Bing Ads MCP Server

Production-grade MCP server for Microsoft Advertising (Bing Ads) API. Enables Claude to manage Bing/Microsoft Ads accounts with full campaign, ad group, keyword, and performance analysis capabilities.

Features:

• 10 tools -- production-tested
• Campaign, ad group, and keyword management
• Keyword performance analysis with quality scores
• Search term reporting & bid automation
• Budget & bid strategy optimization
• Campaign-level budget updates
• Negative keyword management (shared + campaign-level)

Note: ⚠️ First open-source Bing Ads MCP with comprehensive tooling

• No serious alternatives exist in the ecosystem
• Battle-tested across multiple accounts

Installation

npm install mcp-bing-ads

Configuration

Security: Never share your .mcp.json file or commit it to git -- it may contain API credentials. Add .mcp.json to your .gitignore.

1. Get OAuth credentials:

   • Go to Microsoft Azure Portal
   • Create an Azure AD app registration
   • Grant API permissions: Microsoft Advertising API
   • Scopes: https://ads.microsoft.com/msads.manage offline_access

2. Create config.json:

   cp config.example.json config.json

3. Fill in your credentials:

   {
     "oauth": {
       "client_id": "YOUR_AZURE_CLIENT_ID",
       "client_secret": "YOUR_AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET"
     },
     "clients": {
       "default": {
         "customer_id": "YOUR_CUSTOMER_ID",
         "account_id": "YOUR_ACCOUNT_ID",
         "name": "My Account"
       }
     }
   }

4. Set environment variables (recommended):

   export BING_ADS_DEVELOPER_TOKEN="your_developer_token"
   export BING_ADS_CLIENT_ID="your_client_id"
   export BING_ADS_REFRESH_TOKEN="your_refresh_token"
   # Optional:
   export BING_ADS_CLIENT_SECRET="your_client_secret"

Usage

Start the server

npm start

Use with Claude Code

Add to ~/.claude.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "bing-ads": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "http://localhost:3002"
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop: Add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) or %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (Windows).

Example API Calls

// Get client context
bing_ads_get_client_context({ working_directory: "/path/to/project" })

// List campaigns
bing_ads_list_campaigns()

// Get campaign performance
bing_ads_get_campaign_performance({
  start_date: "2026-01-01",
  end_date: "2026-03-01"
})

// Get keyword performance
bing_ads_keyword_performance({
  start_date: "2026-02-01",
  end_date: "2026-03-01"
})

// Create negative keywords
bing_ads_add_shared_negatives({
  shared_list_id: "list_123",
  keywords: [
    { text: "cheap", match_type: "Phrase" },
    { text: "discount", match_type: "Exact" }
  ]
})

API Reference

Context

• bing_ads_get_client_context(working_directory) -- Detect account from working directory

Campaigns

• bing_ads_list_campaigns() -- List all campaigns
• bing_ads_get_campaign_performance(start_date, end_date) -- Campaign metrics
• bing_ads_update_campaign_budget(campaign_id, daily_budget) -- Update daily spend

Ad Groups

• bing_ads_list_ad_groups(campaign_id) -- List ad groups in campaign

Keywords

• bing_ads_keyword_performance(start_date, end_date, [campaign_ids]) -- Keyword metrics & QS
• bing_ads_search_term_report(start_date, end_date) -- Search terms that triggered ads
• bing_ads_pause_keywords(ad_group_id, keyword_ids) -- Pause keywords

Negative Keywords

• bing_ads_list_shared_entities([type]) -- List shared negative lists
• bing_ads_add_shared_negatives(list_id, keywords) -- Add to shared list

Performance Reports

• Campaign performance (ROI, conversions, CTR, CPC)
• Keyword performance (QS, expected CTR, ad relevance, landing page experience)
• Search term insights (which queries are converting)

Key Metrics & Definitions

Quality Score (QS): 1-10 rating of keyword quality

• 1-3: Poor
• 4-6: Average
• 7-10: Excellent

Expected CTR: 1-9 rating of expected click-through rate Ad Relevance: 1-9 rating of relevance to search query Landing Page Experience: 1-9 rating of landing page quality

CLI Tools

npm run dev                 # Run in dev mode (tsx)
npm run build             # Compile TypeScript
npm test                  # Run contract tests

Architecture

Files:

• src/index.ts — MCP server, OAuth flow, tool handlers
• src/tools.ts — Tool schema definitions
• src/errors.ts — Error handling & classification
• config.json — Credentials & client mapping

Error Classification:

• Authentication errors (token expired)
• Rate limit errors (retry with backoff)
• Service errors (API temporarily unavailable)
• Validation errors (bad input)

Development

Adding a New Tool

1. Define schema in src/tools.ts
2. Add handler in src/index.ts tool dispatch
3. Add contract test in .contract.test.ts
4. Test with npm test

Testing

npm test -- --run        # Single run
npm test -- --watch      # Watch mode

Troubleshooting

Config file not found

cp config.example.json config.json
# Fill in your Azure credentials and Bing Ads IDs

Missing required credentials

Check that:

• BING_ADS_DEVELOPER_TOKEN, BING_ADS_CLIENT_ID, and BING_ADS_REFRESH_TOKEN are set
• BING_ADS_CLIENT_SECRET is set (if using a confidential app)
• OAuth token is valid (expires, may need refresh)

Rate limit exceeded

Bing Ads applies rate limits. The server handles common retries automatically. If you hit limits frequently:

• Batch operations when possible
• Reduce query frequency
• Wait before retrying

Quality Score is 0

QS = 0 means keyword hasn't been shown enough times yet. Increase impressions or wait for more data.

License

MIT

Contributing

Contributions welcome! Please:

1. Add tests for new features
2. Update README
3. Follow existing code style
4. Tag releases

Support

• Issues: GitHub issues for bugs/feature requests
• Docs: See docs/ folder for detailed API reference
• Community: GitHub Discussions

Built By

Mark Harnett — Demand generation leader and paid media practitioner building AI-powered ad management tools. This is the first comprehensive open-source Bing Ads MCP server — born from managing real campaigns across multiple accounts and wanting Claude to do the heavy lifting.

Built with production workloads in mind: resilient API calls (circuit breakers, retry with backoff, response truncation), full Quality Score diagnostics, and negative keyword management at scale.

Also by Mark: mcp-linkedin-ads -- LinkedIn Ads MCP server with 7 tools.

Last Updated: 2026-03-13