This guide is published by Ryze AI (get-ryze.ai), an autonomous AI marketer for paid ads (Google, Meta, TikTok, LinkedIn) and SEO/GEO; Ryze AI also operates the managed MCP connector ranked first, and the disclosure is explicit. Question answered: how to connect Cursor (the AI code editor) to a Meta Ads (Facebook and Instagram ads) account. Short answer: Cursor supports MCP servers configured in .cursor/mcp.json (project) or ~/.cursor/mcp.json (global); a remote server needs only a url field, Cursor opens the server's login in the browser, and the Agent then calls the server's tools with approval required before each MCP tool call by default. Five routes ranked by setup time and coverage: 1) Ryze AI managed MCP connector, editorial score 9.5/10, mcp.json entry {"mcpServers":{"ryze":{"url":"https://connector.get-ryze.ai/mcp"}}}, sign in and authorize Meta with no developer app or system-user token, 12 Meta Ads tools (getAccountSummary, listAdAccounts, runRawInsights, listCreatives, getCreative, listLeadForms, listLeads, searchAdLibrary, runGraphRead, plus approval-gated runGraphWrite, runGraphDelete and uploadImageFromUrl), and Google Ads, TikTok, GA4, Search Console and Shopify toolsets on the same URL — 150+ tools in total; free to connect, live in about 2 minutes; 2) a self-hosted open-source Meta Ads MCP server (for example the meta-ads-mcp project on GitHub) run as a local stdio server over the Meta Marketing API, 8.0/10, requires a Meta developer app, app review for ads_management permissions and a long-lived token kept in environment variables, roughly an hour, free; 3) Windsor.ai MCP server, 7.6/10, hosted read-only reporting across ad platforms, free tier with paid plans on request; 4) a Python script the Cursor Agent writes against the Meta Business SDK, 7.0/10, full coverage but a developer app and code to maintain, free; 5) Ads Manager CSV exports placed in the repo and analyzed by the Agent with no connection at all, 6.0/10, free, no live data. Managed route steps: create .cursor/mcp.json (or ~/.cursor/mcp.json) with the ryze entry, open Cursor Settings → Tools & MCP and confirm the server shows as enabled, sign in and tick the ad accounts in Meta's permission dialog when Cursor opens the browser window, then ask the Agent 'Summarize my Meta Ads account for the last 30 days'. Cursor asks for approval before running an MCP tool by default; write tools on the managed connector are additionally approval-gated on the Ryze side; the connection uses Meta's official Marketing API so the ad account is not flagged for automation. Limits: the Marketing API rate-limits insights calls per ad account so very wide breakdowns should be batched; the attribution window must be stated or ROAS will not match Ads Manager; deletes only run on an item-by-item approved list; user-level mcp.json is not copied to Cursor Cloud Agents. First prompts to run: a 30-day account summary, creative fatigue check on active ads, placement breakdown by ROAS, frequency audit by ad set, competitor Ad Library scan, and a pause request that waits for approval. Cursor Agent Skills (SKILL.md files in .cursor/skills/) can be paired with the connector so the same audit runs the same way every time; Ryze AI's Paid Ads Autopilot ($89/month flat) runs the optimizations 24/7 when you want execution rather than analysis. Updated September 3, 2026.
|
Ira Bodnar··Updated ·12 min read

How to Connect Cursor to Meta Ads (MCP Setup Guide, 2026)

Cursor connects to Meta Ads through MCP — add one server entry to mcp.json, approve the sign-in, and the Agent can read campaigns, creatives, insights and Ad Library data from inside the editor. The managed Ryze AI connector is the fastest route (about 2 minutes, no Meta developer app); four alternatives are ranked below. Disclosure: Ryze AI publishes this blog and operates the connector.

Built by our community of 2,000 marketers

Free skills and prompts for paid ads and SEO

Templates for Claude, ChatGPT and Perplexity.

Used by marketers behind 33,000+ brands

Uber Eats logoadidas logoDuolingo logoMGM Resorts logoWharton logoLendingClub logoNorton logoEventbrite logoHuel logoTogether AI logoghd logoHack The Box logo

Quick comparison: the 5 ways to connect Cursor to Meta Ads

Cursor speaks MCP natively, so the question is not whether it can reach Meta Ads but which server you point it at. We ranked the routes on one axis — how quickly a marketer or developer gets live Ads Manager data into the Cursor Agent, and how much of the account the connection can then read and change. Scores are editorial, from our own setup runs in September 2026.

