Delegated
Open HQ

Connect Meta Ads to Pixel

One-time setup so Pixel can build, launch, and optimize your Facebook & Instagram ad campaigns on autopilot.

Pixel runs your paid ads on Meta directly — writing copy, picking audiences, watching delivery, killing losers, scaling winners. To do that, Pixel needs a long-lived access token from your Meta Business account plus a few small bits of setup on Meta's side.

The total work is about 15 minutes spread across two areas: Meta Business Suite (10 minutes, one-time) and Delegated (30 seconds to paste the token).

Already have an Ad Account running ads?

Most of the heavy lifting is already done. Skip straight to Create a System User below — that's the only Pixel-specific step.

Before you start — what you need

These are Meta-side accounts Pixel can't create for you. If you already run ads, you have all of them. If you're starting from zero, set them up in this order:

  • A Meta Business Manager — sign up free at business.facebook.com. Use a business email, not your personal Facebook account.
  • A Facebook Page for your business — every ad has to appear “from” a Page. Free to create inside Business Manager.
  • An Ad Account with a payment method attached. Set your billing country and currency here — they can't be changed later.
  • Admin role on the Business — only Admins can create System Users (the credential Pixel uses). If someone else owns the Business, ask them to add you as Admin, or have them follow these steps and share the token with you securely.

Quick sanity check

Open Business Settings. If the left sidebar shows Users → System Users and Accounts → Ad Accounts, you're ready. If not, finish the prerequisites above first.

Step-by-step setup

  1. Accept Meta's Pixel Terms of Service (one-time)

    First time only. Open the Ads Terms page and any prompt that appears in Business Settings asking you to accept the Pixel Terms. Tick the box, click Accept. Without this, Meta blocks programmatic ad creation.

  2. Verify your domain (recommended)

    Open Business Settings → Brand Safety → Domains and add your website (e.g. yourbusiness.com). Meta shows three verification methods — meta-tag is easiest if your site is built with Axel (our web developer agent). Drop the verification tag into your site's <head>, Meta crawls, green tick appears in 10 minutes.

    Why bother? Verified domains unlock conversion-event optimization (iOS 14+ Aggregated Event Measurement). Without verification, Pixel can still spend but optimization is hobbled for ~30% of iOS traffic.

  3. Create a Meta Pixel for tracking (recommended)

    The Meta Pixel (different from Pixel-the-agent — sorry, Meta's naming) is a small tracking tag on your website. Pixel-the-agent optimizes your ads against events fired by this tracking tag.

    Open Events Manager → Connect data → Web → Meta Pixel → name it (e.g. YourBusiness Web) → Create. Copy the snippet Meta gives you and add it to every page of your website. If your site is on Axel, paste the snippet into the site's <head> in the Axel editor — done.

    Already have a Pixel?

    Just make sure it's a Web data source, not a Mobile App data source. Pixel-the-agent can't optimize against App-only datasets.

  4. Create a 'scope anchor' app (one-time, takes 60 seconds)

    To generate the long-lived access token Pixel needs, Meta requires you to associate it with a registered “app” in their developer portal. You're not actually developing anything — you're just creating a name that scopes the token. Most customers do this once and never look at it again.

    Open developers.facebook.com/apps → Create App → use case: Other → type: Business → name it YourBusiness Pixel → Create app. That's it. Leave it in Development mode — it doesn't need to be Live for token generation.

    What does this app actually do?

    Nothing user-facing. Meta treats every API call as “from” some app, even when it's really just our agent calling on your behalf. The app is just a label. It doesn't need a website, icon, privacy policy, or app review for our use case.

  5. Create a System User

    Back in Business Settings → Users → System Users, click Add. Name it delegated-pixel, set role to Admin, click Create System User.

    System Users are Meta's way of letting a bot or third-party tool act on behalf of your Business without being tied to any individual's personal Facebook session. The token you generate from one never expires (unlike a personal access token, which dies every 60 days).

  6. Assign assets to the System User

    With the new System User selected, click Add Assets. In the dialog:

    • Ad Accounts: pick the Ad Account Pixel should manage. Toggle Manage ad account ON.
    • Pages: pick your Facebook Page. Toggle Manage Page ON.
    • Datasets / Pixels: pick your Web Pixel. Toggle Manage Pixel ON.

