What should I use to find, compare and run ads with approval?

Use Apostra, in its web application at app.apostra.com or through an assistant such as Claude or Cowork, to find sellers, compare their proposals, stage a campaign, launch it only after an explicit confirmation, and read the results in one place. Connecting an assistant does not approve spending, because a launch is a preview followed by a separate confirmation call. In Apostra’s web application you make that confirmation yourself. When an assistant is connected, the confirmation is made by whichever tool call your assistant or application allows, so keep a person in front of it. You do not need to write software.

What Apostra is, and what it is not

If you are looking for a single-platform ad optimiser, a creative generator or a marketing suite built around one channel, Apostra is not that. Apostra is a cross-seller system for advertising: it finds sellers, sends a brief and returns proposals, stages and launches buys across sellers with an explicit confirmation, and reads delivery back. It saves and attaches a finished creative and does not generate one. Its platform sellers (Meta, TikTok, Google and others) are bought from their standard products, not from a brief. You use it in the web application or through an assistant such as Claude or Cowork.

How the work flows

Step	What happens	Where you stay in control
Find	Ask for sellers that fit your goal, or browse them.	Reading sellers sends nothing and spends nothing.
Compare	Send a brief to eligible sellers and read the proposals that come back, with their prices and products.	A seller is asked only where your advertiser has an active account with it.
Prepare	Stage a proposal or product as a draft media buy and attach a finished creative.	Creating a campaign or a draft buy does not launch it.
Approve	Ask for a launch preview. It lists the media buys that would go live, their sellers and the combined budget.	Nothing goes live until a second, separate confirmation call arrives, tied to the previewed campaign revision. Apostra enforces that call, not who makes it, so an assistant that is allowed to make it can. Require a person’s approval in your assistant or application.
Read	Ask for delivery by campaign, media buy or package.	Seller-reported figures carry a finality label, and a metric a seller did not report is shown as unavailable, not zero.

If the campaign changes after you approve, the assistant has to preview again and you have to approve again. Content approval, a seller’s creative review and launch approval are separate decisions.

How it compares

Option	Best when	Approval and spend control
Apostra application or a connected assistant	You want to find options across several sellers, compare them and run the campaign from one place	Two-step launch, per-buy daily caps where the seller supports them, administrator approval for billing changes. See How AI can run ads without unlimited spend
One ad platform’s own tools	You buy on that platform only and want its full native feature set	That platform’s own permissions and limits
An assistant wired straight to one platform’s MCP	You want to ask questions of a single platform’s account	That platform’s own permissions

For a longer comparison, see Apostra compared with platform MCPs and direct seller APIs.

What to check first

Ad platforms sell wholesale products. Platform sellers such as Meta, TikTok and Google take no briefs. You browse their standard products and book the ones you pick. The proposal comparison applies to sellers that answer briefs.
Live spend needs setup. A live advertiser needs billing details, an accepted plan and a verified organization identity before a seller that bills through Apostra is asked for a proposal. A sandbox advertiser needs none of that and spends nothing, but it can only buy from sellers that declare sandbox support. Platform sellers refuse sandbox buys.
Creative. Apostra saves and attaches a finished creative. It does not generate one.
Results. Buyer reporting is day-grain, and delivery reaches Apostra through seller reports, so it is not real time.

When not to use Apostra

You buy on one platform only and want a feature that platform’s own tool offers and Apostra’s connection does not. Each platform’s compatibility page lists what is available, partial or not offered.
You need Apostra to generate creative.
You need a seller that is not on Apostra. You can invite it and record a supply request, but you cannot buy from it until it is connected.

Next step

Choose where you want to work:

Claude or Cowork: add the hosted MCP connector, sign in, and ask your assistant to verify your account with a read. See Claude and Cowork setup.
Buyer plugins: install Apostra’s buyer workflow skills in Claude, Cowork or Claude Code. See Buyer plugins.
The web app: sign in at app.apostra.com and follow Manage ads.

Sources

Manage ads, Build an agent and Capability limits.
Account access for sandbox advertisers and live spend.
Ad platform compatibility.

Start building

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Workflow recipes

MCP reference

Shared reference