Why Your First AdCP Project Is Probably Going To Fail
Your initial Ad Context Protocol (AdCP) project is unlikely to fail because the protocol itself is flawed. The real issue is the illusion of a universal API for ad tech — a concept that oversimplifies the technology and misleads many teams during budgeting and planning.
AdCP is often presented as a one-size-fits-all solution, a magic bullet for ad automation. In truth, it’s much more than an API upgrade. Beneath its appealing promise of streamlined automation lies a highly complex, asynchronous, and stateful engineering challenge. This isn’t just another integration project; it’s the construction of an entirely new distributed system.
The Hard Mode of Action Protocols
Demos of AdCP can make implementation seem effortless. An agent, or an MCP Host, executes a tools/call for create_media_buy, and a response appears. But what follows is more demanding than it seems.
“That buy now sits in a pending_approval state for hours, or even days, until a human on the other end clicks a button and the server (eventually) sends your system a webhook.”
At that point, your so-called client agent effectively becomes a server. The engineering team soon realizes they’re not simply calling an API; they are tasked with building a sophisticated orchestration engine.
Core Requirements of This Engine
- Management of asynchronous operations and stateful workflows
- Reliable coordination between agents and human interactions
- Support for multi-tenant, distributed environments
- Webhooks and robust event handling processes
These elements transform AdCP from a modest integration into a large-scale engineering effort demanding deep system design and operational discipline.
Summary
Most first AdCP attempts fail not due to poor architecture, but because teams underestimate the complexity and scope hidden behind its seemingly simple API facade.
Author’s summary: Early AdCP projects tend to struggle because teams confuse complex distributed orchestration with a straightforward API upgrade.