Turn ads on within spend limits

Agents start spend in one way only: turning a campaign, ad set or ad on, or raising a budget. This page covers the owner’s controls for that step.

When a turn-on applies directly

activate_ad_objects and a raise through set_ad_budget apply on your yes only when all of these are true:

Condition	Where it’s set
The person saying yes is the workspace owner, connected over MCP	Workspace roles
The connection has the Publish live level	The consent page
Live ads are on for this ad account	Settings → Ad publishing → Live ads
The new spend is inside all three spend limits	Settings → Ad publishing → Live ads

If any is false, the yes becomes an approval link only the owner can approve. API keys always get the approval link. Two conditions block the request outright: agents switched off for the platform under Platforms, and an ad account stopped after rejected ads. Turn them back on first.

Switch live ads on for an ad account

Live ads let an agent start real spend in this ad account from a yes in chat, up to your limits.

Open Settings → Ad publishing.
Under Live ads, find the row for the ad account, for example Meta · Example Store (act_123).
Turn on its switch.

Only the owner can change this switch. Every ad account starts with it off. While a platform is off under Platforms, agents turn nothing on there, even with live ads on.

Set spend limits

The limits are in the workspace’s reporting currency, per day. Only the owner can change them. Agents can’t.

Limit	Label in Settings	Default
Any one campaign or ad set an agent turns on or raises	Per campaign or ad set, per day	1,000
New daily spend agents start in any rolling 24 hours	New spend agents start in 24 hours	5,000
Daily budgets of everything agents turned on that is still running	Everything agents turned on, per day	20,000

Clear a field to remove that limit. The field then reads No limit. A request above a limit goes to the owner on the approval page. The owner’s approval is how you allow it. DATALYR checks the limits again at the moment of the change, so two previews can’t both slip under one limit.

How new spend is counted

Change	New spend
Turning on a campaign or ad set that wasn’t spending	Its daily budget. With a campaign budget, the campaign’s.
Turning on an ad inside an ad set that is already spending	None
Raising the budget of something that is spending	The increase
A lifetime budget	Its daily share: the budget divided by the days left, at least one day
Pausing, or lowering a budget	None

DATALYR converts the ad account’s currency to your reporting currency. If there is no exchange rate, the request counts as over a limit and goes to the owner.

What the preview shows

A turn-on or raise adds these lines to the summary:

New spend: up to $150.00/day. Meta may spend up to 1.75× a daily budget on a single day, and at most 7× it in a week.
Agents started $200.00/day of new spend in the last 24 hours; everything they turned on runs at $650.00/day.
Over a limit: "Spring sale" would run at $1,500.00/day, above the $1,000.00/day per campaign or ad set limit.
Saying yes sends an approval link to the workspace owner (it's above the workspace's spend limits).

Each platform’s overspend rule

A daily budget is an average, not a cap. Each platform can spend over it on one day.

Platform	Rule the preview states
Meta	Up to 1.75× a daily budget on a single day, and at most 7× it in a week
TikTok	Slightly more than a daily budget on a single day: up to 125% of a campaign’s daily budget, and at most 7× it in a week
Google Ads	Up to 2× a daily budget on a single day, and at most 30.4× it in a month

The went-live email

Every time an agent turns something on or raises a budget, the owners and admins get the email An agent turned ads on in Meta (or TikTok, or Google Ads). It lists each object turned on, each new budget, and the new spend. It links to Settings → Ad publishing. This email can’t be turned off.

Verify

Ask the agent to turn on a paused ad set with a small budget.
Confirm the preview shows a New spend: line and no Over a limit: line.
Say yes.
Confirm the went-live email arrives.
Confirm the ad set is active in Ads Manager.

When it does not work

Symptom	Cause	Fix
The yes always sends an approval link	You aren’t the owner, the level isn’t Publish live, or live ads are off for the account.	The preview’s last line names the reason.
`Agents are switched off for Meta in Settings → Ad publishing`	The platform switch is off.	An owner or admin turns it on under Platforms.
`limit_reached` after the yes	Another turn-on used up the room since the preview.	Preview again. The yes then goes to the owner.
`Couldn't read the budget above …`	The platform didn’t return the parent’s budget.	Try again in a minute.

Stop agent ads and alerts: pause everything agents turned on.
Change ads after launch: budgets, pausing and new content.
Access levels and approvals: who approves above a limit.

Agents and MCP

Agent ads

API Reference

Analytics

Events and users

Attribution and revenue

Cohorts and funnels

Metrics

Query

Workspace

Keys and approvals

Conversion rules

Trackable links

Saved reports

Dashboards, analyses and share links

Session replay

Exports

Turn ads on within spend limits

When a turn-on applies directly

Switch live ads on for an ad account

Set spend limits

How new spend is counted

What the preview shows

Each platform’s overspend rule

The went-live email

Verify

When it does not work

Next

​When a turn-on applies directly

​Switch live ads on for an ad account

​Set spend limits

​How new spend is counted

​What the preview shows

​Each platform’s overspend rule

​The went-live email

​Verify

​When it does not work

​Next

When a turn-on applies directly

Switch live ads on for an ad account

Set spend limits

How new spend is counted

What the preview shows

Each platform’s overspend rule

The went-live email

Verify

When it does not work

Next