how it works

One sentence, seven compiled plans, and seven places it stops.

The sequence, with the refusal built into each step.

Describe the audience once. AdBuyMCP compiles it into seven native targeting specifications, prices them against the adapters’ own forecasts, and stops at every point where the next action would cost you something.
The sequence
7 steps, each with a refusal
From one sentence
7 native targeting specs
Fidelity range
40 to 85, all published
Where money leaves
One gate, at step 05
StageDesign-partner phase
What it costs
10% of media, falling to 5% plus £749 a month above £25,000 of trailing 30-day spend.
see the whole waterfall →
the whole loop, in one paragraph

The loop is: extract a persona from a sentence, compile it to each channel, generate a plan grounded in adapter forecasts, approve it, select prechecked creative, fund and launch it, then watch delivery and test whether any of it was incremental. Every step is inspectable and every step is reversible until the funding gate, which is the only point where money leaves. An agent can drive the sequence through MCP up to the point of consequence; approvals and money stay with a person, and eleven consequential operations have no agent tool at all.

The steps below are that paragraph, unpacked. Each one names what it does, what it refuses to do, and what you can see when it is finished. The seven-way compilation is set out per channel on the channels hub, and the last step is the subject of measurement.

Steps, from a sentence to a test that states what it can prove
7
Native targeting specifications compiled from one sentence
7
Fidelity range across the seven, the 40 published with the 85
40–85
Consequential operations with no agent tool at all
11

Every figure here is read off the compiled demo below and the MCP tool surface, not written into this page. The fidelity numbers are what the channel compilers return for that brief in the deterministic sandbox, which needs no credentials and no card.

the sequence

Seven steps, and the seven things they will not do

Read the right-hand column first. Anything can describe a happy path; what separates one media platform from another is what happens at the moment something would cost you money, and each step below is written to be judged on that.

  1. Reversible
    01

    Say who you want to reach

    A sentence in plain English — "London-based technology decision makers, £15,000 a month, four weeks, awareness" — becomes a canonical persona object: semantics, geography, firmographics, demographics, intent topics, exclusions. Every extracted element comes back as an editable chip with its own confidence.

    You getAn editable persona, with per-element confidence.
    where it stops

    Nothing is inferred silently. An age bound the brief did not state stays absent rather than defaulting to the full range, because a default is a claim you did not make.

  2. Reversible
    02

    See what it becomes on each channel

    The persona compiles into seven native targeting specifications — the segment ids, attribute combinations, show allowlists, venue packs, venue types, keyword seeds and interest terms each channel actually accepts — each with a fidelity score, a grade and a written rationale.

    You getSeven compiled plans, scored 40 to 85, with a lawful-basis manifest each.
    where it stops

    The language model extracts semantics and never emits a vendor identifier. Deterministic registry tables do that, by matching your terms against catalogue keywords, which is why a hallucinated segment cannot reach a buy.

  3. Reversible
    03

    Get a plan that adds up

    Budget, objective and flight produce one funded line per provider, with the split, forecast reach and frequency, CPM, fidelity badge and per-line reasoning. Or skip the generator and pick the billboards, shows, channels and venues by hand — manual planning is a first-class path, not a fallback.

    You getA costed plan, line by line, with the data CPM uplifts visible before approval.
    where it stops

    Deterministic code does all the arithmetic, grounded in adapter forecasts. The model explains the plan; it does not compute it. A model that is wrong about a budget is wrong in a way that looks right.

  4. Reversible
    04

    Approve it, and check the creative

    Generate or select same-channel creative for every line. The pre-check predicts Clearcast, CAA and publisher flags before you commission anything, and format limits are enforced as schemas so invalid copy fails at the boundary.

    You getPrechecked creative bound to each line, with an immutable fingerprint.
    where it stops

    Approval records evidence. It cannot enable spend. Those are two separately granted actions on purpose, because the most common way a platform spends money by accident is treating them as one.

