Connections
Connect Meta
What Shopdeck does with this
It reads what you spent, per campaign and per ad, so the Profit Dashboard can subtract it. And it creates campaigns for you from the Campaign Builder — always paused, never switched on.
Create the token
Open Business settings
Go to business.facebook.com/settings. If you have more than one business, check the picker at the top left is on the one that owns your ad account.
Make a system user
In the left-hand menu: Users → System users. Press Add. Give it a name — Shopdeck — and set its role to Admin. Confirm.
A system user is not a person. It is an account that exists so software can act without being tied to somebody who might leave the company.
Give it access to your ad account
With the new system user selected, press Add assets. Choose Ad accounts, tick the account you advertise with, and switch on full control. Save.
While you are here, do the same for your Pages and, if you use one, your Catalogue. The Campaign Builder needs the page to run ads under.
Generate the token
Press Generate new token. Pick your app when it asks. Then tick these five permissions:
Permissions to tickads_read ads_management business_management pages_read_engagement catalog_managementWhere it asks about expiry, choose Never. Press Generate.
Copy it now
Meta shows this token once. Copy it before closing the dialog. If you lose it you simply generate another; the old one keeps working until you revoke it.
Collect the two or three IDs
Ad account ID
Open Ads Manager. Top left there is an account picker; under the account name is a number starting with act_. Copy it including the act_ prefix.
Facebook Page ID (only for the Campaign Builder)
Open your Facebook Page, then About, then Page transparency. The ID is listed there.
Instagram account ID (only for the Campaign Builder)
Back in Business settings: Accounts → Instagram accounts. Select yours; the ID is shown on screen.
This one genuinely has to be read off the screen — there is no way to look it up automatically.
Paste them into Shopdeck
Setup → the Meta Ads card, or straight to app.shopdeck.io/setup?service=meta.
| Field in Shopdeck | What goes in it, and where to find it |
|---|---|
| Access token | The token you generated. Required. |
| Ad account ID | The act_123456789 value from Ads Manager. Required, and it must include the act_ prefix — Shopdeck rejects a bare number. |
| Facebook Page ID | From Page transparency. Only needed to build campaigns; the dashboard works without it. |
| Instagram account ID | From Business settings. Same: only for building campaigns. |
| Pixel ID | From Events Manager → Data sources. Optional. |
| Catalog access token | Only if you run catalogue or dynamic ads. Otherwise leave blank. |
| API version | Leave blank. |
Press Save, then Test connection. It should answer Connected to {account name}.
When it does not work
“Ad account ID looks like act_123456789”
Why: You pasted the number without the prefix.
Fix: Put act_ in front of it and save again.
Test connection fails with a permissions error
Why: The system user was never given access to the ad account, or one of the five permissions was not ticked.
Fix: Back to Users → System users → Add assets, confirm the ad account is listed with full control. Then generate a fresh token with all five permissions and paste that.
Spend shows up but the Campaign Builder refuses to build
Why: The Page ID or Instagram ID is missing, so there is nothing to run the ads under.
Fix: Fill both in on the Meta card and save.
Today's spend looks too low
Why: Meta itself reports today’s figures on a delay. This is not Shopdeck being slow.
Fix: Nothing to fix. Judge a day once it is finished. See What every number means.
What needs Meta
- Attribution and Creatives in the Profit Dashboard need Meta or TikTok — either one.
- The Campaign Builder needs Meta for Meta campaigns, obviously, plus a Page and an Instagram account.
- Overview works without any ad platform, but then there is nothing to subtract, so there is no ROAS and no real profit — only revenue and cost of goods.