The AdAdvisor scale skill prevents the most expensive mistake in Meta (Facebook) ad management: scaling fast, resetting Meta’s learning phase, watching CPA spike, panicking, killing the winner. Scaling is the most-talked-about and least-understood part of Meta ads. The skill enforces eligibility checks and respects the cadence senior buyers use.Documentation Index
Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://adadvisor.ai/docs/llms.txt
Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
When should I use the scale skill?
Triggers automatically on:- “Scale”
- “Scale this campaign”
- “Scale this winner”
- “Increase budget”
- “Give it more budget”
- “Ramp up”
- “Grow spend”
- “Expand”
- “Raise budget”
- “Duplicate to new audience”
How does the AdAdvisor scale eligibility check work?
Before suggesting any budget change, the skill verifies:3+ stable days above target
ROAS ≥ target × 1.2 (or CPL ≤ target × 0.9 for lead-gen) for at least three consecutive days. Pulled from
adadvisor:get_timeseries.Past Meta's learning phase
50+ conversions in the trailing 7 days. Scaling in learning resets the clock and costs you the established CPA.
Stable new-customer rate
A “scaling winner” that is actually serving repeat customers will not survive vertical scale. The skill flags this when surfaceable.
Healthy frequency
Prospecting under 2.5, retargeting under 6. Frequency creep above these means audience saturation, not headroom.
What are the four scaling axes for Meta ads?
The skill picks the right axis based on your current spend, CPA stability, and audience availability:| Axis | When to use | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Vertical | Under $1k a day spend, audience headroom, CPA stable | Raise daily budget on the existing ad set. Default cadence: +20% every 2 to 3 days. |
| Horizontal | Vertical scaling is inflating CPA over 10% per increment | Duplicate the winner to new audiences, geos, or LAL tiers. New cost basis, similar creative. |
| Bid cap (Tichenor method) | Lowest Cost hits a spend ceiling, 50+ conversions per week | Duplicate with bid cap at target_CPA × 1.20. Build a portfolio of bid-capped duplicates each finding their own price point. |
| Target ROAS (Faris method) | Confirmed winner stable for 7+ days | Duplicate winner into a LOWEST_COST_WITH_MIN_ROAS variant for stability floor. 70% of mature DTC spend per Andrew Faris. |
What is the 20% rule for scaling Meta ads?
The consensus default: raise daily budget by no more than 20% every 2 to 3 days. Larger jumps reset the learning phase. Math example: a 173 a day in a week, $430 a day in a month, with CPA in range the whole way. Aggressive scaling (50% or 100% jumps) can work on confirmed winners with deep conversion volume, but only with bid caps and explicit acceptance of a learning reset. The MCP server enforces a 2x / 0.5x guardrail onchange_entity_budget. The skill respects it by staging changes (120 → 173) rather than passing force=True to override.
How do I scale Meta ads from 10k a day?
Three stages, each 2 to 6 weeks depending on creative production cadence:Stage 1: $1k to $2.5k a day
Stage 1: $1k to $2.5k a day
Vertical 20% on confirmed winners. Add 1 to 2 ad sets with broader audience. Lock in 3 to 5 winning creatives. Track CPA inflation. If it crosses 1.5x target, hold.
Stage 2: $2.5k to $5k a day
Stage 2: $2.5k to $5k a day
Horizontal scaling. Duplicate winners into new audiences (LAL expansions, geo). Introduce ASC alongside manual (with exclusions to prevent cannibalization). Creative production becomes weekly. Start tracking MER as the company-level number.
Stage 3: $5k to $10k a day
Stage 3: $5k to $10k a day
Bid-cap diversification (Tichenor). Target ROAS campaigns (Faris). Layer brand/awareness at 10% to 15% of budget. Creative production cadence: 4+ new concepts per week. Most operators stall here because they protect a misleading ROAS instead of optimizing for total profit dollars.
What anti-patterns does the scale skill prevent?
Scaling 50% on day 1 of a winner
Scaling 50% on day 1 of a winner
Resets learning, CPA spikes, you panic-kill. The skill enforces 3-day stability and a 20% cadence.
Telling you scaling improves ROAS
Telling you scaling improves ROAS
Scaling typically INFLATES CPA short-term as you exit the optimal audience. The skill sets expectations explicitly: CPA will creep 10% to 20% in the first 3 days. Kill if it crosses target × 1.5.
Vertical scaling past a flat spend ceiling
Vertical scaling past a flat spend ceiling
Wasted budget. The skill switches axes (horizontal or bid-cap) when daily delivery flattens.
Using force=True to bypass the 2x guardrail
Using force=True to bypass the 2x guardrail
The guardrail exists for a reason. The skill stages changes (1.5x, wait, 1.5x, wait) rather than 5x in one call.
Scaling a campaign driven entirely by repeat customers
Scaling a campaign driven entirely by repeat customers
Does not survive new-customer exposure. The skill checks new-customer rate before recommending scale.
How do I install the scale skill?
Claude Code
Ships with the full plugin install.
Claude.ai & Desktop
Download adadvisor-scale.zip and upload via Settings, Capabilities, Skills.
Frequently asked questions
How do I scale a Meta ad campaign without breaking the learning phase?
How do I scale a Meta ad campaign without breaking the learning phase?
Apply the 20% rule. Raise daily budget by no more than 20% every 2 to 3 days. Bigger jumps reset Meta’s learning phase, which costs you the established CPA. The AdAdvisor scale skill enforces this cadence and stages larger increases automatically.
When should I switch from vertical to horizontal scaling?
When should I switch from vertical to horizontal scaling?
When vertical scaling causes CPA to inflate over 10% per 20% budget increment. That signals the original audience is saturated and adding more budget just buys lower-quality impressions. Horizontal scaling (duplicating the winner to new audiences, geos, or LAL tiers) creates a new cost basis. The skill watches for this signal in the timeseries data.
What is the Tichenor bid-cap method?
What is the Tichenor bid-cap method?
Charley Tichenor’s scaling technique. Once Lowest Cost campaigns hit a spend ceiling and 50+ conversions per week, duplicate the winning ad set with a bid cap at
target_CPA × 1.20. Build a portfolio of bid-capped duplicates that each find their own price point. The skill recommends bid caps when vertical and horizontal scaling have both flattened.What is the Faris target-ROAS method?
What is the Faris target-ROAS method?
Andrew Faris’s discipline: 70% of mature DTC spend belongs on Target ROAS campaigns (LOWEST_COST_WITH_MIN_ROAS bid strategy with optimization_goal VALUE). After a winner is stable for 7+ days, duplicate it into a Target ROAS variant for stability floor. The skill recommends this once you have confirmed, post-learning winners.
Can the AdAdvisor scale skill handle Claude making budget changes automatically?
Can the AdAdvisor scale skill handle Claude making budget changes automatically?
No. The skill enforces an eligibility check (3+ stable days, past learning, healthy frequency, stable new-customer rate, pixel firing) and a 20% cadence, but every actual budget change requires your explicit confirmation. The MCP server also enforces a 2x guardrail on
change_entity_budget to prevent runaway scaling.Related skills
Diagnose
Confirms scale eligibility before any budget change.
Targeting
Horizontal-scale audience picks (LAL tiers, geo expansion).
Playbooks
Full stage plan with operational checkpoints.