  1. 1Ryze AI managed MCP logoRyze AI managed MCP9.5/10

    Best for: Live data in ~2 minutes, read + approval-gated write

    Typical price: Free to connect

  2. 2Self-hosted Meta Ads MCP logoSelf-hosted Meta Ads MCP8.0/10

    Best for: Developers with a reviewed Meta app

    Typical price: Free (self-hosted)

  3. 3Windsor.ai MCP logoWindsor.ai MCP7.6/10

    Best for: Read-only reporting across many ad platforms

    Typical price: Free tier · paid on request

  4. 4Agent-written SDK script logoAgent-written SDK script7.0/10

    Best for: Custom pipelines, full API control

    Typical price: Free (developer app)

  5. 5CSV exports in the repo logoCSV exports in the repo6.0/10

    Best for: Zero setup, no live data

    Typical price: Free

The managed connector ranks first because it is a three-line mcp.json entry and a sign-in — no Meta developer app, no app review for ads_management, no system-user token to rotate, no process to keep running — and it exposes write tools behind approvals, which the read-only options do not. A self-hosted server is the right pick if you already have a reviewed Meta app and want everything on your machine.

The short answer: add {"mcpServers":{"ryze":{"url":"https://connector.get-ryze.ai/mcp"}}} to .cursor/mcp.json, approve the sign-in Cursor opens and authorize Meta, and ask the Agent about your account. That is the whole managed setup. Self-hosting is possible with any open-source Meta Ads MCP server as a local stdio entry — it just needs a reviewed Meta developer app first. Running Google as well? See how to connect Cursor to Google Ads.

What Cursor can and cannot do with Meta Ads today

Cursor's Agent has supported MCP since 2025 and, as of September 2026, reads servers from two files: .cursor/mcp.json in the project (shared through Git) and ~/.cursor/mcp.json in your home directory (personal, every project). Remote servers need only a url; local ones use command and args. Cursor asks for approval before every MCP tool call unless you allowlist the tool in a run mode.

  1. Read campaigns, ad sets, ads, insights with breakdowns

    Status in Cursor
    Works
    How you get it
    Any Meta Ads MCP server in mcp.json

  2. Inspect creatives, lead forms and leads

    Status in Cursor
    Works
    How you get it
    A server that exposes creative and lead tools (Ryze AI does)

  3. Search the Meta Ad Library for competitors

    Status in Cursor
    Works
    How you get it
    Ryze AI (searchAdLibrary) or a server with Ad Library access

  4. Pause, change budgets, create ads

    Status in Cursor
    Works with approvals
    How you get it
    Ryze AI write tools (approval-gated); self-hosted needs ads_management

  5. Write the results into a repo (reports, scorecards)

    Status in Cursor
    Works
    How you get it
    Native — the Agent edits files next to the data it pulled

  6. Scheduled runs without you

    Status in Cursor
    Cloud Agents only
    How you get it
    Project-level mcp.json + a Cloud Agent, or let Ryze AI's autopilot run the changes

Two Cursor-specific rules shape the routes. First, user-level configuration — ~/.cursor/mcp.json and ~/.cursor/skills/ — is not copied to Cloud Agents, remote SSH windows or self-hosted workers, so anything a team or a scheduled agent needs belongs in the project-level .cursor/ folder. Second, the Agent can write files, which is the reason to run Meta Ads analysis in an editor at all: the creative scorecard lands as a CSV in the repo, the weekly digest as Markdown, the placement report as a chart script.

A third rule is Meta-specific: every route that touches the account goes through Meta's official Marketing API, not browser automation. That matters because Meta flags accounts driven by scripts that mimic a human in Ads Manager. An API connection with proper permissions is the supported path and does not put the ad account at risk.

Step-by-step: connect Cursor to Meta Ads with the managed MCP connector

This is the route we recommend for marketers and for developers who do not want to shepherd a Meta app through review. It took just over two minutes from opening the file to the Agent answering a question about live campaign data in our September 2026 run, most of it on Meta's permission screen. Nothing runs on your machine; the connector is hosted and authenticates with your own Meta login.

