Microsoft Ads CLI Skill#

You have access to microsoft-ads-cli, a read-only CLI for the Bing Ads API v13. Use it to query ad accounts, pull campaign/ad group/keyword performance reports, inspect audiences, manage UET conversion goals, and analyze bid strategies across Search, Shopping, Audience, DynamicSearchAds, and PerformanceMax campaigns.

Quick start#

bash

# Check if the CLI is available
microsoft-ads-cli --help

# Get authenticated user info
microsoft-ads-cli user

# List accessible ad accounts
microsoft-ads-cli accounts

If the CLI is not installed, install it:

bash

npm install -g microsoft-ads-cli

Authentication#

The CLI requires a Microsoft OAuth2 access token and a Developer Token. Credentials are resolved in this order:

1. --credentials <path> flag (per-command)
2. Environment variables: MICROSOFT_ADS_ACCESS_TOKEN + MICROSOFT_ADS_DEVELOPER_TOKEN (both required), plus optional MICROSOFT_ADS_CUSTOMER_ID and MICROSOFT_ADS_ACCOUNT_ID
3. Auto-detected file: ~/.config/microsoft-ads-cli/credentials.json

The credentials file format:

json

{
  "access_token": "YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN",
  "developer_token": "YOUR_DEVELOPER_TOKEN",
  "customer_id": "YOUR_CUSTOMER_ID",
  "account_id": "YOUR_DEFAULT_ACCOUNT_ID"
}

access_token and developer_token are required. customer_id and account_id are optional but needed for most campaign management commands.

Before running any command, verify credentials are configured by running microsoft-ads-cli user. If it fails with a credentials error, ask the user to set up authentication.

Entity hierarchy#

text

Customer
 +-- Ad Account
      +-- Campaign (Search, Shopping, Audience, DynamicSearchAds, PerformanceMax)
      |    +-- Ad Group
      |         +-- Ad (AppInstall, DynamicSearch, ExpandedText, Hotel, Product, ResponsiveAd, ResponsiveSearch)
      |         +-- Keyword
      |         +-- Negative Keyword
      +-- Budget
      +-- Bid Strategy
      +-- Label
      +-- Audience (RemarketingList, CustomerList, Custom, InMarket, Product, SimilarRemarketingList, CombinedList)
      +-- UET Tag
           +-- Conversion Goal (Url, Duration, PagesViewedPerVisit, Event, AppInstall, OfflineConversion, InStoreTransaction)

Many commands accept --account-id <id> to override the default account from credentials. The campaigns command takes <account-id> as a required positional argument instead.

Monetary values#

The Bing Ads API returns monetary values (Spend, AverageCpc, CostPerConversion, Revenue, budgets, bids) in the currency of the ad account. Report values are typically in the major currency unit as strings (e.g., "12.34" means $12.34). Budget and bid amounts from campaign management endpoints may be returned as decimal numbers.

Output format#

All commands output pretty-printed JSON by default. Use --format compact for single-line JSON (useful for piping).

The accounts command supports pagination via --page-index and --page-size. Other listing commands return all results in a single response (no cursor-based pagination).

Commands reference#

Account discovery#

bash

# List ad accounts (paginated)
microsoft-ads-cli accounts
microsoft-ads-cli accounts --page-index 0 --page-size 50

# Get a specific ad account
microsoft-ads-cli account 123456789

# Get the current authenticated user
microsoft-ads-cli user

accounts options:

• --page-index <n> -- page index, 0-based (default 0)
• --page-size <n> -- results per page (default 100)

Campaigns#

bash

# List all campaigns for an account
microsoft-ads-cli campaigns 123456789

# Filter by campaign type
microsoft-ads-cli campaigns 123456789 --type Search
microsoft-ads-cli campaigns 123456789 --type "Shopping PerformanceMax"

campaigns options:

• --type <type> -- campaign type filter: Search, Shopping, Audience, DynamicSearchAds, PerformanceMax (space-separated for multiple, default all)

bash

# Get a specific campaign by ID
microsoft-ads-cli campaign 987654321
microsoft-ads-cli campaign 987654321 --account-id 123456789

campaign options:

