How do I install the Google Ads Apply skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add themattberman/google-ads-apply in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

What does the Google Ads Apply skill do?

Execute approved draft actions in Google Ads accounts. Supports four safe mutation types plus bounded budget writes: add campaign-level negatives, add ad-group-level negatives, pause keywords, pause ad groups, and set campaign daily budgets through an Apply Manifest. Requires human confirmation via dry-run → approve → execute → verify → audit flow. All actions are logged in the audit trail and fully reversible. It is listed under Marketing & Growth on SkillMD.

Is Google Ads Apply safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Google Ads Apply?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Google Ads Apply free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free, and the skill stays under its author's original license.

Who published Google Ads Apply?

TheMattBerman (@themattberman) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Google Ads Apply by themattberman — Agent Skill

Name: Google Ads Apply
Author: TheMattBerman

Google Ads Apply

Status: LIVE — Write Access Confirmed

API v20 confirmed working (2026-03-15). v18 is sunset (404), v19 unstable (500). Full write cycle proven: add campaign negative → GAQL verify → remove → verify removal. Keyword pauses and ad group pauses fully scaffolded and hardened. CLI scripts at scripts/apply-layer/. Smoke test: scripts/apply-layer/gads-smoke-test.sh <customer_id> See APPLY-LAYER.md for design details and scripts/apply-layer/README.md for the public CLI implementation guide. See OPERATOR-PLAYBOOK.md for the full operator workflow loop.

Read first:

OPERATOR-PLAYBOOK.md — full operator workflow (connect → select → review → apply → verify → undo)
APPLY-LAYER.md — design document, API specs, error handling
drafts/DRAFTS.md — draft system documentation

Read workspace:

workspace/ads/drafts/_index.md — current queue
workspace/ads/drafts/_summary.md — prioritized summary
workspace/ads/audit-trail/_log.md — previous apply sessions (if any)
workspace/ads/audit-trail/reversal-registry.json — active reversals

Commands

Apply a Draft

/google-ads apply [draft-file]

Flow:

Read the draft file
Parse all proposed actions (manifest-first for budget drafts; legacy parsing for v1 negatives/pauses)
Validate each action (correct account, valid targets, within live apply scope)
Resolve human-readable names to Google Ads resource IDs via GAQL
Display dry run with every mutation listed, action type summary, and risk assessment
Wait for operator confirmation ("confirm" or "cancel")
Execute each action via Google Ads REST API v20
Verify changes via GAQL re-query
Write audit trail (session log, master log, reversal registry)
Update draft status to "applied"
Show post-apply summary with undo instructions

Review a Draft (No Apply)

/google-ads apply review [draft-file]
/google-ads apply review --all

Flow:

Parse the draft into structured actions
Show action breakdown with counts by type and risk levels
Show confidence and dependencies
Provide a proceed/defer recommendation
Show next-step commands (dry-run or full apply)

No network calls, no API access needed. Pure local analysis.

Check Operator Status

/google-ads apply status

Shows at a glance:

Connection state (account, API version, credentials)
Pending drafts with status
Active reversals grouped by draft
Recent apply sessions
Suggested next step

Undo a Single Action

/google-ads undo [reversal-id]

Flow:

Look up reversal record in workspace/ads/audit-trail/reversal-registry.json
Display what will be reversed
Warn if change has been live >7 days
Wait for confirmation
Execute reversal via Google Ads API
Verify via GAQL
Update reversal registry (status: "undone")

Undo an Entire Draft

/google-ads undo-draft [draft-file]

Reverses ALL active actions from a specific draft. Same confirmation flow.

View Apply Log

/google-ads apply log

Shows recent apply sessions from workspace/ads/audit-trail/_log.md.

Scope Guardrails (v1 + v2 budgets)

Allowed Actions

Action	Target	Scope	Risk
Add negative keyword	Campaign criterion	Campaign-level negative	Low
Add negative keyword	Ad group criterion	Ad group-level negative	Low
Pause keyword	Ad group criterion	Set status to PAUSED	Low
Pause ad group	Ad group	Set status to PAUSED	Medium
Set campaign daily budget	Campaign budget	Update `amount_micros`	Medium

Why These Are Safe

Negative keywords can only REDUCE traffic. They cannot increase spend, break ads, or corrupt tracking.
Pausing keywords stops traffic to one keyword. All history, quality scores, and configuration remain intact.
Pausing ad groups stops traffic to a set of keywords. Same preservation guarantees. Broader blast radius than keyword pause, hence Medium risk.
All are instantly reversible: remove the negative, or set status back to ENABLED.

Blocked Actions (Hard Reject)

If a draft contains actions outside the supported scope, the apply command will:

List the out-of-scope actions
Explain which are out of scope and why
Offer to apply ONLY the in-scope actions
Never execute out-of-scope actions regardless of confirmation

Action	Version	Why Blocked
Bid strategy changes	v2	Can disrupt Smart Bidding learning
Campaign creation	v3	Large blast radius
RSA modifications	v4	Learning period impact
Enable paused entities	Never in v1	Higher risk than pausing
Delete anything	Never	Pause instead

Draft Parsing

The apply layer parses these sections from draft markdown files:

Section	Action Type	Template
Section A: Negatives to ADD	`ADD_NEGATIVE`	`negative-draft.md`
Section D: CRITICAL KEYWORD-LEVEL RECOMMENDATION	`PAUSE_KEYWORD`	`negative-draft.md`
Section A: Keywords to PAUSE	`PAUSE_KEYWORD`	`pause-draft.md`
Section B: Ad Groups to PAUSE	`PAUSE_ADGROUP`	`pause-draft.md`

Both negative-draft.md and pause-draft.md templates are supported. Mixed-type drafts (negatives + pauses in one file) are fully supported — the parser extracts from all applicable sections and deduplicates.

