Connect Meta Ads to Rig

    Sync campaigns, ad sets, ads and creative performance across Facebook and Instagram into your warehouse. This is the longest connector setup Rig has, because Meta makes you build an app and a system user before it will give you a token. Done once, it never expires.

    Requirements
    An account that can create apps and system users in Meta Business Manager
    Time required
    15 mins

    One token covers Meta Ads and Instagram Business
    Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads and Instagram Business all authenticate with the same system user access token. Do this setup once, then paste the same token into both connectors. If you want organic Instagram too, add the Instagram scopes listed below while you are here rather than generating a second token later, and follow the Instagram Business guide for the extra asset it needs.

    Create the app

    1. Go to business.facebook.com, then Settings → Apps.
    2. Click Create app, which takes you across to the developer site.
    3. Name it Rig data sync and add your own email, or your technical team's. If the email is already prefilled, leave it.
    4. Click Next, go to Use cases, scroll down and choose Other.
    5. Next, then choose Business.
    6. Next, confirm everything looks right, then Create app.
    7. In the app, go to Add products and add the Marketing API.

    Create the system user

    The app is the thing Meta issues a token for. The system user is the identity that token acts as, and it is what you will later assign your ad accounts and Pages to.

    1. Back in Business Manager, go to Settings → System users.
    2. Click Add user, name it Rig data sync, select Employee, and create it.
    3. Go to Apps, select the Rig app, click Assign access, choose the system user, tick Develop app, and click Assign.

    Generate the token

    1. Go back to System users and select the Rig system user.
    2. Click Generate token at the top, and select the app you created.
    3. Next, then set expiration to Never. A token that expires means the sync stops silently in sixty days.
    4. Select the permissions below, then Generate token and copy it.

    The permissions list is a search box rather than a menu you can scan, so work through it by typing each term and ticking what comes up:

    • Type ads, tick ads_read
    • Type insights, tick read_insights
    • Type business, tick business_management

    Those three are all Meta Ads needs. If you are also connecting Instagram Business on this token, add instagram_basic, instagram_manage_insights, pages_show_list and pages_read_engagement now. Every one of these is read-only.

    Assign your assets

    Scopes say what kind of thing the token may read. Assignment says which specific accounts it may read them from, and without it a perfectly valid token returns nothing. Work from the asset side, under Business settings → Accounts.

    For Meta Ads, one assignment is enough:

    • Ad accounts → your ad account → Assigned users → Add people → the Rig system user → toggle on View performance → Save

    If you added the Instagram scopes above because you are connecting Instagram Business too, assign these as well. Skip them otherwise, since assigning an asset you have no scope for achieves nothing:

    • Pages → your Page → Add people → Rig → toggle on Insights
    • Instagram accounts → your Instagram account → Add people → Rig → toggle on Insights

    Leave everything else off. The Page toggles include creating and managing content, deleting posts, and commenting or messaging, and Rig needs none of them. Insights alone is what a read-only sync requires.

    Assignment runs from the asset to the user, not the other way round. The system user's own Assigned assets tab is mostly a read-out of what you did here, so if something looks missing, fix it on the asset rather than on the user.

    Connect it in Rig

    1. In Rig, open Connections and go to Sources & actions.
    2. Search for Meta Ads and open the card.
    3. System user access token: paste the token.
    4. Account ID: leave it blank. Rig discovers the account from the token itself, and this field is only there for the case where you need to pin one explicitly.
    5. Click Test, then Sync.

    Troubleshooting

    • Credentials test as valid but nothing syncs: the token works and the assets are not assigned to it. Go back to the assignment step. This is the usual failure, and it does not look like a permissions problem because the connection reports itself healthy.
    • You assigned the assets and it still returns nothing: give it a few minutes and re-run the sync. Newly granted permissions are not always visible to the API immediately.
    • Still nothing, and the business itself may not be connected to the app: in System users, open the Rig app under Apps, click Connect assets → Add accounts → Other business assets, select your business, and add it. Then test again.
    • The screens do not match this guide: Meta reorganises Business Manager fairly often. The sequence holds even when the labels move: create an app, create a system user, assign the user to the app, generate a never-expiring token with the scopes above, then assign each asset to the user.

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