  5. The funding gatethe only point where money leaves
    05

    Fund it, and launch

    The wallet funds the campaign and the launch runs. Sandbox rails run immediately. Live search and social rails stage every campaign, ad group and ad PAUSED or DISABLED, persist the provider ids in an exact staged manifest, and begin no spend.

    You getA live campaign, or a staged one waiting on a human decision.
    where it stops

    A launch the wallet cannot fund does not launch: the check fails closed by default and only a sandbox preview may opt into warning instead. Enabling spend on a staged live line needs a fresh, separately granted resume that first re-proves the upstream hierarchy still matches the manifest exactly.

  6. After launch
    06

    Watch it deliver

    Delivery pacing, booking timelines for the assisted rails, cross-channel frequency, and the journey explorer that shows a postcode sector exposed to a billboard and then to a CTV ad. Every outbound side effect writes a provider attempt before the call and settles it after.

    You getOne report across seven channels, with delivery labelled by provenance.
    where it stops

    An ambiguous provider outcome is never retried. It moves the line to reconciliation-required and hands an operator the vendor, the operation and the idempotency token to go and check.

  7. After launch
    07

    Ask whether it caused anything

    One button runs a matched-market geo-lift test against held-out UK conurbations, with difference-in-differences readout. Optimiser proposals arrive explained and wait for approval.

    You getA powered causal result, or an honest refusal — and today, in sandbox, always the refusal or a clearly labelled modelled demonstration.
    where it stops

    The power analysis runs first, at α = 0.05 and 80% power. An underpowered design returns the sample days it would need and no lift figure at all, because a number from an underpowered test is noise that looks like evidence.

Two of those refusals are worth reading twice. At step 02 the language model never emits a vendor identifier, which is the mechanism that stops a hallucinated segment reaching a buy. At step 04 approval and spend are separately granted actions, because the most common way a platform spends money by accident is treating them as one thing.

step 02, worked through

One sentence, and what each channel turns it into

This is our own demo brief and the output our compilers return for it. Seven channels, seven targeting vocabularies, and a score on each saying how much of the audience definition survived the translation.

the brief

London-based technology decision makers, £15,000 a month, four weeks, awareness.

What the demo brief compiles to on each of the seven channels, with the fidelity score and grade the compiler returns.
ChannelWhat it compiles toFidelityGrade
CTV & streamingD&B IT Decision Makers, Bombora Surge on DevOps and AI, Experian Affluent Professionals — over London households, capped at 4 exposures a week
85
person
Paid searchActive-intent seeds from the brief's own search topics, with native negatives and London geo
82
content
Podcast & audioTechnology and Business genres, UK tech flagship shows as a PMP, DAX Business Decision Makers — on the morning and evening commutes, because the brief carries firmographics
65
content
Paid socialYour interest terms, resolved separately by Meta and TikTok into whatever each actually offers
62
content
Addressable & linear TVSenior Decision Makers in Business, Early Technology Adopters and Mosaic City Prosperity, intersected with EC1, EC2, E1, N1, SE1, SW1, W1, WC1 in the London TV region
55
household
Digital out-of-homeOffice buildings and rail stations at commute dayparts, Vistar IT-decision-maker segments, inside London postcode polygons
50
geo-cohort
CinemaDCM ABC1 Adults and Premium London packs, plus a venue list built from the brief's London postcode districts, over a two-week flight
40
venue

Seven compiled plans from one sentence, ordered by how much of the audience definition survived the trip. The 40 is not a failure and the 85 is not a promise: they are the honest distance between what you asked for and what each channel can actually be sold. Four of the seven grades are fixed constants — audio, addressable TV, DOOH and cinema score the same whatever audience detail you supply, because those vocabularies cannot express more than that. The one line that moves them is geography: an unmappable city costs fifteen points on every channel.

how to read this

Every segment name and every score above is what the compilers return for that brief, in the deterministic sandbox. It is targeting output rather than a media plan: no budget has been split, no forecast has been drawn and nothing has been bought. The costing is step 03, and the per-channel detail is on each channel page.

Bring a sentence of your own to a working session and we compile it live, then read the seven scores together.

Talk it through
who does what

An agent can drive the sequence. It cannot authorise the money.