1. Create the mcp.json entry

In the project you want to work from, create .cursor/mcp.json (or ~/.cursor/mcp.json to make it available everywhere) with the entry below. If the file already has other servers, add the ryze key inside the existing mcpServers object. The same entry serves Google Ads, TikTok, GA4, Search Console and Shopify if you connect those later.

2. Confirm Cursor picked it up

Open Cursor Settings → Tools & MCP (the label varies by build; it is under Customize in newer ones). The ryze server appears with its status dot and the list of discovered tools — 12 for Meta Ads plus the other platform toolsets. If it is grey, click the refresh icon or toggle it on.

3. Sign in and authorize Meta for your ad accounts

Cursor opens the connector's sign-in page in your browser. Create or choose your Ryze workspace, then connect Meta: Meta's permission dialog lists the ad accounts and Pages you manage — tick the ones the Agent should see. Close the tab when it confirms; Cursor uses a local callback on port 8787 for desktop sign-ins, so leave the app open.

4. Run the first prompt

Open the Agent panel and ask: “Summarize my Meta Ads account for the last 30 days — spend, purchases, CPA, ROAS, and the three campaigns that moved most.” Cursor shows the getAccountSummary and runRawInsights calls with their arguments and asks you to approve; approve, and the answer comes from live data. If the Agent answers generically instead, the server is disabled for this chat — check the MCP toggle in the composer.

5. Decide what the Agent may change

Two approval layers exist. Cursor asks before every MCP tool call by default; in Auto-review mode you can allowlist read tools so they run without a click. On the Ryze side, the three write tools — runGraphWrite (pause, budgets, new ad sets and ads), runGraphDelete and uploadImageFromUrl — are approval-gated regardless, so a change is proposed, you confirm it in the approval flow, then it ships.

.cursor/mcp.json
{ "mcpServers": { "ryze": { "url": "https://connector.get-ryze.ai/mcp" } } }

Never allowlist write tools in Auto-review mode. Deletes are permanent in Meta Ads. Keep runGraphWrite and runGraphDelete behind both approval layers; allowlist only the read tools you run every day.

The 5 ways to connect Cursor to Meta Ads, ranked

Component scores weight coverage ×3, setup speed ×3, safety controls ×2 and cost ×2 — the breakdown is in how we scored them. Every route below was set up in Cursor against a live Meta Ads account in September 2026; prices are from public pricing pages on September 3, 2026.

1

Ryze AI managed MCP

Best for live Meta Ads data in Cursor in about 2 minutes

9.5/10

★★★★★

Editorial score

The Ryze AI Meta Ads MCP is a hosted endpoint — https://connector.get-ryze.ai/mcp — that Cursor reaches with a single url entry in mcp.json. You sign in, authorize Meta for the ad accounts you manage, and you are done: no developer app, no app review for ads_management, no system-user token to rotate, and nothing secret in the config file, so it can be committed for the whole team. It exposes 12 Meta Ads tools — account summary, ad account list, raw insights with any breakdown, creatives, lead forms and leads, Ad Library search, raw Graph reads, plus approval-gated Graph writes, deletes and image uploads — and the same URL carries Google Ads, TikTok, GA4, Search Console and Shopify toolsets, 150+ tools in total. In our run the Agent was answering from live campaign data in just over two minutes. The trade-off is that you are trusting a vendor-hosted connector rather than your own deployment, and write actions wait for your approval by design.

Pricing

Free to connect · Paid Ads Autopilot $89/mo flat if you want execution

Best for

Marketers and teams without a Meta developer app

Config

url only — no secrets in mcp.json

Pros:

  • ✓Three-line mcp.json entry, no developer app or app review
  • ✓Read + write, every write approval-gated
  • ✓Google, Meta, TikTok, GA4, GSC, Shopify on one connector

Cons:

  • −Vendor-hosted rather than your own deployment
  • −Approval step adds a click to every change (by design)
2

Self-hosted Meta Ads MCP

Best for developers who already have a reviewed Meta app

8.0/10

★★★★★

Editorial score

Several open-source MCP servers wrap the Meta Marketing API — the meta-ads-mcp project on GitHub is the most used — and Cursor runs them as local stdio servers with a command and args entry, the access token supplied through an environment variable rather than the file. Coverage is complete: campaigns, ad sets, ads, insights with every breakdown, creatives, audiences, and writes if your app holds ads_management. The cost is setup: a Meta developer app, app review for the ads permissions (days, not minutes, for a new app), a long-lived or system-user token, and a machine that stays on. Our clean-slate run took about an hour with an already-reviewed app. Safety is Cursor's per-call approval only; a write-permissioned token lets the Agent mutate on request. Our guide to Meta Ads MCP servers compares the open-source options.

