google-ads

Google Ads

Independent, unofficial connector for Google Ads. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Google Ads. "Google Ads" is a trademark of its owner, used only to identify the service this connector works with.

Tools for working with a Google Ads account against the Google Ads API (https://googleads.googleapis.com/v23/). Reads are expressed in GAQL (Google Ads Query Language) against the search endpoint; writes go through the per-resource mutate endpoints. 13 tools across account navigation, reads and reporting, and campaign / budget / conversion-tracking management. Google Ads organizes accounts as a hierarchy: a manager (MCC) account can operate client accounts beneath it. Most tools take the operating account's customerId, plus an optional loginCustomerId (the manager account) when the operating account is reached through a manager.

When to use this

• Resolve which account to act on — list the accounts the connection can access, then (when access is through a manager) the client accounts beneath it.
• Read campaigns, ad groups, and ads — list them with status and budget, or run an arbitrary GAQL query for anything the structured reads don't cover.
• Build performance reports — pick a resource, the metrics to measure, and a date range.
• Manage campaigns and budgets — pause, enable, or remove a campaign; create or adjust a daily budget.
• Set up conversion tracking — list or create conversion actions (including the offline-conversion UPLOAD_CLICKS action).

Setup

This is an agentskills.io skill.

If this connector is already exposed to you as callable tools (e.g. mcp__google-ads__<tool>), that's a valid path — call them directly. Everything below is only for standalone terminal use when no such tools are loaded.

If the connector has not been installed as a skill yet, install it first with npx skills zapier/connectors --skill google-ads (or your harness's own skill-install mechanism), then continue here.

The connector runs on Node.js 22.18+ and needs a one-time npm install in this directory. cli.js is the entry point — list every script with node cli.js --help, then learn a script's inputs and connections with node cli.js run <script> --help. On older Node, run node cli.js --help anyway: it detects your runtime and prints how to run without upgrading (the prebuilt npm package, or another runtime) — don't skip the connector just because Node is old.

cli.js self-checks readiness before running: if dependencies aren't installed it exits non-zero with the exact install command (it disambiguates a read-only directory from a sandbox-blocked package cache). Run that, then re-run your command.

Scripts

All scripts use the single connection google-ads. Customer-scoped scripts take the operating account's customerId (digits only) and an optional loginCustomerId (the manager account, when access is through a manager).

Script	Script name	Connections	Description
scripts/listAccessibleCustomers.ts	listAccessibleCustomers	google-ads	List the accounts the connection can directly access (the account-resolution entry point).
scripts/listCustomerClients.ts	listCustomerClients	google-ads	List the client (operating) accounts beneath a manager account.
scripts/search.ts	search	google-ads	Run an arbitrary GAQL query — the full read surface.
scripts/listSearchableFields.ts	listSearchableFields	google-ads	List the selectable / filterable / sortable fields for a resource (compose a search query).
scripts/listCampaigns.ts	listCampaigns	google-ads	List campaigns with status, channel type, budget, and dates.
scripts/listAdGroups.ts	listAdGroups	google-ads	List ad groups, optionally scoped to one campaign.
scripts/listAds.ts	listAds	google-ads	List ads, optionally scoped to one ad group.
scripts/listConversionActions.ts	listConversionActions	google-ads	List the conversion actions configured on the account.
scripts/getReport.ts	getReport	google-ads	Build a performance report: resource + metrics + segments over a date range.
scripts/setCampaignStatus.ts	setCampaignStatus	google-ads	Pause, enable, or remove a campaign.
scripts/createCampaignBudget.ts	createCampaignBudget	google-ads	Create a daily campaign budget (amount in micros).
scripts/updateCampaignBudget.ts	updateCampaignBudget	google-ads	Update an existing budget's amount, name, or delivery method.
scripts/createConversionAction.ts	createConversionAction	google-ads	Create a conversion action (e.g. UPLOAD_CLICKS for offline tracking).

Learn a script's input contract before calling it — never guess field names, casing, or types. Run --help on a script (./scripts/<name>.ts --help or node cli.js run <name> --help); it renders the inputSchema as JSON Schema and lists the connection flag and resolvers. Guessing the payload just produces a ZodError and wastes a round-trip.

