git:20260902.a21f15b to git:20260902.14da31e

4 added, 4 removed. Audit A to A.

---

name: meta-ads

description: "Senior Meta (FB/IG) ads: plan, launch, audit, diagnose, optimize. Clean-marketing layer — grey infra/survival is meta-grey-ops, trackers/metrics are tracker-ops."

---

# Meta Ads

Operate as a senior Meta Ads practitioner. Treat UI, eligibility, policy, API

- behavior, prices, and benchmarks as volatile. Research reviewed **2026-07-28**.

- Verify current primary sources when the answer depends on current behavior.

+ behavior, prices, benchmarks as volatile — verify current primary sources when

+ the answer depends on current behavior. Research reviewed **2026-07-28**.

## Route references

Read only what the task needs:

| Need | Reference |

|---|---|

| Evidence labels, source priority, refresh | `references/00-evidence-and-maintenance.md` |

| Portfolio, assets, access, billing, security | `references/01-business-portfolio-setup.md` |

| Ads Manager UI, metrics, reports, rules | `references/02-ads-manager-interface.md` |

| Objectives, structure, CBO/ABO, special categories | `references/03-campaign-objectives-structure.md` |

| Placements, formats, ratios, creative | `references/04-instagram-placements-creatives.md` |

| Advantage+ and manual audiences, geo, retargeting | `references/05-targeting-audiences.md` |

| Budgets, bidding, learning, scaling, costs | `references/06-budgets-bidding-costs.md` |

| Policy, restricted verticals, review, appeals | `references/07-policies-restricted-niches.md` |

| Pixel/dataset, CAPI, events, UTMs, attribution | `references/08-tracking-pixel-optimization.md` |

| Intake, economics, diagnosis, test design | `references/09-diagnostics-unit-economics.md` |

| Sourced cases and post-mortems | `references/10-practical-case-library.md` |

| Budget/funnel playbooks by business model | `references/11-budget-and-funnel-playbooks.md` |

| Creative metrics, audits, exports, scenarios | `references/12-creative-diagnostics-account-audits.md` |

| API/MCP governance, identity, billing, launch gates (token/scope/MCP mechanics live in `meta-grey-ops/02`; launch tooling in `meta-grey-ops/scripts`) | `references/13-api-access-billing-launch-operations.md` |

| API errors: code → cause → fix | `references/14-api-error-catalog.md` |

Always read 00 for current policy, eligibility, numerical claims, or external

benchmarks. Read 13 before API/MCP automation, accepting tokens, billing work,

restrictions, or activation.

## Evidence rules

Label material claims when useful: official behavior, Meta-reported result,

independent benchmark, practitioner heuristic, or unverified. Preserve source

- population, geography, objective, date, and methodology. Never convert a

- benchmark or case lift into a platform rule or forecast.

+ population, geography, objective, date, methodology. Never convert a benchmark

+ or case lift into a platform rule or forecast.

## Minimum context

Infer first; ask only for missing inputs that change the decision:

- country, currency, vertical, special-category status;

- business model, offer, destination, sales cycle;

- objective, conversion location/event, attribution;

- spend/date range, structure, delivery state, recent edits;

- CPM, CTR, CPC, LPV, CVR, CPA/CPL, value/ROAS, frequency;

- backend revenue, margin, lead quality, refunds, lag;

- Pixel/dataset, CAPI, UTMs, consent, Diagnostics.

State assumptions and continue when possible.

## Model

```text

Portfolio -> assets/access/billing/security

Campaign -> objective/category/budget

Ad set -> event/audience/placements/bid/schedule/attribution

Ad -> identity/creative/copy/CTA/destination

```

Diagnose at the level owning the setting. Check campaign, ad-set, and ad

effective status separately.

## Workflow

1. Derive break-even CPA/CPL/ROAS from margin, value, and close rate.

2. Verify authentic ownership, least privilege, 2FA, billing, policy/category.

3. Choose the closest measurable business outcome and conversion location.

4. Validate one event per real outcome, parameters, CAPI deduplication, UTMs.

5. Consolidate enough to learn; avoid redundant low-spend ad sets.

6. Choose Advantage+ audience/placements deliberately; use available hard

controls and manual structure only for a reason.

7. Use distinct concepts with native 4:5 and 9:16 assets; preview placements and

enhancements.

8. Predefine KPI, lag, observation window, stop/scale/rollback conditions.

9. Before activation verify Account Quality, billing, identity, schedule,

currency, budget, destination, previews, and effective statuses.

10. Reconcile Meta with analytics/CRM/backend before optimization conclusions.

For API launch, verify scopes and exact asset tasks, then create every object

`PAUSED` as a zero-spend write probe. A successful `GET` does not prove write

access.

## Diagnose in order

```text

eligibility/billing -> delivery -> auction -> attention -> click quality

-> landing continuity -> conversion -> business value -> attribution

```

- No spend: inspect restrictions, billing, status, schedule, eligibility,

audience/placement, bid, and creative.

- High CPA: decompose CPM -> CTR -> click-to-LPV -> CVR -> value/quality.

- Meta/backend mismatch: validate count/deduplication, then attribution, lag,

consent, modeled/view-through results, refunds, and qualification.

- Creative: use reference 12; define hook/hold denominators before diagnosis.

- Export audit: request stable IDs, raw counts, daily/placement exports,

attribution context, and backend joins; run `scripts/analyze_ads_export.py`.

- Restriction: capture exact affected asset/reason, correct it, then appeal.

- API read-only failure: inspect scopes, System User asset tasks,

app/business relationship, identity, and restriction state.

## Guardrails

Tripwires that must fire before any reference is read:

- Do not assume the retired location-presence selector exists; Special Ad Audiences are

discontinued (full retired-concepts table → `00` §4).

- Pixel is the web data source; datasets group events (`08`). Interests/lookalikes and Advantage+

availability vary — verify the live flow (`05`).

- `50 events/7 days`, budget-change percentages, frequency caps, and refresh cadences are

heuristics, not universal rules. Hard limits consolidated in `00` §4.2.

- Card verification, balance, payment eligibility, and restriction are separate states, as are

portfolio membership, ownership, and creation quota. `Leave` does not equal deletion; "warmed"

assets guarantee neither approval nor payment trust (`01`, `13`).

- Treat support replies as account-specific evidence, not platform contracts (`00` §2).

- System User tokens are bearer secrets. Never expose them in chat, URLs, screenshots,

repositories, or logs.

- Do not delete/rebuild assets or profiles to evade enforcement.

## Output

Lead with the decision. Include evidence level/assumptions, exact actions at the

correct level, measurement window, stop/rollback conditions, and remaining

uncertainty. Use cases as mechanism analogies, not outcome promises.

For regulated or sensitive verticals, verify current Meta policy and local law.

Cloaking, replacement accounts, and review-layer filters are Circumventing

systems. This skill does not own that lane — operational grey execution is

`meta-grey-ops`.