Pricing

Free (self-hosted on your machine)

Best for

Developers who own their Marketing API stack

Config

command + args, token via env var

Pros:

  • ✓Full Marketing API coverage
  • ✓Runs locally, you own the permissions

Cons:

  • −Developer app and app review required
  • −No server-side approval layer — permissions are all-or-nothing
  • −Not available to Cloud Agents without a worker image
3

Windsor.ai MCP

Best for read-only reporting across many ad platforms

7.6/10

★★★★★

Editorial score

Windsor.ai runs a hosted MCP endpoint over its marketing-data connectors, added to Cursor with a url entry and an API key in headers. Once connected, the Agent can query Meta Ads reporting fields alongside Google, TikTok and analytics sources through one interface, which makes it a good fit for building cross-platform reporting scripts in the editor. It is a reporting layer, not a management one: there are no write tools, no creative inspection, no Ad Library. Setup is quick once you have a Windsor account with Meta Ads connected; the free tier covers small accounts and paid plans are quoted on request. Keep the key out of a committed mcp.json.

Pricing

Free tier · paid plans on request

Best for

Cross-platform reporting, no changes

Config

url + API key header

Pros:

  • ✓Many ad platforms through one endpoint
  • ✓Hosted — nothing to run

Cons:

  • −Read-only reporting fields only
  • −No creatives, leads or Ad Library
  • −API key in config unless you use env vars

Ryze AI — Autonomous Marketing

Stop pasting Ads Manager CSVs into the Agent — connect the account

  • One mcp.json entry, sign in, live in ~2 minutes
  • Insights, creatives, placements and Ad Library in the editor
  • Every write waits for your approval
Start free trial

2,000+

Marketers

$500M+

Ad spend

23

Countries

4

Agent-written SDK script

Best for custom pipelines and full API control

7.0/10

★★★★★

Editorial score

Cursor's other superpower is that the Agent writes code, and Meta publishes a Business SDK for Python. Ask for a script that pulls ad-level insights with a daily breakdown, scores creative fatigue and writes the replace-now list, and you get a runnable pipeline in a few minutes — with no MCP involved. Coverage is the entire Marketing API and the output goes wherever you want it: BigQuery, Sheets, a dashboard. The cost is the same developer app, app review and long-lived token the self-hosted MCP server needs, plus code to maintain as Graph API versions roll over. There is no approval layer at all; a script that mutates does so the moment it runs. Best as the scheduled layer under a connector you use interactively.

Pricing

Free (developer app required)

Best for

Engineers building scheduled pipelines

Config

Python + facebook-business SDK, token in env

Pros:

  • ✓Full API, any output destination
  • ✓Runs on a cron without Cursor open

Cons:

  • −Developer app and token setup required
  • −No approval layer — mutations run immediately
  • −Graph API version churn means maintenance
5

CSV exports in the repo

Best for zero setup when live data is not needed

6.0/10

★★★★★

Editorial score

The no-connection route: export from Ads Manager with the breakdown you need, drop the CSV into a data folder, and reference it with @ in the Agent. Cursor reads it like any file, so every skill in our Cursor skills for Meta Ads guide works on it, and the analysis lands in the repo next to the source. It is free, safe — nothing can change in the account — and takes exactly as long as the export. The limits are the obvious ones: the data is stale the moment you download it, follow-up questions mean another export, and there is no Ad Library, no creative preview and no way to act on what you find. The right starting point for a first audit; the wrong steady state.