• --account-id <id> -- ad account ID

Ad groups#

bash

# List ad groups for a campaign
microsoft-ads-cli adgroups 987654321
microsoft-ads-cli adgroups 987654321 --account-id 123456789

adgroups options:

• --account-id <id> -- ad account ID

Ads#

bash

# List ads for an ad group
microsoft-ads-cli ads 111222333
microsoft-ads-cli ads 111222333 --type ResponsiveSearch
microsoft-ads-cli ads 111222333 --account-id 123456789

ads options:

• --account-id <id> -- ad account ID
• --type <type> -- ad type filter (default all: AppInstall, DynamicSearch, ExpandedText, Hotel, Product, ResponsiveAd, ResponsiveSearch)

Keywords#

bash

# List keywords for an ad group
microsoft-ads-cli keywords 111222333
microsoft-ads-cli keywords 111222333 --account-id 123456789

keywords options:

• --account-id <id> -- ad account ID

Negative keywords#

bash

# List negative keywords for a campaign (default)
microsoft-ads-cli negative-keywords 987654321

# List negative keywords for an ad group
microsoft-ads-cli negative-keywords 111222333 --type AdGroup

negative-keywords options:

• --account-id <id> -- ad account ID
• --type <type> -- entity type: Campaign or AdGroup (default Campaign)

Audiences#

bash

# List remarketing lists (default)
microsoft-ads-cli audiences

# List specific audience types (comma-separated)
microsoft-ads-cli audiences --type "RemarketingList,CustomerList"
microsoft-ads-cli audiences --type "Custom,InMarket,Product"
microsoft-ads-cli audiences --account-id 123456789

audiences options:

• --account-id <id> -- ad account ID
• --type <type> -- audience type (comma-separated): Custom, InMarket, Product, RemarketingList, SimilarRemarketingList, CustomerList, CombinedList (default RemarketingList)

UET tags#

bash

# List all UET tags
microsoft-ads-cli uet-tags
microsoft-ads-cli uet-tags --account-id 123456789

uet-tags options:

• --account-id <id> -- ad account ID

Conversion goals#

bash

# List all conversion goals
microsoft-ads-cli conversion-goals

# Filter by goal type (comma-separated)
microsoft-ads-cli conversion-goals --type "Event,OfflineConversion"

# Filter by UET tag IDs
microsoft-ads-cli conversion-goals --tag-ids 12345,67890

conversion-goals options:

• --account-id <id> -- ad account ID
• --type <type> -- goal type (comma-separated): Url, Duration, PagesViewedPerVisit, Event, AppInstall, OfflineConversion, InStoreTransaction (default all)
• --tag-ids <ids> -- UET tag IDs to filter by (comma-separated, default all)

Budgets#

bash

# Get budgets by IDs (comma-separated)
microsoft-ads-cli budgets 111,222,333
microsoft-ads-cli budgets 111,222 --account-id 123456789

budgets options:

• --account-id <id> -- ad account ID

Bid strategies#

bash

# Get bid strategies by IDs (comma-separated)
microsoft-ads-cli bid-strategies 111,222
microsoft-ads-cli bid-strategies 111 --account-id 123456789

bid-strategies options:

• --account-id <id> -- ad account ID

Labels#

bash

# List all labels for the account
microsoft-ads-cli labels
microsoft-ads-cli labels --account-id 123456789

labels options:

• --account-id <id> -- ad account ID

Performance reports#

Reports are asynchronous: submit a report request, then poll for its status. When the status is Success, the response includes a ReportDownloadUrl.

Campaign performance report

bash

# Submit a campaign performance report
microsoft-ads-cli report 123456789 --start-date 2026-03-01 --end-date 2026-03-15

# With granularity
microsoft-ads-cli report 123456789 --start-date 2026-03-01 --end-date 2026-03-15 --granularity Weekly

# With custom columns
microsoft-ads-cli report 123456789 --start-date 2026-03-01 --end-date 2026-03-15 --columns "Impressions,Clicks,Spend,Conversions"

report options:

• --start-date <date> -- start date, YYYY-MM-DD (required)
• --end-date <date> -- end date, YYYY-MM-DD (required)
• --granularity <gran> -- Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Summary (default Daily)
• --columns <cols> -- report columns, comma-separated (default: TimePeriod, AccountId, AccountName, CampaignId, CampaignName, CampaignStatus, Impressions, Clicks, Ctr, Spend, AverageCpc, Conversions, ConversionRate, CostPerConversion, Revenue)