Budget drafts are different:

They MUST include ## Apply Manifest
The manifest is authoritative when present
Draft-level meta.budget_policy controls whether any net increase is allowed

Draft Templates

drafts/templates/negative-draft.md — negative keyword additions + removals + narrows
drafts/templates/pause-draft.md — keyword pauses + ad group pauses + impact summary

Validation Checks (Before Dry Run)

Before showing the dry run, validate:

Account match: Draft account ID matches connected account
Campaign exists: Campaign referenced in draft is still present (GAQL lookup)
Ad group exists: For ad-group-scoped actions (GAQL lookup)
No duplicates: Negative keyword doesn't already exist at the same scope
Match type valid: PHRASE, EXACT, or BROAD only
Target exists: Keyword being paused still exists and is currently ENABLED
Ad group status: For ad group pause, target is currently ENABLED
Within scope: Supported actions are add negative, pause keyword, pause ad group, and manifest-backed campaign daily budget changes

If validation fails, report which actions failed and why. Don't block the entire apply — allow valid actions to proceed.

Dry Run Display

═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════
 DRY RUN: [draft-file]
═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════

Account: [Name] (CID: [ID])
Actions: [N] valid / [M] total

#    Action           Target                       Detail                      Risk
---  ---------------  ---------------------------  --------------------------  ------
1    ADD NEG          Campaign: [name]             "near me" [PHRASE]          Low
2    ADD NEG          Campaign: [name]             "debris chute" [PHRASE]     Low
...
13   PAUSE KW         AG: [name]                   "waste mgmt" [EXACT]        Low
14   PAUSE AG         Campaign: [name]             [ad group name]             Medium

Summary:
  • 12 negative keyword addition(s)
  • 1 keyword pause(s)
  • 1 ad group pause(s)
  • Reversibility: All actions reversible

⚠️  This will make REAL changes to account [CID].
Type 'confirm' to proceed, or 'cancel' to abort:

Post-Apply Verification

After execution, run verification queries:

Action	Verification Query	What's Confirmed
Add campaign negative	`campaign_criterion` WHERE negative=TRUE	Keyword exists in campaign
Add ad group negative	`ad_group_criterion` WHERE negative=TRUE	Keyword exists in ad group
Pause keyword	`keyword_view` + status check	Status is PAUSED
Pause ad group	`ad_group` + status check	Status is PAUSED

Audit Trail

After every apply session, these files are updated:

Master log: workspace/ads/audit-trail/_log.md — append-only session summary
Session detail: workspace/ads/audit-trail/YYYY-MM-DD-apply-session.md — full action-by-action log
Reversal registry: workspace/ads/audit-trail/reversal-registry.json — machine-readable undo records
Draft file: Updated with applied date and reversal IDs
Draft index: workspace/ads/drafts/_index.md — moved to Applied section
Change log: workspace/ads/change-log.md — record of what changed

CLI Scripts

Script	Purpose
`gads-apply.sh`	Full apply flow: parse → validate → dry-run → confirm → execute → verify → audit
`gads-apply.sh --dry-run`	Parse and show dry run only
`gads-apply.sh --parse-only`	Parse draft to JSON (debugging)
`gads-review.sh`	Parse and show operator-facing review (no API calls)
`gads-review.sh --all`	Review all pending drafts
`gads-undo.sh <rev-id>`	Undo a single action
`gads-undo.sh --draft <file>`	Undo all actions from a draft
`gads-undo.sh --list`	List all active reversals
`gads-status.sh`	Full operator status overview
`gads-status.sh --applied`	Show only applied actions
`gads-status.sh --pending`	Show only pending drafts
`gads-smoke-test.sh`	End-to-end write cycle test

Safety Rules

Never apply without dry run. The operator must see exactly what will change.
Never auto-approve. The operator must explicitly type "confirm."
Never apply out-of-scope actions. Hard reject, clear explanation.
Never delete anything. Pause is the maximum severity in v1.
Log everything. Every action, every error, every reversal.
Fail gracefully. If one action fails, continue with the rest. Report the failure.
Verify after apply. Re-query to confirm changes took effect.
Make undo easy. Every action has a stored reversal instruction.
Rate limit. Max 50 mutations per apply session. 500ms delay between mutations.
No batch apply across accounts. One account per apply session.

Google Ads Apply

File contents

Google Ads Apply

Status: LIVE — Write Access Confirmed

Commands

Apply a Draft

Review a Draft (No Apply)

Check Operator Status

Undo a Single Action

Undo an Entire Draft

View Apply Log

Scope Guardrails (v1 + v2 budgets)

Allowed Actions

Why These Are Safe

Blocked Actions (Hard Reject)

Draft Parsing

Draft Templates

Validation Checks (Before Dry Run)

Dry Run Display

Post-Apply Verification

Audit Trail

CLI Scripts

Safety Rules

Frequently asked questions

Google Ads Apply

File contents

Google Ads Apply

Status: LIVE — Write Access Confirmed

Commands

Apply a Draft

Review a Draft (No Apply)

Check Operator Status

Undo a Single Action

Undo an Entire Draft

View Apply Log

Scope Guardrails (v1 + v2 budgets)

Allowed Actions

Why These Are Safe

Blocked Actions (Hard Reject)

Draft Parsing

Draft Templates

Validation Checks (Before Dry Run)

Dry Run Display

Post-Apply Verification

Audit Trail

CLI Scripts

Safety Rules

Related skills

Frequently asked questions

How do I install the Google Ads Apply skill?

What does the Google Ads Apply skill do?

Is Google Ads Apply safe to use?

Which AI agents work with Google Ads Apply?

Is Google Ads Apply free to use?

Who published Google Ads Apply?