SignalShelf · Developer documentation

Facebook-Ad-Library · ad

Read a public Meta Ad Library record. GET /api/v1/facebook-ad-library/ad accepts your x-api-key header. This endpoint returns live public data; demo mode is unavailable.

Request parameters

Looks up an ad by its Meta Ad Library ID using the official Ad Library API. Without a country, the lookup is limited to political/issue ads available globally. Supplying a country enables all-ad lookup only where Meta exposes all ads (UK/EU). Transcript fields are unavailable. Production remains blocked pending access approval and written paid-use clearance.

ParameterTypeRequiredDescription
idstringNo
urlstringNoMeta Ad Library URL containing a numeric id query parameter.
countrystringNoCountry where an ad reached viewers. Commercial ads are available through this API only for the UK and EU; political/issue ads have broader country coverage.
allow_long_transcriptionbooleanNoTranscripts are unavailable; true is rejected.
get_transcriptbooleanNoTranscripts are unavailable; true is rejected.
trimbooleanNoAccepted for compatibility; output remains a fixed source-field allowlist.
freshnessstringNo24h (default), 1h, 7d, or live. Accepted cache hits are free; live forces refresh except simultaneous requests may share newly fetched data.

Code examples

Set SIGNALSHELF_BASE_URL and SIGNALSHELF_API_KEY on your server.

REQUEST EXAMPLE
curl "$SIGNALSHELF_BASE_URL/api/v1/facebook-ad-library/ad?" \
  -H "x-api-key: $SIGNALSHELF_API_KEY"

Response and pagination

The response contains data and meta. data includes platform, resource, sample:false, provider, and the public source payload. Lists return data.items; individual resources return data.data.

Author feeds include data.next_cursor. Return it unchanged in cursor for the next page. Feed entries can include reposts. Single-post lookups resolve the handle to a DID first. Deleted or moderated posts may be unavailable.

meta includes event_id, mode, cache, credits_charged, fetched_at, age_seconds, and duration_ms. A fresh successful result costs one credit; accepted cached results and failures cost zero.

Availability and failures

Implementation is not a continuous availability guarantee. Source rate limits, retention, deleted content, restrictions, and regional availability apply. This is an independent SignalShelf contract, not a drop-in competitor response format.

400: invalid parameters. 401: missing/revoked key. 402: insufficient credits. 404: missing public resource. 429: SignalShelf throttle. 502/503: upstream failure or rate limit, with credit restored.

Explore the API in your workspace. Sample results and accepted cache hits cost zero credits. Open the playground →