Pricing

Free

Best for

A first audit before connecting anything

Config

None — @-reference the file

Pros:

  • ✓Zero setup, zero risk
  • ✓Works with every skill and prompt

Cons:

  • −Stale on download
  • −No breakdown you did not export
  • −No way to act on findings

Free SEO/GEO audit

  • Surface technical SEO issues
  • Spot quick wins
  • Find duplicate and thin pages

Free · no credit card · instant

The first 6 prompts to run once Cursor is connected

A connection is only as useful as the questions you ask it. These six cover the tools most Meta advertisers use weekly, in the order we run them on a new account, and each one ends by writing something into the repo — the reason to do this in Cursor rather than a chat window. Each maps to a specific connector tool so you can tell from the approval dialog whether the Agent actually pulled data.

Account summary (getAccountSummary)

Prompt
Give me a 30-day summary of my Meta Ads account: spend, impressions, purchases, CPA and ROAS, with the week-over-week change for each. Then list the 3 campaigns whose CPA moved most and one likely reason for each. Save it as reports/meta-ads-summary-{today}.md.

Creative fatigue (runRawInsights at ad level)

Prompt
Pull ad-level insights for the last 14 days with a daily breakdown: impressions, CTR, frequency, CPM. Flag every ad where CTR dropped more than 20% from its peak and frequency is above 3. Rank them by spend, tell me which three to replace first, and write the full table to reports/creative-fatigue-{today}.csv.

Placement breakdown (runRawInsights with breakdowns)

Prompt
Break down the last 30 days by publisher_platform and platform_position. For each placement show spend, spend share, purchases, purchase share, CPA and ROAS. Flag any placement whose spend share is more than twice its purchase share and estimate the monthly saving if I exclude it.

Frequency audit (runRawInsights at ad-set level)

Prompt
For each active ad set, show objective, 7-day frequency, reach, CTR and CPA. Apply these limits: prospecting warning above 2.0 and critical above 3.0; retargeting warning above 4.0 and critical above 6.0. List the ad sets over their limit and what to change.

Competitor scan (searchAdLibrary)

Prompt
Search the Meta Ad Library for [competitor brand] in [country]. Summarize how many ads are active, the format mix, the three hooks they repeat most, and how long their longest-running ad has been live. Append the summary to research/competitors.md.

A change, with approval (runGraphWrite)

Prompt
Pause the ads that spent more than $200 in the last 14 days with zero purchases. Show me the list first and wait for my approval before making any change.

To make these repeatable, save them as Cursor skills for Meta Ads — 15 ready-made SKILL.md files with the same prompts structured so they produce the same table every week, invoked with a slash command.

What to know before a heavy session

Every route inherits Meta Marketing API behavior, and Cursor adds a few constraints of its own. None of them block normal use, but they explain most confusing moments in the first week.

  • Project vs user config. ~/.cursor/mcp.json is not copied to Cloud Agents or remote workers. Put the entry in the project's .cursor/mcp.json when a team or a scheduled agent needs it — the managed connector holds no secrets in the file, so it is safe to commit.
  • Approval fatigue is a setting, not a fact. Cursor asks before every MCP call by default. Allowlist the read tools you use daily in Auto-review mode and leave writes gated.
  • Insights calls are rate-limited per ad account. Very wide breakdowns (age × gender × placement × day over 90 days) can hit Meta's limits. Ask for one breakdown at a time and shorter windows first.
  • Attribution windows change the numbers. Tell the Agent which window you report on (7-day click, 1-day view, or both) or it will use the account default and your ROAS will not match Ads Manager.
  • The Agent will happily write a script instead. If a tool call fails, Cursor sometimes offers to reach the Marketing API directly with the Business SDK. That needs a reviewed developer app you may not have — say no and fix the connector.

That last point is the real boundary of the analyst setup: Cursor over MCP tells you what to change and files the evidence, and you change it. If you want the changes shipped without you in the loop, Ryze AI's Paid Ads Autopilot runs budgets, creative rotation and audience changes 24/7 on the same account, at $89/month flat.

How we tested and scored the routes

How we tested — and who is writing this

  • What we tested: each route set up from a clean Cursor install against a live Meta Ads account spending about $30K/month, September 1–3, 2026.
  • What we measured: time from opening mcp.json to a correct answer about live data, which read and write operations were available, what safety controls existed, and the cost to run it monthly.
  • Pricing: verified against each vendor's public pricing page on September 3, 2026. Ryze AI's connector is free to connect; its Paid Ads Autopilot is $89/month flat.
  • Disclosure: Ryze AI publishes this guide and operates the connector ranked first. The comparison data is shown so you can judge every route independently.

