• MCP: tools/call with { name: 'tool_name', arguments: {...} }. Returns { content, structuredContent, isError? }. Read structuredContent for the typed response.
• A2A: message/send with a DataPart of shape { skill: 'tool_name', input: {...} } (the legacy key parameters is also accepted). Returns an A2A Task; the typed response is at task.artifacts[0].parts[0].data.

Both transports share: idempotency, error shape, schema enforcement, and handler semantics. If a call works on one, the equivalent call works on the other.

Gotchas I keep seeing

1. Merging oneOf variants: see the account section above. If you see three additionalProperties errors under one pointer, you merged. Drop to one variant.
2. budget as an object: it's a number. Currency comes from the pricing_option.
3. brand.brand_id instead of brand.domain: spec uses domain.
4. Forgetting idempotency_key: required on every mutating tool; see the list above.
5. Treating A2A Task.state: 'completed' as AdCP completion: A2A task state = transport call lifecycle. AdCP-level completion is in the artifact's payload (structuredContent.status or data.status). A completed A2A task can still carry a submitted AdCP response.
6. format_id as a string: format_id is always an object { agent_url, id } (and sometimes { width, height, duration_ms } for dimensions). Sending "format_id": "video_1920x1080" fails with an additionalProperties / type error — pass the object.

Symptom → fix

Quick lookup before reading the full envelope. Match what you see in adcp_error.issues[*], apply the fix:

Symptom	What it means	Fix
keyword: 'oneOf' with variants[]	Discriminated union — you sent fields from multiple variants, or none	Pick ONE variant from variants[]. Send only its required fields.
discriminator: [{field, value}] on a required issue	Validator inferred which branch you targeted; you missed required fields IN that branch	Read the discriminator pair, fill the missing required fields at the same level (don't nest under the discriminator field name).
hint: field present on the issue	SDK matched a curated shape-gotcha rule	Apply the hint directly — it's the validated fix path.
2-3 additionalProperties errors at the same pointer	You merged oneOf variants ({account_id, brand, operator, …})	Drop to one variant. Don't keep "extra" fields "for completeness".
keyword: 'required', pointer: '/idempotency_key'	Mutating tool, no UUID	Generate fresh UUID per logical operation. Reuse it on retries.
keyword: 'type' or additionalProperties at /budget	Sent {amount, currency}	budget is a number. Currency is implied by pricing_option_id.
additionalProperties at /format_id (string passed)	Sent "format_id": "video_..."	format_id is {agent_url, id} — always an object.
keyword: 'enum' at /destinations/*/type	Made-up destination type	Use 'platform' (with platform) or 'agent' (with agent_url).
Response carries status: 'submitted' and task_id	Async — work is queued, NOT done	Poll via tasks/get (A2A) or the MCP async task extension using task_id.
recovery: 'transient' (rate limit, 5xx, timeout)	Server-side, retry-safe	Retry with the same idempotency_key.
recovery: 'correctable'	Buyer-side fix	Read issues[], patch the pointers, resend. Most cases close in one attempt.
recovery: 'terminal' (account suspended, payment required, …)	Requires human action	Don't retry. Surface to the user.
HTTP 401 with WWW-Authenticate header	Missing or expired credential	Add Authorization per the agent's auth spec; re-auth if applicable.

If your symptom isn't here, fall through to the next section.

If you get stuck

Priority order:

1. Re-read the failure's issues[]. The pointer list plus this skill covers 80% of cases.
2. Call get_schema(tool_name) if the agent exposes it (see #3057 for the pending standard).
3. Read the bundled JSON Schema for <protocol>/<tool>-request.json — see Discovery chain step 4 for path resolution. If you can't locate the SDK's schema cache, ask the developer or fall back to get_schema().
4. Consult the per-protocol skill (adcp-media-buy, adcp-creative, …) for specialism-specific patterns.

Related

• Calling an agent (docs) — human-readable narrative form of this skill
• skills/adcp-media-buy/, skills/adcp-creative/, skills/adcp-signals/, skills/adcp-governance/, skills/adcp-si/, skills/adcp-brand/ — per-protocol task skills (layered on top of this one)
• @adcp/client/skills/build-seller-agent/SKILL.md — building agents on the other side of the call
• Bundled JSON Schemas — canonical for every tool, version-pinned. Path differs by SDK (see Discovery chain step 4). Pulled from the protocol tarball at /protocol/<version>.tgz.