X Ads API

# Fix list: X Ads API

From Anchor Terminal's listing at https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/x-ads, the October 2026 research run, assessed 9 October 2026. Grade C, 57.3 out of 100.

This is everything the published grade says the listing lacks, the biggest possible gain to the total first. It comes from the reason given for each score, the checklist each category was scored against (https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/#checklist), the provenance checks, the deductions, what we couldn't check and what the review panel asked for. A fix counts at the next check, once it's public.

For a coding agent working on X Ads API: work through the items below in the product, its docs and its public pages. Each category gives the reason for its score, with the points each checklist item earned, and the checklist itself, so the gap is the items that earned less than their points. Change the product, not the wording, and keep a note of what you changed and where it's published.

## 1. Payments & pricing, 20 out of 100, up to 10 more on the total

Why it scored 20: No x402, MPP or L402 (0). No page read states a fee for Ads API access, and the X API pricing page does not mention the Ads API. Advertising prices were not read (10). The sandbox creates test accounts and funding instruments at no stated cost. Whether a developer account or an Ads app needs a payment card was not established (10). A person has to create a developer app, request Ads API access and consent in a browser (0). Total 20.

The checklist (https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/#checklist-payments):

The published rubric, also on the [x402 page](https://www.anchorterminal.com/x402/).

- 40, a machine payment protocol (x402, MPP or L402) on the tool's own endpoints. 10 to 30 when it covers only some endpoints or only goes through a third party, and the note says which.
- 20, per-call or per-unit pricing published without a login. 10 for public plan-only pricing, 0 for "contact sales" or prices behind a login.
- 20, a free tier or trial that doesn't need a card.
- 20, autonomous onboarding, meaning an agent can get access without a person signing up in a browser (keyless use, x402, a programmatic key API).

Payment platforms and agent wallets rarely charge for their own API over a machine protocol, so the first line has steps for them, and the highest one that applies counts. 40 when x402, MPP or L402 runs on all their own endpoints, 30 when it runs on part of their own API, 25 when their merchants can accept one, 20 for running a facilitator, 15 for paying as a buyer, and 0 when the only protocol is their own. Merchant acceptance sits above a facilitator because the platform's own customers can charge agents through it, while a facilitator settles for sellers who wire up the protocol themselves. The counter-argument (a facilitator does more for the protocol as a whole) has a point. Each note says which step applied.

Open-source software you run yourself is scored on its hosted or paid option if it has one. A free, self-hosted package with nothing to buy gets 20, 20 and 20 for the last three lines, and 0 to 40 for the first only if it ships a payment protocol.

## 2. Security & auth, 48 out of 100, up to 9.1 more on the total

Why it scored 48: REST calls use OAuth 1.0a with an app key and a user access token. The docs say these tokens do not expire, the user can revoke them, and app keys last until regenerated. The MCP server uses OAuth 2.0 with PKCE, scopes `ads.read`, `ads.write` and `media.write`, access tokens of about two hours and rotating refresh tokens. The manual token example in the MCP docs uses `code_challenge_method=plain` with a fixed verifier (24 of 30). Account-level roles include Campaign analyst and Organic analyst, the `ads.read` scope gives a read-only MCP session, MCP writes are created paused with separate activation tools, and the sandbox never serves. No confirmation step for a write was found (15 of 20). Lead exports, post text and audience names are third-party text, and no prompt-injection guidance was found in the Ads API or MCP pages (4 of 15). No audit log or change history endpoint was found. Deleted entities remain readable with `with_deleted=true` (2 of 15). x.com's robots.txt closes its security.txt to us, developer.x.com and docs.x.com return 404 for the file, and no certification or bounty statement was found in the pages read (3 of 20). Total 48.

The checklist (https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/#checklist-security):

- 0 to 30, the credential model. 30 for OAuth 2.1 with scopes, or scoped and revocable keys with rotation. 20 for plain revocable API keys. 10 for one all-powerful key. 10 off when a secret can travel in a URL query string as a documented option.
- 0 to 20, read-only or least-privilege modes, and confirmation or approval for destructive actions.
- 0 to 15, prompt-injection posture where the tool returns untrusted content (documented mitigations or guidance). A tool that returns no untrusted content gets 10.
- 0 to 15, audit logs or per-call visibility for the operator.
- 0 to 20, a security programme. security.txt or a disclosure policy, a bug bounty, SOC 2 or ISO 27001, advisories handled in public.

