Setup & Installation¶
Prerequisites¶
Python 3.10 or later
An ADS API key
Install¶
From PyPI (once published)¶
pip install ads-mcp
From source¶
git clone https://github.com/cgarling/ads-mcp.git
cd ads-mcp
pip install -e .
Configure your API key¶
The server reads your ADS API key from the ADS_API_TOKEN environment variable.
Using a .env file (recommended)¶
Copy the template and fill in your key:
cp .env.example .env
# edit .env and replace the placeholder with your real key
Your .env should look like:
ADS_API_TOKEN=your_real_ads_key_here
Warning
Never commit your .env file or your API key to version control.
.env is listed in .gitignore by default.
Using environment variables directly¶
export ADS_API_TOKEN=your_real_ads_key_here
ads-mcp
Verify the installation¶
Run the server once to confirm it starts without errors:
ads-mcp
The server waits for MCP protocol messages on stdin/stdout. Press
Ctrl-C to stop it. You should see no error output if the key is valid.