name: adcp-creative description: Execute AdCP Creative Protocol operations with creative agents - build creatives from briefs or existing assets, preview renderings, and discover format specifications. Use when users want to generate or transform ad creatives, preview how ads will look, or understand creative format requirements.

AdCP Creative Protocol

This skill enables you to execute the AdCP Creative Protocol with creative agents. Use the call_adcp_agent tool to send requests to creative agents.

Overview

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

Typical Workflow

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

Task Reference

list_creative_formats

Discover creative formats and their specifications.

Request:

{
  "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):

{
  "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"
  },
  "creative_manifest": {
    "format_id": {
      "agent_url": "https://creative.adcontextprotocol.org",
      "id": "display_300x250_generative"
    },
    "assets": {
      "promoted_offerings": {
        "brand_manifest": {
          "url": "https://mybrand.com",
          "name": "My Brand",
          "colors": { "primary": "#FF5733" }
        },
        "inline_offerings": [
          {
            "name": "Winter Sale Collection",
            "description": "50% off all winter items"
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  }
}

Transformation (resize/reformat):

{
  "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 or sync_creatives

preview_creative

Generate visual previews of creative manifests.

Single preview:

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

{
  "request_type": "single",
  "format_id": { "agent_url": "...", "id": "native_responsive" },
  "creative_manifest": { /* ... */ },
  "inputs": [
    { "name": "Desktop", "macros": { "DEVICE_TYPE": "desktop" } },
    { "name": "Mobile", "macros": { "DEVICE_TYPE": "mobile" } }
  ]
}

Batch preview (5-10x faster):

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

Key fields:

• request_type (string, required): "single" or "batch"
• format_id (object, required for single): Format identifier
• 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:

{
  "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:

{
  "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 Manifest

For generative creatives, provide brand context:

{
  "brand_manifest": {
    "url": "https://brand.com",
    "name": "Brand Name",
    "colors": { "primary": "#FF0000", "secondary": "#0000FF" }
  }
}

Generative vs Transformation

• Pure Generation: Minimal manifest with promoted_offerings in assets. 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:

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