    Click Save Changes. Without these assignments Pixel will see “permission denied” errors when it tries to launch campaigns.

  7. Generate the access token

    Still on the System User page, click Generate New Token. In the dialog:

    • App: pick the scope-anchor app you made in step 4.
    • Token Expiration: select Never.
    • Permissions, tick exactly these scopes:
      • ads_management — create + edit campaigns
      • ads_read — pull performance reports
      • business_management — access your Business assets
      • pages_read_engagement — read Page metrics + organic post performance
      • pages_manage_ads — boost or promote Page posts

    Click Generate Token. Meta will show the token once — it's a long string starting with EAA…. Copy it immediately to your clipboard — Meta does not let you view it again. (If you do lose it, you can always generate a new one on the same System User without losing settings.)

  8. Paste the token into Pixel

    Back in Delegated:

    • Open HQ → click the gear icon on the Pixel agent card
    • Scroll to Connected Ad Platforms
    • Next to Meta Ads, click Connect
    • Paste your token → Save

    The status flips to Connected within a second or two. Pixel will pull a list of your Ad Accounts and Pages in the background and confirm via chat which ones it'll use.

After you connect — set conversion priorities

One last 30-second step that prevents your iOS traffic from under-optimizing. In Events Manager → your Web Pixel → Aggregated Event Measurement tab, you can prioritize up to 8 conversion events. The order matters for users who've opted out of tracking (iOS 14.5+ Apple Tracking Transparency).

Recommended starter ordering:

  1. Purchase — highest priority
  2. Lead — registrations, demo bookings, email captures
  3. InitiateCheckout
  4. AddToCart
  5. ViewContent
  6. (leave 6-8 open for future)

Drag-and-drop to reorder. Click Apply. Pixel will respect this priority when picking which event to optimize each campaign against.

Where the token lives

Encrypted at rest in Delegated's backend, scoped to your workspace only. The token never reaches the browser after save — every Meta API call goes through our server. You can revoke any time from Business Settings → System Users → your token → Delete. We'll detect the revocation on Pixel's next API call and prompt you to reconnect.

One System User per workspace

We recommend a dedicated System User for Delegated rather than sharing one across other tools. Keeps the audit trail in Meta clean, and lets you revoke Pixel's access without affecting your other integrations.

Troubleshooting

“Invalid OAuth access token”

The token was revoked, expired (if you accidentally picked an expiry other than Never), or you copied an extra character / space. Generate a fresh token and re-paste.

“Insufficient permissions” on campaign create

Either a missing scope (re-do step 7) or a missing asset assignment (re-do step 6). Most often it's Manage ad account being off on the Ad Account assignment — toggle it on.

“Ad Account not found / not accessible”

The Ad Account isn't assigned to the System User. Open the System User page, click Add Assets, pick the Ad Account again, save.

Can't see “System Users” in the sidebar

You're in a Personal Facebook account or a Business where you're only an Employee. Ask the Business Admin to promote you, or create your own Business Manager and migrate the Ad Account into it.

“Business has not accepted Pixel Terms”

You skipped step 1. Open Business Settings, look for a yellow banner prompting acceptance, or hit this Ads Terms page directly. Click Accept.

Why is my cost-per-lead so high in the first few days?

Meta's algorithm needs ~50 conversion events before it exits the “learning” phase and stabilizes delivery. Expect CPL to bounce around in the first 3-5 days at low budgets, or 1-2 days at £50+/day. Pixel watches the curve and won't make rash decisions during learning — give it the runway.

After you're connected

Once Meta Ads shows Connected in Pixel's settings, message Pixel in HQ to kick off your first campaign:

Try this

“Pixel, draft a campaign brief for [your offer]. Budget is [your number] / month, audience is [your customer description], goal is registrations on [your landing page URL].”

Pixel will write the brief, propose copy variants, pick audiences, and confirm before spending anything. From then on, expect daily reports in chat and pause/scale decisions surfaced for your approval over a budget threshold you set.

PreviousComposio integrationsNext Pricing