AdCP Creative Protocol

This skill enables you to execute the AdCP Creative Protocol with creative agents. Use the standard MCP tools (

list_creative_formats

build_creative

preview_creative

) exposed by the connected agent.

Overview

The Creative Protocol provides 3 standardized tasks for building and previewing advertising creatives:

Task	Purpose	Response Time
`list_creative_formats`	View format specifications	~1s
`build_creative`	Generate or transform creatives	~30s-5m
`preview_creative`	Get visual previews	~5s

Typical Workflow

Discover formats:
```
list_creative_formats
```
to see available format specs
Build creative:
```
build_creative
```
to generate or transform a manifest
Preview:
```
preview_creative
```
to see how it renders
Sync: Use
```
sync_creatives
```
(media-buy task) to traffic the creative

Task Reference

list_creative_formats

Discover creative formats and their specifications.

Request:

json

{
  "type": "video",
  "asset_types": ["image", "text"]
}

Key fields:

```
format_ids
```
(array, optional): Request specific format IDs
```
type
```
(string, optional): Filter by type:
```
video
```
,
```
display
```
,
```
audio
```
,
```
dooh
```
```
asset_types
```
(array, optional): Filter by accepted asset types
```
max_width
```
,
```
max_height
```
(integer, optional): Dimension constraints
```
is_responsive
```
(boolean, optional): Filter for responsive formats
```
name_search
```
(string, optional): Search formats by name

Response contains:

formats

: Array of format definitions with

format_id

name

type

assets_required

renders

```
creative_agents
```
: Optional array of other creative agents providing additional formats

build_creative

Generate a creative from scratch or transform an existing creative to a different format.

Pure Generation (from brief):

json

{
  "message": "Create a banner promoting our winter sale with a warm, inviting feel",
  "target_format_id": {
    "agent_url": "https://creative.adcontextprotocol.org",
    "id": "display_300x250_generative"
  },
  "brand": {
    "domain": "mybrand.com"
  }
}

Transformation (resize/reformat):

json

{
  "message": "Adapt this leaderboard to a 300x250 banner",
  "creative_manifest": {
    "format_id": {
      "agent_url": "https://creative.adcontextprotocol.org",
      "id": "display_728x90"
    },
    "assets": {
      "banner_image": {
        "asset_type": "image",
        "url": "https://cdn.mybrand.com/leaderboard.png",
        "width": 728,
        "height": 90
      },
      "headline": {
        "asset_type": "text",
        "content": "Spring Sale - 30% Off"
      }
    }
  },
  "target_format_id": {
    "agent_url": "https://creative.adcontextprotocol.org",
    "id": "display_300x250"
  }
}

Key fields:

```
message
```
(string, optional): Natural language instructions for generation/transformation
```
creative_manifest
```
(object, optional): Source manifest - minimal for generation, complete for transformation
```
target_format_id
```
(object, required): Format to generate -
```
{ agent_url, id }
```

Response contains:

creative_manifest

: Complete manifest ready for

preview_creative

sync_creatives

preview_creative

Generate visual previews of creative manifests.

Single preview:

json

{
  "request_type": "single",
  "creative_manifest": {
    "format_id": {
      "agent_url": "https://creative.adcontextprotocol.org",
      "id": "display_300x250"
    },
    "assets": {
      "banner_image": {
        "asset_type": "image",
        "url": "https://cdn.example.com/banner.png",
        "width": 300,
        "height": 250
      }
    }
  }
}

With device variants:

json

{
  "request_type": "single",
  "creative_manifest": { /* includes format_id, assets */ },
  "inputs": [
    { "name": "Desktop", "macros": { "DEVICE_TYPE": "desktop" } },
    { "name": "Mobile", "macros": { "DEVICE_TYPE": "mobile" } }
  ]
}

Batch preview (5-10x faster):

json

{
  "request_type": "batch",
  "requests": [
    { "creative_manifest": { /* creative 1 */ } },
    { "creative_manifest": { /* creative 2 */ } }
  ]
}

Key fields:

```
request_type
```
(string, required):
```
"single"
```
or
```
"batch"
```
```
format_id
```
(object, optional): Format identifier. Defaults to
```
creative_manifest.format_id
```
if omitted.
```
creative_manifest
```
(object, required): Complete creative manifest
```
inputs
```
(array, optional): Generate variants with different macros/contexts
```
output_format
```
(string, optional):
```
"url"
```
(default) or
```
"html"
```

Response contains:

```
previews
```
: Array of preview objects with
```
preview_url
```
or
```
preview_html
```
```
expires_at
```
: When preview URLs expire

Key Concepts

Format IDs

All format references use structured objects:

json

{
  "format_id": {
    "agent_url": "https://creative.adcontextprotocol.org",
    "id": "display_300x250"
  }
}

The

agent_url

specifies the creative agent authoritative for this format.

Creative Manifests

Manifests pair format specifications with actual assets:

json

{
  "format_id": {
    "agent_url": "https://creative.adcontextprotocol.org",
    "id": "display_300x250"
  },
  "assets": {
    "banner_image": {
      "asset_type": "image",
      "url": "https://cdn.example.com/banner.png",
      "width": 300,
      "height": 250
    },
    "headline": {
      "asset_type": "text",
      "content": "Shop Now"
    },
    "clickthrough_url": {
      "asset_type": "url",
      "url": "https://brand.com/sale"
    }
  }
}

Asset Types

Common asset types:

```
image
```
: Static images (JPEG, PNG, WebP)
```
video
```
: Video files (MP4, WebM) or VAST tags
```
audio
```
: Audio files (MP3, M4A) or DAAST tags
```
text
```
: Headlines, descriptions, CTAs
```
html
```
: HTML5 creatives or third-party tags
```
javascript
```
: JavaScript tags
```
url
```
: Tracking pixels, clickthrough URLs

Brand identity

For generative creatives, provide brand context by domain:

json

{
  "brand": {
    "domain": "acmecorp.com"
  }
}

The agent resolves the domain to retrieve the brand's identity (name, colors, guidelines, etc.) from its

brand.json

file.

Generative vs Transformation

Pure Generation: Provide
```
target_format_id
```
,
```
brand
```
, and a natural language
```
message
```
. Creative agent generates all output assets from scratch.
Transformation: Complete manifest with existing assets. Creative agent adapts to target format, following
```
message
```
guidance.

Error Handling

Common error patterns:

400 Bad Request: Invalid manifest or format_id
404 Not Found: Format not supported by this agent
422 Validation Error: Manifest doesn't match format requirements

Error responses include:

json

{
  "error": {
    "code": "INVALID_FORMAT_ID",
    "message": "format_id must be a structured object with 'agent_url' and 'id' fields"
  }
}

adcp-creative

NPX Install

Tags

SKILL.md Content

AdCP Creative Protocol

Overview

Typical Workflow

Task Reference

list_creative_formats

build_creative

preview_creative

Key Concepts

Format IDs

Creative Manifests

Asset Types

Brand identity

Generative vs Transformation

Error Handling