Everything above is reachable through the MCP server, because the agent transport and the browser call the same REST routes behind the same tenant boundary, wallet gates and approval records. The interesting half is the subtraction: 11 consequential operations have no agent tool at all, so they are not permissions an agent might be granted by mistake.

An agent prepares and proposes. A named human authorises money.
From the MCP tool surface
no agent tool exists for these
  • Resolving an approval
  • Resolving a campaign provider attempt
  • Acknowledging a booking-workflow step
  • Resolving an asset job
  • Replacing a mandate
  • Revoking a mandate
  • Closing a mission
  • Saving a supplier dossier
  • Verifying a supplier dossier
  • Issuing a live execution grant
  • Revoking a live execution grant

There is no second execution path with weaker rules, because there is no second execution path at all: each tool is a thin wrapper over exactly one endpoint the browser already calls. The full tool surface, the authority model and the protocol behaviour are on the MCP page.

what you actually open

The surfaces the loop runs through

The steps above are the sequence. These are the screens it happens on, and the loop they carry runs end to end in the deterministic sandbox with no credential, no card and no call.

Command centre

What is running, what needs a decision, what is about to stop.

The wizard

Brief to plan to launch, in one pass, at /new.

Search planner

Keyword evidence from Google and Microsoft on a version-fenced draft.

Persona translation tables

The compiled output for every channel, side by side.

Delivery and booking timelines

API rails and assisted rails on one clock.

Journey explorer

Sequential exposure across channels, with one-click audience sync.

Creatives

Generate, precheck, revise in your own words, submit.

Connections

Credentials, supplier dossiers and the exact fields each rail requires.

Operator

Missions, mandates, approvals, exceptions and evidence — the agent control plane.

Billing

Wallet, fee ledger, statements and the agency-comparison calculator.

what needs a conversation

Real money. Every impression, reach figure, CPM and delivery row these surfaces show you is sandbox output rather than a forecast, and inventory catalogues are sandbox catalogues — most rails have no live inventory-browse API at all. On the platform’s own evidence ledger, 0 connectors have reached spend-tested and 0 have reached report-verified, which is why live buying happens inside a design-partner engagement rather than behind a signup form. The rail-by-rail grades are on the supply matrix.

Questions about the sequence

What a first plan takes, how much of it you can override, what runs without talking to anyone, and what happens when a launch fails halfway through.

How long does it take to get a plan?

Under a minute for the first version. Type a brief, extract the persona, set a budget and objective, choose which buyers to fund, and generate. What takes longer is the part worth taking longer over: reading the seven fidelity scores and deciding which two or three channels actually deserve the money.

Can I override the AI's plan?

At every point. Persona elements are editable chips. Plan allocations are editable. Manual campaign building — picking billboards, shows, channels and venues by hand — is a first-class path through the product rather than an escape hatch, and optimiser proposals are suggestions that wait for approval rather than changes that happen and get reported.

What can I try without talking to anyone?

The whole loop. The sandbox needs no credentials, no card and no call: brief, persona, seven compiled plans, creative generation and pre-check, approval, launch, delivery, measurement, journeys and optimisation all run and return deterministic, repeatable data. Two things to hold in mind while you drive it. Every impression, reach figure, CPM and delivery row it shows is sandbox output rather than a forecast, and inventory catalogues are sandbox catalogues — most rails have no live inventory-browse API at all. What needs a conversation is real money.

What happens if something fails halfway through a launch?

Every outbound side effect writes a committed provider-attempt record before the call and settles it after, keyed by a deterministic idempotency token that is passed to the vendor and reused on retry. After a process or database failure, orphaned attempts are reconciled first: sandbox orphans close automatically, and live media or creative orphans move the line to reconciliation-required rather than being retried or assumed failed. You get the vendor, the operation and the token to check.

// the working session

Bring a real brief. Watch it compile.

We run the seven steps above on an audience you describe in the call, and read the fidelity scores together, including the ones that come back low.

Book a working session

45 minutes. Bring a real brief and we compile it live.