Using Ads Write Capabilities with Helium 10 MCP

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. What Are Ads Write Capabilities?
3. Why This Matters
4. Getting Started
5. Amazon Ads Write Capabilities
6. Walmart Ads Write Capabilities
7. How the Approval Process Works
8. Batch Limits & Guardrails
9. Safety Features
10. Common Workflows
11. Troubleshooting & Issues
12. Frequently Asked Questions

Introduction

Helium 10 MCP now includes write capabilities for Amazon and Walmart advertising. This means your AI assistant (Claude, ChatGPT, or Codex) can not only analyze your ad data but also execute changes directly—pausing campaigns, adjusting bids, creating campaigns, managing keywords, and more.

Previously, your AI could diagnose problems in your campaigns and recommend fixes. Now it can execute those fixes in the same conversation—without you manually copying and pasting into your ad platform.

Before Write Capabilities: Diagnose → Recommend → You manually make changes With Write Capabilities: Diagnose → Analyze → Execute → Done (with your approval on each step)

What Are Ads Write Capabilities?

Ads write capabilities allow your connected AI to make changes to your advertising campaigns across Amazon and Walmart by using the Helium 10 MCP.

What You Can Change

• Budgets — Raise or lower campaign daily budgets
• Bids — Adjust keyword and target bids
• Campaign States — Pause or enable (resume) campaigns
• Bidding Strategies — Change campaign-level bidding strategies (Amazon)
• Keywords — Add, pause, or adjust keywords
• Targets — Add, pause, or adjust product/category/audience targets
• Negatives — Add or manage negative keywords and targets
• Portfolios — Create, update, or manage portfolios and campaign assignments (Amazon)
• Campaigns — Create new campaigns from scratch
• Ad Groups — Create and manage ad groups
• Placements — Manage placement inclusion and bid multipliers (Walmart)

What You Cannot Change

• Delete campaigns, ad groups, or keywords (only pause/enable)
• Write to TikTok Shop (TikTok queries are read-only)
• Make changes without your approval

Why This Matters

Closes the Loop on Your AI Strategy

Previously, your AI could analyze performance but couldn't act. Now it can:

1. Diagnose — "Your iOS campaign has a 45% ACoS"
2. Analyze — "This is 15% above your target threshold"
3. Execute — "I've paused this campaign" (pending your approval)
4. All in one conversation without switching platforms.

Operate Like You Have a Campaign Manager

Instead of manually logging into your ads platform to make changes:

• Ask your AI: "Pause all campaigns with ACoS over 40%"
• Review the exact changes it proposes
• Approve them in one click
• Changes execute automatically

Manage Multiple Retailers at Once

If you sell on both Amazon and Walmart, manage both from a single connection:

• "Show me my top-performing campaigns on both platforms"
• "Lower bids on underperforming keywords across both"
• "Create a portfolio and assign these campaigns"

Stay in Complete Control

Every single change requires your explicit approval before it runs. You see:

• Which retailer it's changing (Amazon or Walmart)
• Which account it's targeting
• Every single action being proposed
• Only then do you approve or reject

Getting Started

Requirements

• Helium 10 Diamond plan or higher
• Connected AI tool — Claude, ChatGPT, or Codex with Helium 10 MCP enabled
• Access level — You must have permission to manage campaigns on the retailer account

Step 1: Ensure Your MCP Connection is Active

See Getting Started with Helium 10 MCP if you haven't connected yet.

Step 2: Ask Your AI to Make a Change

Start with a simple request:

"Pause my campaign with ASIN B0XXXXXXXX if its ACoS is above 35%"

or

"Show me my underperforming campaigns and then lower their daily budgets by 20%"

Step 3: Review and Approve

Your AI will show you:

• The retailer (Amazon or Walmart)
• The account
• Every action it's proposing
• You approve or reject the batch

Step 4: Changes Execute

Once approved, changes apply immediately to your account (respecting any platform processing delays).

Amazon Ads Write Capabilities

Full Availability

All Amazon advertising write capabilities are fully available and production-ready.

What You Can Do on Amazon

Campaigns

Ad Groups

Keywords

Targets

Portfolios

Example Amazon Requests

"Pause all Sponsored Products campaigns with ACoS over 50% for this month"

"Lower the bid on this keyword from $2.50 to $1.75"

"Create a Q4 portfolio and move these 5 campaigns into it"

"Add these 10 converting search terms as exact-match keywords to my campaign"

"Enable all paused campaigns in my portfolio that have positive ROAS"

Walmart Ads Write Capabilities

Full Availability

Walmart Sponsored Products (Search) write capabilities are fully available. Walmart Sponsored Brands and Display are not yet supported for write actions.