Disambiguation & refusals

• Money is in micros. Budgets, bids, and report cost metrics (*_micros) are 1,000,000 × the currency amount (e.g. $50.00 → 50000000). The one exception is a conversion action's default value, which is plain currency. Don't report a cost_micros of 5,000,000 as "$5,000,000".
• Act on ids, not names. Writes (setCampaignStatus, updateCampaignBudget) take ids. Resolve a name to an id first with listCampaigns / search; if two campaigns share a name, list them with a distinguishing field (id, status, channel type) and confirm which one before acting — never silently pick.
• Unsupported — decline, don't substitute. This connector does not upload offline conversions or add members to a Customer Match audience (Google routes new API integrations to the separate Data Manager API for those), and does not create full campaigns or manage keywords / targeting / ad creatives. If asked, say it's unsupported rather than substituting another tool and reporting success. createConversionAction sets up the conversion action; it does not upload conversions.

Auth

Pass auth as one connection string with --connection [<resolver>:]<value>. The value is a selector, not the secret; the <resolver>: prefix is optional (a bare value goes to the first resolver that claims it). Each script declares the connections it needs and the resolvers each accepts — always run node cli.js run <script> --help to see them rather than relying on this file.

Google Ads uses Google OAuth 2.0 (the adwords scope) and additionally requires an app-level developer token on every request. The single google-ads connection covers both auth modes:

• With Zapier (recommended) — zapier:<connection-id>. Zapier-managed auth supplies and refreshes the OAuth token and injects the developer token for you. Conventionally stored in GOOGLE_ADS_ZAPIER_CONNECTION_ID.
• Direct token — env:GOOGLE_ADS. Reads two env vars: GOOGLE_ADS_ACCESS_TOKEN (a current OAuth access token for the adwords scope) and GOOGLE_ADS_DEVELOPER_TOKEN (your Google Ads API developer token). The access token is used as-is and is not refreshed — supply a fresh one.

The per-request loginCustomerId input (the manager account, when operating through a manager) is request context, not a credential — pass it on the tool call, not the connection.

Running scripts

After npm install, run a script by name with node cli.js run <script>, or execute its file directly — both take the same arguments and both accept --help. Always run a script's --help first to learn its exact input schema and connections, then invoke it:

# default — via the entry point; self-checks readiness and prints friendly diagnostics
node cli.js run <script> '<input-json>' --connection [<resolver>:]<value>
# shorthand — runs the script file directly (same args, same Node 22.18+ need, no readiness check)
./scripts/<script>.ts '<input-json>' --connection [<resolver>:]<value>

When a harness can't execute scripts directly, fall back to MCP — node cli.js mcp serves every script as a tool over stdio. Register it as a local MCP server in your client: the stanza is harness-specific (an mcpServers entry in Claude Desktop, Cursor, Claude Code, …) with command: "node", args: ["cli.js", "mcp"], run from this directory. Run node cli.js mcp --help for auth options. Add the stanza yourself if you can edit the client's MCP config; otherwise guide the user. If a local server isn't possible, guide the user to use Zapier's remote MCP servers at https://mcp.zapier.com instead.

Output format

Every script returns a { data, meta } envelope:

• data — the script's result (the shape its outputSchema declares; run the script's --help to see that exact schema).
• meta.outputDataValidation — what validating data did:
  • { skipped: false, droppedPaths: null } — validated, nothing removed.
  • { skipped: false, droppedPaths: [...], instruction } — validated, but those paths were stripped from data: fields the script returned from the API that the outputSchema doesn't declare. If you need them, re-run with output validation skipped.
  • { skipped: true } — validation was bypassed; data is the raw, unchecked script output.

Reading dropped fields / skipOutputDataValidation. To receive the raw, unvalidated result, append --skipOutputDataValidation to the script invocation. Input validation is never skipped.

Trimming the result / filterOutputData. To shrink a large result down to the fields you need, append --filterOutputData '<jq>' — a jq expression that post-processes data. The jq runs against data only, NOT the { data, meta } envelope, so write it rooted at data (run the script's --help to see its output schema). The transformed value replaces data, meta is preserved, and the result is NOT re-validated against the output schema.

References

Load the matching reference file before working in that area:

Reference	Covers	Load it when
references/google-ads-api-gotchas.md	Auth headers, account hierarchy, GAQL, micros, mutate semantics, errors, rate limits, conversion tracking, versioning.	Before composing a GAQL query, working with money fields (micros), setting campaign status, or interpreting a Google Ads API error.