How to get a Meta Conversions API access token

Meta issues several kinds of token and they are not interchangeable. Picking the wrong one is the most common reason a working Conversions API setup stops working a few hours, or a couple of months, later. This page covers the two that are worth using, and how to generate each.

Meta reference: Access tokens, Conversions API get started

Which token

TokenLifetimeUse it here?
Graph API Explorer"about one to two hours"No. Testing a payload by hand, nothing else.
Short-lived user token"about one to two hours"No.
Long-lived user token"about 60 days"Only if you enjoy re-authenticating quarterly.
Events Manager tokenLong-livedYes, for your own pixel. Meta's recommended path.
System user tokenDoes not expire based on timeYes. Best for production and client work.

Lifetimes are quoted from Meta's access token guide, which also warns: "Do not depend on these lifetimes remaining the same, they may change without warning or expire early." System user tokens "do not expire based on time" but remain "subject to invalidation for other reasons", such as a password change or a permission being revoked.

The one you want

A system user token for anything that has to keep running, especially on a client account, because it survives you leaving the business and does not expire on a timer. Use an Events Manager token if you just want your own pixel working in the next two minutes.

Events Manager token, the two minute path

Meta calls this the recommended method, and it needs no App Review and no permissions request.

  1. Events Manager, choose your dataset.
  2. Settings tab.
  3. Find the Conversions API section, and under Set up manually click Generate access token.

System user token, the one for production

This takes four steps, and the first two catch most people out: a system user token is issued against an app, and that app has to be attached to the business whose assets you want to use.

1. Create a Meta app, if you do not have one

  1. Go to the Meta app dashboard and click Create app.
  2. Give it a name and contact email, and connect it to your Business portfolio.
  3. Choose Other as the use case, then Business as the app type.
  4. Stop there. You do not need to add products, configure Facebook Login, or submit anything: the Conversions API needs no App Review and no permissions request.

2. Add the app to your business and give it the assets

  1. Business Settings, Accounts, Apps, then Add, and pick the app you just created. An app that is not attached to the business cannot be used to issue a token against that business's assets.
  2. Give the app access to the ad account and the Pages it needs to work with.

3. Create the system user and give it the dataset

  1. Business Settings, Users, System users.
  2. Add a system user, or pick an existing one. The Employee role is enough.
  3. Add assets, and assign the dataset you will send events to, with full control. A system user with no assets can authenticate and still write nothing.

4. Generate the token

  1. On the system user, click Generate new token.
  2. Choose the app from step 1.
  3. Tick the ads_management permission.
  4. Copy it once. Meta will not show it to you again.

Keep it safe

Treat it like a password

A token with ads_managementcan write events to your dataset and read from it. Keep it in the n8n credential, never in a workflow's HTTP Request node, where it travels with every export and screenshot of that workflow. If one has leaked, rotate it in Events Manager.

Once you have the token, add it to the credential on the Meta Conversions API node and n8n will test the connection for you.