Models are read for retention, whether API data trains models (and whether that's off by default), zero-retention options and certifications. Frameworks for telemetry defaults, approval hooks, guardrails and sandboxing.

## 3. Agent ergonomics, 62 out of 100, up to 6.2 more on the total

Why it scored 62: Lists take `count` from 1 to 1,000 and filters by ID. No field selection on entity reads was found, and the campaign management reference is about 274 KB of Markdown. The MCP server lists 74 tools, which can be narrowed by scope (14 of 25). Cursor paging, `sort_by`, name search with `q`, `with_deleted`, `with_draft`, asynchronous analytics jobs and an Active Entities endpoint that says which entities changed (18 of 20). Errors carry a constant `code`, a `message` and often the `parameter` and `details` (15 of 20). No idempotency key was found. Batch endpoints take up to 40 items and succeed or fail as a group, PUT changes only the fields sent, and the sandbox host never serves ads. MCP tool annotations were not read (8 of 20). REST calls need an OAuth 1.0a signature on each request. The official Python and Ruby SDKs are at v11.0.0 from May 2022, one API version behind (7 of 15). Total 62.

The checklist (https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/#checklist-ergonomics):

- 0 to 25, context cost. For MCP, the number and size of the tool definitions (25 for ten or fewer compact tools, 15 for 11 to 30, 5 for more than 30, plus up to 10 back for toolsets, dynamic loading or read-only subsets). For APIs, whether responses can be sized (field selection, limits, summaries).
- 20, pagination, filtering and output-size controls.
- 20, actionable, documented error responses, codes and messages an agent can recover from.
- 20, idempotency or safe retries, and for MCP the `readOnlyHint` and `destructiveHint` annotations.
- 15, sensible defaults, few required parameters, and official SDKs in at least two languages.

Models are read for tool use, structured output, prompt caching, context length, batch and SDKs. Frameworks for how much code and how many defaults a tool-calling agent with MCP needs.

## 4. Schema & documentation, 64 out of 100, up to 5.9 more on the total

Why it scored 64: No OpenAPI file covers the Ads API. The published file (version 2.170, 178 paths) describes api.x.com only. A Postman collection is linked and was not read (5 of 25). The docs have an llms.txt index for the Ads API and a Markdown twin for every page (10). Reference pages describe each endpoint and guides cover objectives, targeting, pacing and analytics, with little on when not to use an endpoint (14 of 20). Parameters are typed, with required and optional flags, defaults, ranges and 41 lists of possible values in the campaign management reference. Targeting values are looked up through separate endpoints (11 of 15). Each endpoint has an example request and response. The errors page lists about 77 error constants with HTTP codes and no explanation for each (11 of 15). Versions are in the URL path with a table of introduction and end-of-life dates, and a dated changelog with an RSS feed. Version 12 dates from 27 October 2022 and changes since then ship in place (13 of 15). Total 64.

The checklist (https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/#checklist-schema):

APIs and MCP servers.

- 25, a machine-readable contract (a public OpenAPI file or similar; for MCP, typed JSON Schema inputs on every tool).
- 10, llms.txt or Markdown docs served for agents.
- 0 to 20, descriptions that say what a tool is for, when to use it and when not to, read from the tool definitions in the source or the API reference.
- 0 to 15, typed inputs with enums, constraints and required fields, and no free-form JSON blobs.
- 0 to 15, examples and documented error responses.
- 15, versioning and a public changelog.

Models are read from the API reference, the OpenAPI file, llms.txt, the structured-output and tool-use docs and the model cards. Frameworks from docs a model can follow, typed interfaces, examples and the API reference.