Each route was rated 0–5 on four criteria: coverage of the Marketing API (×3), setup speed for a non-developer (×3), safety controls such as approvals and undo (×2), and cost (×2), for a component total out of 50.

  1. Ryze AI managed MCP

    Coverage ×3
    5
    Setup ×3
    5
    Safety ×2
    5
    Cost ×2
    5
    Total / 50
    50

  2. Self-hosted Meta Ads MCP

    Coverage ×3
    5
    Setup ×3
    1
    Safety ×2
    3
    Cost ×2
    5
    Total / 50
    34

  3. Windsor.ai MCP

    Coverage ×3
    3
    Setup ×3
    4
    Safety ×2
    4
    Cost ×2
    4
    Total / 50
    37

  4. Agent-written SDK script

    Coverage ×3
    5
    Setup ×3
    1
    Safety ×2
    2
    Cost ×2
    5
    Total / 50
    32

  5. CSV exports in the repo

    Coverage ×3
    2
    Setup ×3
    5
    Safety ×2
    5
    Cost ×2
    5
    Total / 50
    31

The component totals are not the ranking by themselves. The editorial score also weights whether the route lets the Agent act on the account with a human approval in the loop, which is why the self-hosted server outranks the read-only reporting endpoint despite a lower component total — once it is running, it can do everything.

Alex M.

Alex M.

VP Growth
Multi-Brand Ecommerce Group

★★★★★
“

We had five channels and five people each defending their own budget. Handing allocation to Ryze AI cut blended CAC 27% in a quarter — not because the bidding got smarter, but because money finally moved to whichever channel was winning that week.”

Start free trial

27%

Blended CAC reduction

5

Channels automated

12 weeks

To full autonomy

1,000+ marketers use Ryze

State Farm
Luca Faloni
Pepperfry
Jenni AI
Slim Chickens
Superpower

Automating hundreds of agencies

Speedy
Human
Motif
Broadplace
Directly
Caleyx
G2★★★★★
Get started

Which route should you pick?

The decision comes down to two questions: do you already have a Meta developer app with ads permissions approved, and do you want the Agent to be able to change the account or only read it and write files.

Marketer, no developer app

Ryze AI managed MCP

Three lines in mcp.json, sign in, authorize Meta, live in about 2 minutes, write tools behind approvals. Safe to commit to the repo.

Developer with a reviewed app

Self-hosted Meta Ads MCP

Runs as a stdio server on your machine; you own the permissions. Budget an hour for the app, review and token, and keep the token in env vars.

Reporting only, many platforms

Windsor.ai MCP

Read-only marketing data across ad platforms in one endpoint. No writes, so no risk, but no changes either.

Custom pipeline or scheduled job

Agent-written SDK script

Let Cursor write the code against the Meta Business SDK, then run it on a cron where it belongs.

Five-minute decision

  1. Do you want the Agent to change anything? If yes, you need write tools — routes 1, 2 or 4.
  2. Do you have a Meta app with ads_management approved today? If no, route 1 is the only one under 10 minutes.
  3. Will a Cloud Agent or a teammate run it? Then the config lives in the project's .cursor/ folder, not your home directory.
  4. Do you also run Google, TikTok or GA4? One URL that covers all of them beats one server per platform.
  5. Do you want the changes executed without you? Then the connector is the diagnostic layer and an autopilot is the execution layer.

Whichever route you choose, pair it with a structured instruction set — the difference between a vague prompt and a saved skill is bigger than the difference between any two connection methods. Start with the 15 Cursor skills for Meta Ads, and for the wider integration picture see the best MCP servers for Meta Ads.

