Book a Strategy Call
Setting Up Google Ads MCP in Claude Desktop
| Estimated Time | 45–60 minutes |
| Difficulty | Low–Moderate — terminal steps are handled by Claude Code |
What You’re Actually Setting Up
| Part | Step | How |
|---|---|---|
| Part 1 | Install Required Software | Manual |
| Part 2 | Set Up a Google Ads Manager Account (MCC) | Manual |
| Part 3 | Get a Google Ads Developer Token | Manual |
| Part 4 | Create an OAuth Client ID | Manual |
| Part 5 | Download the MCP Server | Manual (2 clicks) |
| Part 6 | Install Dependencies & Configure Claude Desktop | Claude Code ✅ |
| Part 7 | First-Time OAuth Authorization | Manual (browser) |
Part 1: Install Required Software
You’ll need four things installed before starting:
Python 3.11+
Download from python.org/downloads. During installation on Windows, check the box that says “Add Python to PATH.”
Node.js
Download from nodejs.org. Install the LTS version.
Claude Desktop
Download from claude.ai/download if you don’t have it already.
Claude Code
Claude Code is a command-line tool that lets you work with Claude in your terminal. Install it by opening Terminal (Mac) or Command Prompt (Windows) and running:
| npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code |
Then run claude to launch it and sign in with your Anthropic account. You’re ready once you see the Claude Code prompt.
Part 2: Set Up a Google Ads Manager Account (MCC)
A Manager Account (MCC) is required to generate a Google Ads Developer Token in the next step. Even if you only manage one account, you’ll need an MCC — it’s free and takes about 5 minutes to set up.
| Note: If your account is already linked to an MCC and you have access to it, you can skip to Part 3. |
- Go to ads.google.com/home/tools/manager-accounts and click Create a Manager Account
- Sign in with the Google account you want to use (ideally the same one that has access to your Google Ads account)
- Give it a name (e.g., your company name), set your primary use to Managing my own ad accounts, and choose your time zone and currency
- Click Submit — your MCC is now created
- Link your existing Google Ads account to it:
- From inside the MCC, click Accounts in the left menu
- Click the blue + button → Link existing account
- Enter your Google Ads account ID (format: XXX-XXX-XXXX) and send the request
- If you’re an admin on the account, approve it immediately — go to your regular Google Ads account, click the notification bell, and accept the link
Part 3: Get a Google Ads Developer Token
- Sign in at ads.google.com and make sure you’re in your Manager Account (not your regular ad account — check the account switcher in the top right)
- Click the gear icon (Admin) in the left navigation
- Click API Center
- Accept the Terms of Service if prompted
- Click Apply for token
- Fill out the form. For “How will you use the API?”, briefly describe that you’re using it to analyze your own account data through Claude AI
- Submit — you’ll receive a test token immediately. Copy it and save it somewhere safe; you’ll need it in Part 6.
Part 4: Create an OAuth Client ID
- Go to console.cloud.google.com
- Create a new project (or select an existing one) — name it something like “Claude Google Ads”
- In the search bar at the top, search for Google Ads API and enable it
- Go to Credentials → Create Credentials → OAuth Client ID
- If prompted to configure an OAuth consent screen first, choose External, fill in your app name and email, and save — test mode is fine, you don’t need to publish it
- Choose Desktop Application as the application type, name it anything you like, and click Create
- Download the JSON file, rename it to credentials.json, and save it on your Desktop for easy access
Part 5: Download the MCP Server
- Go to github.com/cohnen/mcp-google-ads
- Click the green Code button → Download ZIP
- Unzip it and move the folder to a permanent location you won’t accidentally delete — Documents/mcp-google-ads is a good choice
- Move your credentials.json file from Part 4 into that folder
Part 6: Install Dependencies & Configure Claude Desktop
This is where Claude Code takes over. Instead of running terminal commands manually, you’ll just paste a prompt and Claude Code will handle the rest.
Step 1 — Open Claude Code
Open Terminal (Mac) or Command Prompt (Windows) and run:
| claude |
This launches Claude Code. You’ll see a prompt where you can type or paste instructions in plain English.