## 5. Reliability, 75 out of 100, up to 5 more on the total

Why it scored 75: Read with the hosted lines, grading the public REST API. A status page is linked at developer.x.com/status, though it is script-drawn and its component list was not read, so whether it has an Ads API component is not established (15 of 20). The incident history at docs.x.com/incidents says it covers the Ads API. Its latest entry ended on 1 July 2026, so the 90 days to 9 October show none, and no entry in 2026 names the Ads API. Whether Ads API incidents are recorded there is not established (25 of 30). Rate limits are published by endpoint type, such as 450 writes a minute and 10,000 core entity reads per 15 minutes (15). The analytics guide says to wait for `x-rate-limit-reset` after a 429 and for `retry-after` after a 503. No idempotency key or safe-retry guidance for writes was found (10 of 15). No SLA was found (0). Version 12 is the current, generally available version (10). Total 75.

The checklist (https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/#checklist-reliability):

Hosted APIs, MCP servers, models and platforms.

- 20, a public status page with component history (Statuspage, Instatus, BetterStack or the vendor's own).
- 0 to 30, the incident record for the last 90 days on that page. 30 for a clean record or trivial incidents only, 20 for minor incidents only, 10 for one major outage (an hour or more of a core API down, or errors across the board), 0 for several. 5 when there's no history we could read, and the note says so.
- 15, rate limits documented with numbers.
- 15, documented 429 or overload handling (Retry-After, backoff guidance), and idempotency keys or safe-retry guidance where writes are involved.
- 10, an SLA published for any paid tier.
- 10, the surface agents use is generally available, not beta or preview.

Local packages, SDKs, frameworks and stdio MCP servers.

- 20, installs from an official package with supported runtimes stated.
- 25, a public CI and test suite, passing on the default branch.
- 0 to 25, open crash or regression issues relative to activity (25 for few and handled, 0 for many, old and unanswered).
- 15, semver discipline and breaking changes called out in a changelog.
- 15, version 1.0 or later, or declared stable.

Protocols are read from their reference implementations, the public facilitators or servers, spec stability and test vectors.

## 6. Transparency & trust, 62 out of 100, up to 3.3 more on the total

Made of editorial 40, provenance 84.

Why it scored 62: Editorial half only. Closed service with clear terms. The Developer Agreement was last updated on 27 April 2026 and names X Corp. or X Internet Unlimited Company by the developer's location (15 of 30). The privacy policy at x.com/privacy is closed to us by robots.txt and was not read. The Conversion API page sets SHA256 hashing for email and phone. No data processing agreement or retention period for advertiser data was found in the pages read (8 of 30). The versions page gives introduction, deprecation and end-of-life dates for 13 versions and promises six months of overlap and 90 days' notice for a breaking change outside a version. The `video_total_views` metric was redefined on 13 August 2026 with a changelog entry dated the same day, and the Developer Agreement allows X to change or discontinue any feature (17 of 20). No sub-processor list or data location statement was found in the pages read (0 of 20). Total 40.

The checklist (https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/#checklist-transparency):

- 0 to 30, source availability and licence clarity. 30 for open source under an OSI licence, 15 for closed with clear terms, 0 for unclear terms.
- 0 to 30, data handling and retention statements that agree with each other (privacy policy, DPA, retention periods, subprocessors).
- 0 to 20, a deprecation policy or notices with dates.
- 0 to 20, telemetry disclosed with an opt-out (local software), or subprocessors and data locations disclosed (hosted).

The other half of Transparency and trust is the provenance score, computed from checked facts (below). The category score is the mean of the two.

Provenance checks not met in full (half of this category, computed from checked facts):

- Terms of service: read, states 6 of the 7 things a reader expects, and has 1 clause that costs points (7.1 of 10)
- Privacy policy: published, but our reader couldn't read it (7 of 10)
- security.txt: could not be fetched (0 of 10)

## 7. Maintenance & community, 63 out of 100, up to 3.2 more on the total

Why it scored 63: The latest changelog entry labelled X Ads API is dated 17 September 2026, 22 days before the check (30). Four Ads API entries fall in the 90 days to 9 October 2026, on 13 August and 15, 16 and 17 September (20). Closed service with a dated changelog and RSS feed. The developer forum's robots.txt closes it to us, so replies there were not read (8 of 15). The two official SDKs, for Python and Ruby, were last tagged v11.0.0 on 27 May 2022 and target API version 11 (3 of 15). Both SDK repositories have CI workflows, with no commit since May 2022 (2 of 10). Total 63.

