Everything happens inside the Northbeam dashboard. You do not need to configure anything in Meta Business Manager — Northbeam handles the Meta-side setup (Custom Attribution Source, CAPI dataset, passback pixel) automatically on your behalf.
Before you start
Before setting up Apex for Meta, make sure you have the following ready:
Northbeam Access — any user on the account can enable Apex, so you don't need to be the account owner.
Meta Business Manager admin permissions — the Meta Ads connection in Northbeam must have been made with a login that has business_management permission for every business whose pixels you want to use. Agency-managed accounts typically only have ads_management and will need the brand to reconnect with the correct login.
An active Meta pixel — at least one pixel must have been receiving Purchase events in the last 28 days. This is Meta's eligibility check and cannot be bypassed.
Your North Star metric — have a decision made (or be ready to decide) on your revenue type, attribution model, attribution window, and accounting mode before starting setup.
Step 1 — Configure your North Star and enable Meta consent
Define your North Star metric — attribution model, attribution window, and accounting mode are the three settings that directly drive Meta's auction.
Toggle on Apex consent for Meta.
Any user on your Northbeam account can complete this step — it does not require the account owner.
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Recommended: Use Accrual as your accounting mode
We've consistently seen better performance with Accrual as the North Star. The reason: Meta has no native visibility into accrual-based revenue, which means you're giving its algorithm two genuinely new signals at once — MTA attribution and accrual revenue. This setting is independent of how you report internally, so you can keep making decisions on Cash while Apex trains on Accrual — and better accrual performance drives cash.
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Your North Star is what Meta's algorithm trains to maximize.
Choose carefully — your North Star tells Meta what to optimize toward based on Northbeam's attribution data, not Meta's. For example, if you set it to 1st time revenue, Meta trains against Northbeam's revenue from new customers — not Meta's own definition of a new customer.
Step 2 — Connect, Configure, and Validate
Toggling on consent launches a three-step in-app wizard. You can return to it from the Apex page if you don't finish in one session.
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The user completing this step must have Meta Business Manager admin permissions.
Agency-managed accounts typically only have ads management permission and will need a brand-side user to complete this step.
1. Connect your Ad Account(s)
Northbeam lists every Meta ad account connected to your dashboard and flags whether the active connection has business_management permission for the owning business. Accounts with the correct permission are ready to proceed; accounts without it show a reconnect prompt.
2. Configure Pixel(s)
For each account with the right permission, Northbeam displays the pixels available in that business. Pixels currently in use by active ad sets are pre-selected. Choose which pixels to enable for Apex.
3. Validate Events
Northbeam runs the per-pixel setup with Meta and surfaces any errors inline. The most common issue: a pixel with no Purchase events in the last 28 days will fail Meta's eligibility check. You can de-select failing pixels and proceed with the ones that pass.
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Validation failing with "Configuration failed."?
Your North Star hasn't been saved. On the Apex page, the North Star Metric dropdowns will show empty "Select.." placeholders when nothing is configured — make your selections and click Save, then re-run validation.
Seeing this error? Your North Star isn't saved.
Select your North Star Metric and click Save, then re-run validation.
Step 3 — Verify
After setup, verify your Enhanced Apex configuration using the following three checks:
1. Northbeam UI verification
You'll see a badge on the Northbeam Apex page and Connections page confirming how many pixels are configured.
Pixel Configuration badge -- setup complete.
Note: Some early Enhanced Apex customers are on our legacy setup flow and may see the legacy Enhanced Apex badge. If this applies to you, your Apex setup is still working as expected.
Enhanced Apex badge -- setup complete.
2. Meta connection verification
Within 48 hours, a new Custom Attribution experience will appear in Meta Events Manager on your dataset.
You'll see a test event called NorthbeamApexConnectionTest (or NorthbeamTestEvent) in Events Manager — this is expected and confirms the connection. No action required.
3. Meta readiness verification
A readiness indicator on the Custom Attribution quality page will climb toward High over approximately 14 days. The campaign creation option in Ads Manager is grayed out until this training period completes. During that time, you can prepare your test campaign, but you cannot launch it yet.
In Events Manager, your Custom attribution source carries a status badge that reflects where Meta is in the training process. It moves through two states:
In training — Meta is still warming up the model on your Apex data. This is the expected state for approximately the first 14 days after setup. The campaign creation option in Ads Manager is grayed out during this period — you can prepare your test campaign, but you cannot launch it yet.
Ready to use — training is complete and Custom Attribution is selectable in Ads Manager.
In Training
Ready to Use
Please reach out to your Customer Success Manager, Media Strategist, or Support if you have any questions.