Step 2 — Set up the MCP server environment
Paste the following prompt into Claude Code (replace the path with your actual folder location):
| 💬 Paste this into Claude Code:
I’m setting up the mcp-google-ads MCP server. The folder is at ~/Documents/mcp-google-ads-main (adjust path if yours is different). Please: 1. Navigate to that folder 2. Install uv if it’s not already installed 3. Create a Python virtual environment using: uv venv .venv 4. Activate the virtual environment 5. Install dependencies using: uv pip install -r requirements.txt 6. Tell me the full path to the Python executable inside the .venv folder (it will be something like .venv/bin/python on Mac or .venv\Scripts\python.exe on Windows) |
Claude Code will run each step and confirm when done. Copy the Python path it gives you at the end — you’ll need it in the next step.
Step 3 — Configure Claude Desktop
Now paste this second prompt into Claude Code, filling in your actual values:
| 💬 Paste this into Claude Code:
Please configure Claude Desktop to use the Google Ads MCP server. Here are my values: – Python path: [PASTE THE PATH FROM STEP 2] – MCP server folder: ~/Documents/mcp-google-ads-main (adjust if different) – credentials.json path: ~/Documents/mcp-google-ads-main/credentials.json – Developer token: [PASTE YOUR DEVELOPER TOKEN FROM PART 3] Please find my claude_desktop_config.json file and add the following MCP server entry. If the file already has other MCP servers configured, add this one alongside them without removing anything. If the file doesn’t exist yet, create it. The entry should look like this: { “mcpServers”: { “googleAdsServer”: { “command”: “[PYTHON PATH]”, “args”: [“[MCP FOLDER]/google_ads_server.py”], “env”: { “GOOGLE_ADS_AUTH_TYPE”: “oauth”, “GOOGLE_ADS_CREDENTIALS_PATH”: “[CREDENTIALS.JSON PATH]”, “GOOGLE_ADS_DEVELOPER_TOKEN”: “[DEVELOPER TOKEN]” } } } } After making the change, show me the full contents of the config file so I can verify it. |
Claude Code will locate the config file, insert the correct values, and show you the result. Review it to make sure your paths and token look right before moving on.
Part 7: First-Time OAuth Authorization
- Fully quit and relaunch Claude Desktop
- Start a new conversation and ask: “List my Google Ads accounts”
- A browser window will open asking you to sign in to Google and grant access
- Sign in with the Google account linked to your Google Ads account and click through the prompts
- If you see a warning that the app is “unverified,” click Advanced → Go to [app name] — this is expected for a personal desktop app
- After authorizing, Claude will complete the request. It won’t ask again after this first time.
Troubleshooting
Something went wrong during setup — general fix
You can describe any error to Claude Code in plain English and it will help diagnose and fix it. For example:
| 💬 Paste this into Claude Code:
I got this error while setting up the Google Ads MCP server: [paste error here] Can you help me fix it? |
“Python not found” on Mac
Ask Claude Code to fix it:
| 💬 Paste this into Claude Code:
I’m getting a ‘python not found’ error on Mac. Can you create a symlink so that the python command points to python3? |
Claude Desktop doesn’t show Google Ads tools after restarting
Ask Claude Code to verify the config:
| 💬 Paste this into Claude Code:
Can you check my claude_desktop_config.json and make sure the googleAdsServer entry is correct? Show me the full file contents. |
“Invalid developer token” error
Make sure you copied the token from inside your Manager Account (not a regular ad account). Check the API Center page again and copy it fresh with no extra spaces.
OAuth screen says “app not verified”
Click Advanced → Go to [app name] (unsafe) — this is expected and safe for a personal desktop app.
MCC link request not appearing
Make sure you sent the request to the correct account ID and check the notification bell in your regular Google Ads account.
Sample Prompts to Get Started
Once it’s working, try asking Claude things like:
- “List all my Google Ads accounts”
- “Show me campaign performance for the last 30 days”
- “Which keywords have the highest cost but lowest conversions?”
- “What is my current budget utilization across all campaigns?”
- “Compare my top 5 campaigns by ROAS this month vs last month”
- “Which ads have the best click-through rate in my search campaigns?”
- “Are any of my campaigns limited by budget?”