The checklist (https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/#checklist-maintenance):

- 0 to 30, time since the last release, or the last published model or API change for a closed service. 30 within 30 days, 20 within 90, 10 within 180, 0 older.
- 20, at least three releases or dated changelog entries in the last 90 days.
- 0 to 25, responsiveness. Issues and pull requests answered on GitHub (the open issues and how recent the replies are). For closed services, a public changelog and a support or community channel that answers, 0 to 15.
- 15, presence in the official MCP registry under a verified namespace (MCP servers), or current official SDKs (APIs and models).
- 10, package health, current dependencies and CI.

Models are read for deprecation notice periods and model churn rather than release counts.

## What we couldn't check

What we couldn't read counted as absent. Publishing it on a page a plain HTTP fetch can read (not only in a browser) lets the next check count it.

- unchecked: the privacy policy at x.com/privacy and x.com's security.txt, because x.com's robots.txt disallows every path for unnamed agents
- unchecked: the MCP server's tool definitions, annotations and OAuth metadata, because the robots.txt of ads-api.x.com disallows every path. The tool names come from the docs page
- unchecked: the component list on developer.x.com/status (script-drawn), so whether the status page has an Ads API component is not established
- unchecked: devcommunity.x.com (robots.txt disallows unnamed agents), so the version 12 announcement and forum replies were not read
- unchecked: the Postman collection for the Ads API, the access form at help.x.com, and advertising prices and advertiser terms on business.x.com
- Whether Ads API access carries a fee. No page read states one, and the X API pricing page does not mention the Ads API
- The introduction says access is requested through a form reviewed within three business days. The MCP page says selecting Ads Project in the Developer Console enables Ads API access for an app. Which applies to a new developer was not established
- Whether notice was given before the `video_total_views` change of 13 August 2026. The changelog entry is dated the day of the change, and no deduction was taken
- Whether X publishes a data processing agreement, a sub-processor list or security certifications for advertisers. None was found in the pages read
- The lead was right about the REST API and the access form. It did not mention the X Ads MCP server, and the REST API uses OAuth 1.0a, not OAuth 2.0
- The Developer Agreement (section III.C) treats usage statistics and data on the X API's performance and responsiveness as Confidential Information for internal, non-commercial use. This matters before any probe is run
- docs.x.com/AGENTS.md is addressed to AI agents and tells them which documentation files to prefer. We treated it as data

## Weaknesses

- No OpenAPI file covers the Ads API. The published file (version 2.170, 178 paths) describes api.x.com only
- REST calls need an OAuth 1.0a signature on each request, and the docs say user access tokens do not expire
- The official Python and Ruby SDKs were last released on 27 May 2022 at v11.0.0, while the current API version is 12
- No idempotency key, audit log endpoint or SLA was found in the reviewed documentation
- The Developer Agreement treats statistics on the X API's performance and responsiveness as Confidential Information for internal, non-commercial use, which matters before any probe is run
- The `video_total_views` metric was redefined in place on 13 August 2026 with no version change

## What costs an agent a turn today

The notes we give agents before they call it. Each one is a workaround an agent shouldn't need.

- Build against `https://ads-api-sandbox.x.com/12/` first. Create a test account with `POST accounts` and a funding instrument there before touching a live account
- On HTTP 429 wait until the time in `x-rate-limit-reset`. On 503 wait for `retry-after`. The docs say apps that ignore these can be throttled or lose access without notice
- Read the account-level limit from `x-account-rate-limit-*` when present and use `x-rate-limit-*` only when it is absent
- For a read-only MCP session request `ads.read offline.access` only. Without `offline.access` the token expires in about two hours with no refresh
- Page with `count` (1 to 1,000, default 200) and `cursor` until `next_cursor` is null. Analytics endpoints page by time range instead, and `with_total_count` cannot be combined with `cursor`

## When it's done

Send what changed and where it's published as a dispute (https://www.anchorterminal.com/builders/#disputes, or `POST https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/contact` with `"kind": "dispute"`). Disputes are answered in public, and the listing is checked again by the same checklist. Paying for an audit or a listing claim changes nothing here.