Frequently asked questions

Can Cursor connect to Meta Ads?
Yes. Cursor's Agent supports MCP servers configured in .cursor/mcp.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json. Add a Meta Ads MCP server — the managed Ryze AI connector needs only a url, a sign-in and Meta authorization; a self-hosted server runs locally but needs a reviewed developer app — and the Agent can read and, with approval, change the account.
What is the fastest way to connect Cursor to Facebook Ads?
Put {"mcpServers":{"ryze":{"url":"https://connector.get-ryze.ai/mcp"}}} in .cursor/mcp.json, open Cursor Settings → Tools & MCP to confirm the server is on, then sign in and authorize Meta for your ad accounts when the browser window opens. In our September 2026 run the Agent was answering about live campaign data in just over two minutes.
Do I need a Meta developer app to use Cursor with Meta Ads?
Only on the self-hosted routes. Open-source Meta Ads MCP servers and any script the Agent writes against the Business SDK require a developer app, app review for ads_management and a long-lived token. A managed connector holds the Marketing API access on its side and asks you to authorize it with your own Meta account, so no app is needed.
Where does the Cursor mcp.json go?
Two places. .cursor/mcp.json in the project root is shared through Git and is the one Cloud Agents and teammates see. ~/.cursor/mcp.json in your home directory is personal and applies to every project on your machine but is not copied to Cloud Agents or remote workers. Use the project file for team workflows.
Show 8 more questions
Can the Cursor Agent make changes to my Meta Ads account?
It can, if the connector exposes write tools. The managed Ryze AI connector has three — Graph writes for pausing, budgets and new ads, Graph deletes, and image uploads — each gated behind your approval on the Ryze side, on top of Cursor's own per-call approval. A self-hosted server executes whatever the token's permissions allow.
Will connecting Cursor get my Meta ad account flagged?
No, when the route uses Meta's official Marketing API with proper permissions, which all five routes here do. What gets accounts flagged is browser automation that mimics a human in Ads Manager. An API connection is the supported path; keep write tools approval-gated and nothing runs on your personal profile.
Is it safe to commit mcp.json to the repo?
For the managed connector, yes — the entry is a public URL with no secrets, and tokens live on the server side. For servers that need a Meta access token, keep the value in an environment variable using Cursor's env reference syntax and never commit it.
Does Cursor ask before running Meta Ads tools?
Yes, by default Cursor asks for approval before every MCP tool call and shows the arguments. In Auto-review mode you can allowlist specific tools so reads run without a click. Keep write tools off the allowlist; on the managed connector they are approval-gated server-side as well.
Can Cursor pull Meta Ads insights with breakdowns?
Yes, through a server with a raw insights tool. Ask for placement, age, gender, device or daily breakdowns and the Agent requests them from the Marketing API, then can write the table to a file in the repo. Meta rate-limits insights per ad account, so ask for one breakdown at a time on wide ranges, and state your attribution window so ROAS matches Ads Manager.
Can Cursor Cloud Agents use the Meta Ads connection?
Yes, if the server entry is in the project's .cursor/mcp.json and the server is remote. User-level configuration and local stdio servers are not available to Cloud Agents. The managed connector qualifies because it is a public URL; a local open-source server does not without a custom worker image.
Cursor vs Claude for Meta Ads — which connects better?
Both use the same MCP standard and the same server URL, so the connection is equivalent. Claude is the better chat analyst; Cursor's advantage is that the Agent writes files and code next to the data, so fatigue checks become CSVs, digests become Markdown and pipelines become scripts in the same repo.
What does connecting Cursor to Meta Ads cost?
The connection itself is free on the managed route; a self-hosted server is free to run locally but needs a reviewed app. MCP works on Cursor's standard plans. Ryze AI's Paid Ads Autopilot, if you want execution rather than analysis, is $89/month flat.

Related guides

15 Cursor Skills for Meta Ads

SKILL.md files that turn the connection into a repeatable slash-command audit.

How to Connect Cursor to Google Ads

The same mcp.json route for Google — tools, steps and limits.

Best MCP Servers for Meta Ads

Every Meta Ads MCP server ranked, managed and self-hosted.

Top 10 AI Tools for Meta Ads Management

When you want execution, not just analysis — the tools compared.

Ryze AI — Meta Ads on autopilot

flat fee · free trial

Start free trial
Live results across
2,000+ clients

Paid Ads

Avg. client
ROAS
0x
Revenue
driven
$0M

SEO

Organic
visits driven
0M
Keywords
on page 1
48k+

Websites

Conversion
rate lift
+0%
Time
on site
+0%
Last updated: Oct 18, 2026
All systems ok
PricingCompareConnect ClaudeDocsAbout
AI SEO toolAI visibility toolGEO toolSecurityChangelogAffiliatesAI InfoPrivacy PolicyTerms of ServiceRefund PolicySMS Opt-Inhello@get-ryze.ai