Use the POST /v1/campaigns endpoint to create campaigns on any connected ad platform. AdRelay translates your request into the platform-specific format and creates the campaign on your behalf.
Required Fields
| Field | Type | Description |
|---|
name | string | Campaign name (max 255 characters) |
goal | string | Campaign objective: CONVERSIONS, AWARENESS, TRAFFIC, LEADS, SALES |
budget_amount | number | Budget amount in your account’s currency |
budget_period | string | DAILY or LIFETIME |
platform | string | Target platform: google_ads, meta_ads, or tiktok_ads |
Basic Example
curl -X POST "https://api.adrelay.dev/v1/campaigns" \
-H "X-API-Key: $ADRELAY_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"name": "Summer Sale 2026",
"goal": "CONVERSIONS",
"budget_amount": 50.00,
"budget_period": "DAILY",
"platform": "google_ads"
}'
Response
{
"id": "camp_new789",
"platform": "google_ads",
"remote_id": "555666777",
"name": "Summer Sale 2026",
"status": "PAUSED",
"goal": "CONVERSIONS",
"budget_amount": 50.00,
"budget_period": "DAILY",
"currency": "USD",
"created_at": "2026-03-21T10:00:00Z",
"updated_at": "2026-03-21T10:00:00Z"
}
Default Status
All campaigns are created with a status of PAUSED by default. This gives you the opportunity to review the campaign before it goes live. To activate a campaign, update its status:
curl -X PATCH "https://api.adrelay.dev/v1/campaigns/camp_new789" \
-H "X-API-Key: $ADRELAY_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"status": "ACTIVE"}'
Budget Handling
Daily Budgets
The budget_amount with budget_period: "DAILY" sets the maximum spend per day. Each platform handles daily budgets slightly differently:
- Google Ads — May spend up to 2x the daily budget on high-traffic days, but averages out over the month.
- Meta Ads — May spend up to 25% more on high-opportunity days.
- TikTok Ads — Strictly enforces the daily budget cap.
Lifetime Budgets
Set budget_period: "LIFETIME" to specify a total budget for the campaign’s duration. Note that lifetime budgets may require additional fields on some platforms.
While AdRelay normalizes the campaign creation interface, there are platform-specific behaviors to be aware of:
| Behavior | Google Ads | Meta Ads | TikTok Ads |
|---|
| Minimum daily budget | $1.00 | $1.00 | $20.00 |
| Budget currency | Account currency | Account currency | Account currency |
| Campaign goal mapping | Direct | Mapped to objectives | Mapped to objectives |
| Creation latency | ~1-2s | ~2-3s | ~1-2s |
AdRelay validates your request against platform-specific requirements before submitting. If a platform has a higher minimum budget, you will receive a validation error before the campaign is created.
Error Handling
Common creation errors:
| Code | Description |
|---|
VALIDATION_ERROR | Missing or invalid fields. Check the details object for specifics. |
FORBIDDEN | No active connection for the specified platform. |
RATE_LIMITED | Too many requests. Retry after the Retry-After period. |
