Meta Ads MCP tools by the numbers: 54,267 calls analyzed
By Matheus Mello, founder of Ads Editor and owner of YEP Agência · Published · 5 min read
Meta Ads MCP tools get described in launch posts by what they could do; this is what they were actually used for. Between May 14 and September 23, 2026, 22 Ads Editor user accounts made 54,267 tool calls, and the pattern is clear: people use AI to read accounts far more than to change them.
Quick answer
On the Ads Editor MCP, 22 user accounts made 54,267 tool calls between May 14 and September 23, 2026. The most called tool, get_campaign_metrics, accounted for 42% of them. Of the 15 most used tools, 13 only read data; the most common actions are changing budgets and adding Google negative keywords. The outcome of those actions was not measured.
Summary
- 54,267 calls by 22 user accounts, over a catalog of 212 Meta Ads and Google Ads tools.
- One tool, get_campaign_metrics, took 22,918 calls: 42% of the total.
- The 13 read tools in the top 15 add up to 76% of calls; the 2 action tools, under 5%.
- The first actions people delegate are short, frequent and easy to check: budgets and negatives.
- We did not measure whether AI actions improved CPA or ROAS.
Where do the numbers come from?
- Source: the Ads Editor MCP server usage log, queried in the database on September 23, 2026, read-only and aggregated by tool.
- Window: May 14, 2026 to September 23, 2026.
- Call: each time the AI assistant triggers a server tool. One question can generate several calls, for example listing accounts and then reading each one's metrics.
- User account: one Ads Editor sign-up, which can be an agency with several people and many ad accounts.
- Catalog: 212 tools registered in the code on September 23, 2026, across Meta Ads and Google Ads.
Which MCP tools does the AI call most?
| Tool | What it does | Calls | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
get_campaign_metrics | Metrics for a campaign, ad set or ad in a period | 22,918 | Read |
get_ad_details | Full details of an ad, with the creative | 3,094 | Read |
get_account_summary | Aggregate summary of a Meta account in a period | 3,074 | Read |
get_ad_insights | Results of an ad, with a device breakdown | 1,534 | Read |
get_account_insights | Metrics summed across the account's campaigns | 1,484 | Read |
list_campaigns | Lists campaigns, ad sets or ads of a Meta account | 1,426 | Read |
update_budget | Changes the daily budget of a campaign or ad set | 1,407 | Action |
list_meta_accounts | Lists the connected Meta accounts | 1,224 | Read |
list_ads_with_insights | Lists ads with thumbnail and metrics | 1,222 | Read |
add_google_negative_keyword | Adds a negative keyword to a Google Ads campaign or ad group | 1,168 | Action |
get_adset_details | Targeting, budget and bid of an ad set | 1,135 | Read |
get_adset_insights | Results of an ad set in a period | 1,121 | Read |
get_campaign_details | Objective, status, bid and budget of a campaign | 940 | Read |
get_google_campaign_metrics | Metrics of Google Ads campaigns in a period | 925 | Read |
get_account_balance_status | Balance and days remaining for every Meta and Google account | 921 | Read |
What do these numbers say?
AI is used to read, not to act
The 13 read tools at the top add up to 41,018 calls, 76% of all calls in the period. The two action tools add up to 2,575, under 5%. The other 10,674 calls, 20% of the total, are spread across the remaining tools and were not classified here. Even if all of them were actions, reading would still dominate.
One tool takes almost half the calls
get_campaign_metrics alone has 22,918 calls, 42% of the total. It returns spend, impressions, clicks, CTR, CPM, CPC, ROAS and conversions for a campaign, ad set or ad in a period. It is the tool behind a media buyer's most common questions: how much did we spend, what is the cost per result, what got worse.
The most common actions are the most repetitive ones
Changing a budget and adding a Google search term as a negative are short, frequent and easy to check afterwards. It makes sense that they are the first tasks a media buyer hands to AI. In the Ads Editor MCP, a daily budget changed by AI has a fixed ceiling on the server, and bulk negatives have their own guide in Google Ads negative keywords.
What was not measured?
No estimates
We did not measure the outcome of the actions, for example whether a budget changed by AI improved CPA. We also did not count how many of the 212 tools were called at least once, nor separate a person's question from an automated routine. The extraction was aggregated by tool, not by conversation.
What does this change for anyone starting with MCP?
- Start with reading, which is the use the base settled on: spend, cost per result and comparison with the previous period.
- When you ask for actions, ask for the repetitive, reversible ones, such as a budget change within a ceiling or negatives.
- Check in recent activity what the AI did; every action is logged.
- Keep strategy, offer and creative with the media buyer, as argued in AI for media buying.
How to connect the server in Claude, ChatGPT, Codex or Cursor, and how it compares with Meta's official connector, is in Meta Ads MCP for Claude and ChatGPT.
Frequently asked questions
How many accounts use the Ads Editor MCP?
Between May 14 and September 23, 2026, 22 user accounts made calls through the MCP. One user account can be an agency with several people.
Which MCP tool is used most?
get_campaign_metrics, which reads a campaign's, ad set's or ad's metrics for a period: 22,918 calls, 42% of the total.
Does AI change accounts a lot through MCP?
Not much, from what we measured. The two action tools among the 15 most called add up to 2,575 calls, under 5% of the total, and they only run when someone asks.
Does MCP improve campaign results?
We did not measure it. The numbers show what AI does in the account, not the effect on CPA or ROAS.
Glossary
- Tool call
- One execution of an MCP tool by an AI assistant.
- Read tool
- A tool that only fetches data, such as metrics or ad details.
- Action tool
- A tool that changes the account, such as a budget update or a new negative keyword.
References
- What is the Model Context Protocol (MCP)?. Supports: MCP is an open-source standard for connecting AI applications to external systems.
Links opened and checked when the article was last updated.
About the author
Matheus Mello, founder of Ads Editor and owner of YEP Agência. Runs client ad accounts at YEP Agência and built Ads Editor so his own agency could stop publishing ads one at a time. Usage numbers quoted on the blog come from the product activity log. Instagram: @theusm
