Configuration

Updated: Apr 29, 2026

This guide covers how Ads CLI resolves configuration settings, including environment variables, .env files, and the config directory.

Environment variables

Variable	Required	Description
ACCESS_TOKEN	Yes	System user access token that you generate in the Meta Business Suite
AD_ACCOUNT_ID	Yes (for most commands)	Your Meta ad account ID
BUSINESS_ID	No	Default business ID (for catalog/dataset commands)

Configuration precedence

Ads CLI resolves settings in this order (highest priority first):

• Command-line flags (for example, --ad-account-id)
• Environment variables
• Project-level .env file
• User-level config (~/.config/meta/)

Use a .env file

To prevent setting the environment variables for each session, you can add a .env file in the directory where you are running Ads CLI:

cat > .env << 'DOTENV'
ACCESS_TOKEN='<ACCESS_TOKEN>'
AD_ACCOUNT_ID='<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>'
BUSINESS_ID='<BUSINESS_ID>'
DOTENV

Note: Environment variables set in your shell take precedence over .env values.

Config directory

Ads CLI stores configuration in an XDG-compliant⁠ directory:

~/.config/meta/

You can override the base directory by setting the XDG_CONFIG_HOME environment variable.

See also

• Find your IDs -- Look up ad account, page, and other IDs
• Get Started -- Installation and authentication
• Command Reference -- Every command, option, and argument