Available Retailer & Capabilities

Walmart Sponsored Products (Search) — Full write coverage for:

• Campaigns
• Ad groups
• Ad items
• Keywords
• Placements
• Bid multipliers
• Budgets and schedules

What You Can Do on Walmart

Campaigns

Ad Groups

Ad Items

Keywords

Placements (Manual Campaigns Only)

⚠️ Important: Placement inclusion is full-replacement. When you update placements, you must specify all three placements—any omitted will be excluded. Your AI assistant must always pass all three placements, even the ones not changing.

Bid Multipliers

Walmart Budget Constraints

Budget minimums are enforced by the platform and will be rejected if out of range:

• Daily budget minimum: $10 (3P sellers) / $50 (1P sellers)
• Total budget minimum: $50 (3P sellers) / $100 (1P sellers)
• Total budget rule: Total budget can never be below daily budget

Example Walmart Requests

"Lower keyword bids on my Sponsored Products campaign by 10%"

"Pause underperforming ad items and create a new item in the campaign"

"Increase bid multipliers by 15% for the Search In-grid placement"

"Create a new Sponsored Products campaign for these 5 items with $20 daily budget"

"Adjust my campaign budget from $30 to $50 per day"

Walmart Limitations

• Bidding strategy changes — Not a Walmart concept; use bid multipliers instead
• Campaign creation — Manual campaigns only; auto-targeting campaigns can't be created via MCP
• Keyword creation — Not supported on auto-targeting campaigns
• Start dates — Can only be changed before campaign launch

How the Approval Process Works

Step 1: You Make a Request

You ask your AI to make a change in natural language:

"Pause campaigns with ACoS over 40%"

Step 2: AI Proposes the Change

Your AI analyzes your data and proposes specific actions:

Proposed Actions:
- Retailer: Amazon US
- Account: seller-12345
- Campaign 1: Pause "Yoga Mats - SP" (Current ACoS: 42%)
- Campaign 2: Pause "Resistance Bands - SP" (Current ACoS: 45%)

Ready for your approval?

Step 3: You Review (Critical Step)

Before anything changes, you see:

• Which retailer — Amazon or Walmart?
• Which account — Make sure it's the right one
• Every action — Exact campaigns, keywords, bids, etc.
• Current metrics — So you can validate the recommendation

Step 4: You Approve or Reject

You either:

• Approve — "Yes, go ahead" → Changes execute immediately
• Reject — "No, don't do this" → Nothing happens

Step 5: Confirmation & Audit Trail

After approval:

• Changes execute on the retailer platform
• You get a confirmation showing what ran
• All changes appear in your Change Log with "Due to MCP" marker
• You can verify the changes were applied correctly

Batch Limits & Guardrails

Action Batches

Write actions run in confirmed batches, not unlimited bulk operations:

• Maximum 20 actions per confirmed batch — On both Amazon and Walmart
• Maximum 10 items per action type — So you can't batch-create 100 keywords at once
• Larger requests split automatically — If you ask to pause 50 campaigns, the AI splits into 3 batches, each requesting approval

Example

Request: "Pause 40 underperforming campaigns"
↓
Batch 1: Pause campaigns 1-10 (Get approval)
↓
Batch 2: Pause campaigns 11-20 (Get approval)
↓
Batch 3: Pause campaigns 21-30 (Get approval)
↓
Batch 4: Pause campaigns 31-40 (Get approval)

No Delete Actions

To maintain safety, no delete actions exist on either Amazon or Walmart:

• You can pause campaigns, ad groups, keywords, targets
• You can enable (resume) paused items
• Pausing is reversible — You can enable them again anytime
• Paused items don't spend and don't show

State Changes Are Reversible

Most changes can be undone:

Safety Features

Seller Always in Control

1. Approval gate — Every change requires explicit approval
2. Nothing happens without you — Your AI never makes changes autonomously
3. Clear visibility — You see retailer, account, and all actions before approval

Only Touches What You Asked For

A single bid adjustment changes only the bid:

• Match type stays the same
• Campaign assignment stays the same
• State (enabled/paused) stays the same
• Other settings unchanged

Exception: Walmart placement inclusion is full-replacement (see Walmart section).

