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meta_create_adset

Create a Meta ad set under a campaign — budget, audience, and optimization goal.

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The ad set is where the money actually gets configured: what you’re willing to spend, who you’re reaching, and what delivery optimizes for.

Warning

Nothing spends until you say so

Created PAUSED, always. There is no status input at any layer. Activate with meta_set_status once you’ve reviewed it.

Input

Field Type Required Description
advertiserId acc_* yes The Meta advertiser.
campaignId string yes Parent campaign — including one created moments ago.
name string yes Ad set name.
optimizationGoal enum yes What delivery optimizes for.
countries string[] yes Two-letter ISO codes, e.g. ["US", "CA"].
ageMin 13–65 yes Youngest age to target. Not defaulted — see below.
ageMax 13–65 no Oldest age. Omit for no upper bound.
genders all | men | women no Defaults to everyone.
dailyBudget integer * Minor currency units (cents).
lifetimeBudget integer * Requires endTime.
startTime ISO 8601 no When delivery starts.
endTime ISO 8601 no When delivery stops. Required with lifetimeBudget.
pixelId string ** From meta_list_pixels.
customEventType enum ** The pixel event to optimize toward, e.g. PURCHASE.

* Whether a budget is required depends on the parent campaign. If it uses Advantage campaign budget, the ad set must carry none; otherwise it must carry exactly one. AdCrunch reads the campaign to find out and tells you which case you’re in, rather than guessing.

** Required together when the optimization goal optimizes toward conversions (OFFSITE_CONVERSIONS, VALUE). This is checked before anything is created — it’s Meta’s most common create rejection.

Note

Why ageMin is required

Many advertisers are legally obliged to exclude under-18s. Defaulting to Meta’s floor would make that decision on the user’s behalf, in the one direction they cannot undo once money has been spent. Ask.

What is not exposed

billingEvent is derived from the optimization goal — it’s IMPRESSIONS in nearly every real ad set, so exposing it would only add a way to be wrong. Interests, behaviours, cities and radius targeting are not available: each would need its own lookup tool before an agent could use it. Placements are left to Meta’s automatic default. Custom audiences are the named next addition.

Output

{ workflowId }. Poll get_mutation_status for the new ad set’s { id }.

Errors

  • A conversion goal with no pixel, or a lifetime budget with no end time — both refused before anything is created, with a message saying what to fix.
  • A budget on a CBO campaign, or none on a non-CBO one — refused with the same message meta_update_budget gives for the same disagreement.
  • An objective/goal pairing Meta doesn’t allow comes back in Meta’s own words, including its error subcode. AdCrunch deliberately doesn’t second-guess that matrix.