Keyword performance report

bash

microsoft-ads-cli keyword-report 123456789 --start-date 2026-03-01 --end-date 2026-03-15
microsoft-ads-cli keyword-report 123456789 --start-date 2026-03-01 --end-date 2026-03-15 --granularity Monthly

keyword-report options:

• --start-date <date> -- start date, YYYY-MM-DD (required)
• --end-date <date> -- end date, YYYY-MM-DD (required)
• --granularity <gran> -- Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Summary (default Daily)

Default columns: TimePeriod, AccountId, CampaignId, CampaignName, AdGroupId, AdGroupName, Keyword, KeywordId, BidMatchType, DeliveredMatchType, Impressions, Clicks, Ctr, Spend, AverageCpc, Conversions, QualityScore

Ad group performance report

bash

microsoft-ads-cli adgroup-report 123456789 --start-date 2026-03-01 --end-date 2026-03-15
microsoft-ads-cli adgroup-report 123456789 --start-date 2026-03-01 --end-date 2026-03-15 --granularity Summary

adgroup-report options:

• --start-date <date> -- start date, YYYY-MM-DD (required)
• --end-date <date> -- end date, YYYY-MM-DD (required)
• --granularity <gran> -- Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Summary (default Daily)

Default columns: TimePeriod, AccountId, CampaignId, CampaignName, AdGroupId, AdGroupName, AdGroupStatus, Impressions, Clicks, Ctr, Spend, AverageCpc, Conversions, ConversionRate, CostPerConversion

Check report status

bash

# Poll for report completion
microsoft-ads-cli report-status abc123-report-id

When Status is Success, download the CSV from the ReportDownloadUrl in the response.

Workflow guidance#

When the user asks for a quick overview#

1. Run microsoft-ads-cli accounts to find accessible accounts
2. Run microsoft-ads-cli campaigns <account-id> to see campaigns
3. Submit a report for the desired date range to get performance metrics
4. Poll with report-status until the report is ready

When the user asks for campaign analysis#

1. List campaigns with microsoft-ads-cli campaigns <account-id>
2. Submit a campaign report with appropriate date range and granularity
3. For deeper analysis, drill into ad groups with microsoft-ads-cli adgroups <campaign-id>
4. Check keyword performance with keyword-report

When the user asks about keyword performance#

1. Use microsoft-ads-cli keywords <adgroup-id> to see keyword settings and bids
2. Submit a keyword-report for the account to get keyword-level metrics (impressions, clicks, spend, quality score)
3. Check negative keywords with microsoft-ads-cli negative-keywords <entity-id> to understand exclusions

When the user asks about audiences and tracking#

1. Run microsoft-ads-cli audiences to see remarketing lists and other audience types
2. Use microsoft-ads-cli uet-tags to check Universal Event Tracking setup
3. Use microsoft-ads-cli conversion-goals to review conversion goal configuration
4. Filter conversion goals by UET tag with --tag-ids to see which goals are tied to which tags

When the user asks about budgets and bidding#

1. Get campaign details to find budget and bid strategy IDs
2. Use microsoft-ads-cli budgets <ids> to check budget configurations
3. Use microsoft-ads-cli bid-strategies <ids> to review bidding strategies

When the user asks for ad creative review#

1. List campaigns with microsoft-ads-cli campaigns <account-id>
2. Drill into ad groups with microsoft-ads-cli adgroups <campaign-id>
3. List ads with microsoft-ads-cli ads <adgroup-id> to inspect ad content and types

Error handling#

• Authentication errors -- ask the user to verify their access token and developer token; tokens may be expired
• Missing credentials -- ensure both access_token and developer_token are configured
• Empty responses -- check that the correct account ID is being used and the account has active entities
• Report not ready -- poll report-status again after a short wait; reports can take time to generate
• Permission errors -- verify the user has access to the specified account and customer

API documentation references#

• microsoft-ads-cli documentation
• Bing Ads API Getting Started
• Authentication with OAuth
• Campaign Management Service
• Reporting Service
• Customer Management Service