Changes Are Auditable

Change Log "Due to MCP" Filter

All MCP-driven changes appear in your Helium 10 Change Log with a special marker:

1. Open H10 Ads → Change Log
2. Filter by Change Source → "Due to MCP"
3. See exactly which changes came from your AI vs. manual/automatic changes

This lets you:

• Verify what actually ran vs. what you approved
• Distinguish AI changes from manual edits
• Audit your campaign changes over time
• Spot any unexpected changes

What Gets Logged

For every MCP write, the log shows:

• What was proposed
• What you approved
• What was sent to the retailer
• What the retailer confirmed

Can't Destroy Your Data

• No delete actions — Campaigns and keywords can only be paused
• Pausing is reversible — Enable them again anytime
• Immutable logs — All changes are recorded and auditable

Common Workflows

Workflow 1: Pause Underperforming Campaigns

Goal: Reduce waste by pausing low-ROI campaigns

Steps:

1. Ask AI: "Show me campaigns with ACoS over 40% this month"
2. Review results with current metrics
3. Ask AI: "Pause all of those"
4. Review the proposed pauses
5. Approve
6. Changes execute
7. Check Change Log to confirm

Example Request:

"What are my top 10 underperforming campaigns by ACoS this month? 
Then pause the ones with ACoS above 35%"

Workflow 2: Adjust Bids Based on Performance

Goal: Optimize bids to hit target ACoS

Steps:

1. Ask AI: "Analyze my keyword performance for this campaign"
2. Review which keywords are dragging ACoS
3. Ask AI: "Lower bids 20% on keywords with ACoS over 40%, raise bids 10% on keywords with ACoS under 20%"
4. Review proposed bid changes
5. Approve
6. Changes execute

Example Request:

"Show me keywords in my 'Holiday Campaign' with ACoS over 50%. 
Then lower their bids by 15%"

Workflow 3: Create a Campaign from Scratch

Goal: Launch a new campaign without manual setup

Steps:

1. Ask AI: "Build me a new Sponsored Products campaign for these ASINs with $25 daily budget"
2. AI creates campaign structure:
   • Campaign name
   • Budget
   • Ad group
   • Keywords/targets
3. Review the full structure
4. Approve
5. Campaign goes live

Example Request:

"Create a new Sponsored Products campaign called 'Q4 Promo' 
for ASINs B0XXXXXX, B0XXXXXX, B0XXXXXX 
with $30 daily budget and exact-match keywords"

Workflow 4: Manage Across Amazon and Walmart

Goal: Operate both retailers from one conversation

Steps:

1. Connect MCP to both accounts
2. Ask AI: "Show me performance summary for both Amazon and Walmart"
3. AI compares both retailers
4. Ask AI: "Raise budgets on top performers across both platforms by 20%"
5. AI proposes changes for both retailers separately
6. Approve Amazon changes, then Walmart changes
7. Both execute

Example Request:

"Compare my top 5 campaigns on Amazon and Walmart. 
Which platform is performing better? 
Then raise daily budgets by $10 on the top 3 performers on each platform"

Workflow 5: Manage Walmart Placements

Goal: Optimize which placements your ads show on

Steps:

1. Ask AI: "Show me performance by placement on my Walmart campaign"
2. Review which placements drive best ROI
3. Ask AI: "Reduce bid multiplier by 10% on underperforming placements"
4. AI proposes changes (remember: all 3 placements must be specified)
5. Review and approve
6. Changes execute

Example Request:

"Analyze placement performance on my Walmart campaign. 
Then disable the Item Carousel placement and add a +20% bid multiplier to Search In-grid"

Troubleshooting & Issues

Change Was Proposed But Didn't Execute

Symptom: "I approved the change but it didn't go through"

Troubleshooting:

1. Check your Change Log → Filter "Due to MCP"
2. Look for a Failed status
3. If it shows as failed, check:
   • Did you hit a platform limit? (Budget too low, etc.)
   • Is your account in good standing?
   • Try again with a smaller batch

If it shows as succeeded but you don't see it:

• The platform may be processing (5-15 second delay typical)
• Refresh your campaign view
• Check again in 5 minutes

Change Approved But Wrong Account Updated

Symptom: "It paused the campaign on the wrong account!"

Troubleshooting:

1. Your AI should have shown you the account before approval
2. If wrong account was changed:
   • Check Change Log to verify exactly what ran
   • This should NOT happen (AI shows account before approval)
   • File a bug report

Prevention:

• Always review the account name in the approval screen
• If you have multiple accounts, specify which one in your request

Bid or Budget Change Didn't Work As Expected

Symptom: "I asked to lower the bid by 20% but it changed by something different"

Troubleshooting:

1. Check Change Log → Filter "Due to MCP"
2. Look at exactly what value was proposed vs. what ran
3. Verify against platform minimums/maximums

Common Issues:

• Walmart budget floors: Bid can't go below $0.25 or budget below $10 (3P)/$50 (1P)
• Platform limits: Amazon may have campaign-level maximums
• Rounding: AI rounds to platform precision (usually $0.01)

Walmart Placement Changed But Didn't Work Right

Symptom: "I disabled one placement but it affected others"

Important Reminder: Walmart placement inclusion is full-replacement. When you change placements, all three must be specified—any omitted are excluded.

What happened: Your AI likely omitted a placement from the request, causing it to be excluded.

