Setup guide
Give Fama access to your ad account
You do this in your own Meta business settings, so you can see exactly what Fama gets and take it back there whenever you like. About ten minutes, once. If you get stuck, the section at the end covers what usually goes wrong.
Before you start
- About ten minutes, once.
- Admin access to the Meta business portfolio (Business Manager) that owns the ad account.
- A computer: Meta's business settings are awkward on a phone.
Open your business settings
business.facebook.com/settings
Sign in with the Facebook account that runs your ads. If you have more than one business portfolio, pick the one that owns the ad account (top left).You see a menu on the left with Users, Accounts and Data sources.
Check the ad account is in this portfolio
Accounts › Ad accounts
Your ad account should be listed. If it is not, it is a personal ad account: choose Add, then Add an ad account, and enter its ID (in Ads Manager, the number in the account menu at the top left, or afteract=in the address bar). Pay any balance that is due first: Meta refuses while one is outstanding. Moving an ad account into a portfolio cannot be undone; it stays yours.The ad account appears in the list with its ID.
Make sure the business has an app
Accounts › Apps
Meta issues every access token for an app, so the business needs one. If an app is listed, use it. If not, go to developers.facebook.com/apps, choose Create app, pick the Business type, connect it to this business portfolio, and add the Marketing API product. Your own ad accounts need no App Review: this app is only ever used by you.The app is listed under Accounts › Apps.
Add a system user for Fama
Users › System users › Add
Name it Fama and give it the Admin role. A system user is a login a business makes for software: its access does not break when someone leaves or changes a password, and you can remove it at any time.Fama appears in the list of system users.
Give it the ad account, with full control
System users › Fama › Assign assets
Choose Ad accounts, tick your ad account, and turn on Manage ad account (full control). Then choose Apps, tick the app from step 3, and give it full control (Manage app), which the token in the next step needs. With view-only access Fama can still read and report, but it cannot pause anything or change a budget.Under the system user's assets, the ad account shows Manage ad account.
Generate the token
System users › Fama › Generate new token
Pick the app, set Token expiration to Never, and tick exactly these permissions:ads_read,ads_managementandbusiness_management. Choose Generate token and copy it straight away: Meta shows it once. Treat it like a password.A long token starting with EAA… is on your clipboard.
Paste it into Fama
Fama › Settings › Ad accounts › Connect
Sign in, open Settings › Ad accounts › Connect, and paste the token. Fama checks it with Meta and lists the ad accounts it can see; choose yours.You land on Analytics with your own numbers. Nothing in the account has been changed.
Set your limits before anything else
Fama › Settings › Guardrails
Fama starts your daily cap a quarter above what you already run, so nothing live today is blocked and nothing can double by accident. Set the cap, the largest single raise, and whether Fama may act at once inside those limits or must ask you every time. Read-only mode blocks every change while you look around.The limits are saved. Every change from now on, by you, the chat, an AI tool or a rule, is checked against them.
What this access lets Fama do
It does
- Read spend, results, budgets, delivery, creative and pixel events, to answer you.
- Pause and switch on campaigns, ad sets and ads; set daily budgets; make paused copies of ad sets. Only when you, the chat, an AI tool you connected or a rule you switched on asks, and only inside your limits.
- Record every change, who asked for it and what Meta reported afterwards, in Activity.
It never
- Creates ads or campaigns, or changes your creative, targeting or landing pages.
- Takes the account over the daily cap you set. Only you can raise it, in Settings.
- Reads your payment details, posts to your Page, or touches an ad account you did not assign.
The token Meta issues would technically allow more than this. Fama's code only ever sends those four kinds of change, and checks each one against your limits before it leaves.
If something does not work
Fama says the token can see no ad accounts
The ad account is not assigned to the system user (step 5), or it sits in another business portfolio. Assign it, then paste the same token again: no new token is needed.
Fama can read the account but says it cannot manage it
The system user has view-only access, or the token was made without ads_management. Turn on Manage ad account (step 5), or generate a new token with all three permissions (step 6) and paste it in.
Generate new token is greyed out, or my app is not offered
The app is not assigned to the system user (step 5, Apps), or you are not an admin of the business portfolio. Ask an admin, or assign the app and reload.
Meta will not let me add my ad account to the portfolio
A prepaid or overdue balance blocks it: settle the balance in Ads Manager billing, then try again. If the account already belongs to another business portfolio, an admin of that portfolio has to give it to yours, or grant your business access as a partner.
I run ads for clients (an agency)
Ask each client to add your business portfolio as a partner on their ad account with Manage ad account, then assign that ad account to your Fama system user. One token can reach many ad accounts; connect each one in Fama.
Taking access back
Any time, in either place: remove the ad account in Fama (Settings › Ad accounts), or in Meta remove the Fama system user or revoke its token (Users › System users › Fama). Access ends the moment you do. Read-only mode in Fama stops every change without disconnecting.