How to fix:

1. Re-enable the placement:
   • Ask AI: "Turn all placements back on for this campaign"
2. Then try again, ensuring all three placements are specified

Too Many Changes at Once

Symptom: "I asked for 50 changes but it only did 20"

What happened: Batch size limit (20 actions max per batch).

How it works:

• Your AI automatically splits into multiple batches
• You approve each batch separately
• This is intentional for safety

Just keep approving — Each batch needs your approval, but it only takes a moment per batch.

Change Log Not Showing MCP Changes

Symptom: "I don't see my changes in Change Log"

Troubleshooting:

1. Go to Helium 10 Ads → Change Log
2. Make sure you're looking at the right date range (changes might be older)
3. Click Change Source filter and select "Due to MCP"
4. If still nothing shows:
   • Wait 5-15 seconds (platform processing)
   • Refresh the page
   • Check if the change is showing under a different Change Source

Frequently Asked Questions

Can the AI Make Changes Without My Approval?

No. Every single change requires explicit approval. The AI shows you:

• Retailer and account
• Every action
• Current metrics
• Only then do you approve or reject

Nothing happens without your confirmation.

What If Something Goes Wrong?

If something goes wrong, we help you fix it. Here's the guarantee:

• We guarantee we execute exactly what you approved
• We don't guarantee what Amazon/Walmart does with it
• If we execute something you didn't approve → Goodwill credit path
• If the platform rejects it → You get a backstop email notification (never silent failure)

Can I See Everything My AI Changed?

Yes. Use the Change Log with "Due to MCP" filter:

1. Go to Helium 10 Ads
2. Click Change Log
3. Filter Change Source to "Due to MCP"
4. You see every MCP-driven change separate from manual/automatic changes

Does This Work on Mobile?

Yes. If you use Claude, ChatGPT, or Codex on mobile, you can:

• Ask for changes in your AI app
• Review proposed changes
• Approve/reject
• See confirmation

Mobile support depends on your AI platform (Claude, ChatGPT, Codex).

Can Sub-Users Make Changes?

Yes, if they have MCP permission. The primary account owner must:

1. Go to Helium 10 → Access Management
2. Add the sub-user
3. Check MCP permission
4. Sub-user connects MCP separately to their AI tool

See detailed sub-user setup instructions

How Many Changes Can I Make at Once?

20 actions per confirmed batch (both Amazon and Walmart).

If you ask for 50 changes:

• Batch 1: 20 changes (you approve)
• Batch 2: 20 changes (you approve)
• Batch 3: 10 changes (you approve)

Each batch needs your approval, but it's quick.

Can I Undo a Change?

Mostly yes. Reversible changes include:

• Pause/enable campaigns, ad groups, keywords
• Bid/budget adjustments (adjust back)
• State changes

Non-reversible changes:

• Created items can only be paused (not deleted)
• To truly remove, pause and leave paused

Can I Use This on Both Amazon and Walmart?

Yes. If you're connected to both:

• Ask your AI to show performance on both
• Ask it to make changes on both
• It proposes changes for each retailer separately
• You approve each batch

Single conversation, both retailers.

How Many API Calls Do Write Actions Use?

Each write action counts as 1 API call against your monthly quota (1,000 included with Diamond+).

API usage:

• Simple write: 1 call
• Complex report + write: 5-10 calls combined
• Query + pause campaign: ~2 calls

You can monitor usage in Helium 10 → Settings → MCP → API Usage.

What If My Account Gets Compromised?

Risk is minimal because:

1. OAuth authentication (AI never sees your password)
2. Changes require retailer-level permissions (Amazon/Walmart controls access)
3. Every change is logged and auditable
4. You must approve each change

If compromised:

1. Disconnect MCP: Helium 10 → Settings → MCP → Authorized AI Clients
2. Click Disconnect on any unfamiliar connection
3. Change your password
4. Contact Helium 10 support

Can I Connect Multiple AI Tools?

Yes. You can connect Claude, ChatGPT, Codex, and other MCP clients to the same Helium 10 account. Each gets the same permissions and data access.

To disconnect one:

1. Helium 10 → Settings → MCP
2. Find the connected AI tool
3. Click Disconnect

Is This Available on All Plans?

No. Write capabilities require:

• Helium 10 Diamond plan or higher
• MCP connected
• Appropriate permissions for the retailer account

Additional Resources

• Getting Started with Helium 10 MCP — General MCP setup and read capabilities
• Helium 10 MCP Tool Reference — Full list of all 89 available tools
• Manage MCP Connections — Connect/disconnect AI tools
• Sub-User MCP Access — Grant sub-users write permissions
• Support Request — Contact Helium 10 support

Contact Support

For issues with Ads Write Capabilities or MCP functionality:

• Helium 10 Support: kb.helium10.com or Submit Support Request
• General MCP Questions: See the main MCP guide