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Set up Ad Auto Rules
Ad Auto Rules tell Nexus when to pause, resume or change the budget of an ad on Meta and Google. You decide which rules run and which need your approval first. Find the page at Settings > Ads > Ad Auto Rules.
Problem and intended user
This page is for the media buyer (the person who runs your paid ads). The ecommerce manager (the person who runs the store) cares about spend limits. An ad can keep spending after its results turn bad or its product sells out, while a strong ad stays on a small budget.
Current workflow
Most merchants scan each ad in Meta Ads Manager and Google Ads, then pause or resize ads by hand. Some compare exports with a spreadsheet of limits, such as a target cost per acquisition. They check stock in Shopify admin, or ask an agency.
Prerequisites
- Connect Meta Ads, Google Ads or both. See Meta Ads and Google Ads.
- Ads that Nexus deployed. Rules act on those ads only. See Review and deploy ads.
- Keep your product stock data in Nexus current. Out of Stock and Recovery Resume read days of stock.
How Nexus works
Nexus checks your enabled rules on a schedule. Fixed rules, not AI, decide every match. A rule pairs a trigger with an action. The trigger compares a metric with a threshold over a window of days. The action is Pause ad, Resume ad, Scale up budget or Scale down budget.
A match creates a decision. Auto-approve applies it. Require human approval leaves it pending until you approve it. This page does not list pending decisions.
WARNING
Auto-approve changes live ads without asking you. Start with Require human approval until you trust a rule.
Choose a master mode
Master mode overrides every rule.
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Off | Rules do not run. Run all rules now and Run now do nothing. |
| Require human approval for all | Every match becomes a pending decision, even for rules set to Auto-approve. |
| Auto-approve where allowed | Rules set to Auto-approve apply their action. Other matches wait for approval. |
These matches always need approval, whatever the setting:
- Scale-up actions.
- Rules that use the Is a winner or Is a potential winner metric.
- Matches after a daily cap in Automation safety (advanced) is reached.
A change opens the Shopify save bar. Select Save to keep it or Discard to drop it.
Set safety limits
Open Automation safety (advanced) to set limits for every rule. Edit a value, then select Save. Nexus confirms with "Automation safety updated."
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Max auto-pauses per day | Caps how many ads rules pause on their own in one day. |
| Max budget delta (USD/day) | Caps how much budget rules change on their own in one day. Nexus converts your store currency to USD before it compares a budget change with this cap. |
| Pause below days of stock | Sets the stock level at which Out of Stock pauses an ad, unless you edit that rule's own threshold. |
| Velocity window (days) | Sets how many days of sales Nexus counts to work out days of stock for Out of Stock and Recovery Resume. |
| Manual override cooldown (hours) | Pauses rules on an ad after someone edits it on the platform. |
| Respect platform learning phase | Delays pause and scale-down actions on ads still in the learning phase. |
Ad Auto Rules never launch ads. The fields Max auto-launches per day, Min budget per ad (USD), Launch min days of stock, Launch min catalog health and Default margin assumption (%) do not affect the rules you can create.
Start from a recommended template
Under Recommended templates, tick Disabled on a card to create that rule with its defaults. The label changes to Enabled.
| Template | What it does |
|---|---|
| Underperformer Kill | Pauses an ad whose cost per acquisition runs well above target. |
| No-Conversion Kill | Pauses an ad with no conversions over several days. |
| ROAS Floor | Pauses an ad whose ROAS stays below a floor. |
| Frequency Fatigue | Pauses a Meta ad whose frequency climbs too high. |
| CTR Collapse | Pauses an ad whose click-through rate drops sharply. |
| Out of Stock | Pauses an ad whose product is nearly out of stock. |
| Recovery Resume | Resumes a paused ad when its product is back in stock. |
| Scale Down (soft) | Lowers the budget when ROAS drops sharply against its recent level. |
| Scale Winner | Recommends a budget increase when ROAS stays high. It always needs approval and never applies itself. |
All nine cards show for every store. Out of Stock and Recovery Resume need current stock data. For a product that does not track stock, Out of Stock never matches.
Edit a rule
- Select Edit on a card.
- Change Rule name, the threshold and Window for metric aggregation (days).
- Tick Skip ads still in the platform learning phase to leave new ads alone.
- Pick Auto-approve or Require human approval in HITL mode. HITL means human in the loop.
- Set Budget delta % on a scale rule.
- Move Priority when two rules can match one ad. The higher number wins.
- Select Create rule or Save changes.
Select an info icon to open an explanation, then Open in glossary for the Auto Rules Glossary. Back to Rules returns you here.
Build a custom rule
Use Custom rule (Advanced) when no template fits:
- Enter a Rule name.
- Pick a Metric, Operator and Threshold.
- Set Window (days), or Consecutive days and Direction for that operator.
- Pick an Action and a Platform.
- Select Create custom rule.
The metrics Is a winner (1 = yes, 0 = no) and Is a potential winner (1 = yes, 0 = no) follow your own definition. Set that definition first: see Winning criteria.
Custom rules appear under Your custom rules. Use the checkbox to enable or disable one. Delete removes it.
Run your rules now
Select Run all rules now. The button reads Queueing…, Running…, then Run again, or Retry after a failure. It stays disabled during a run.
Exact output
The page holds Master mode, the collapsed Automation safety (advanced) bar, the Run all rules now card, Recommended templates and Your custom rules.
Run result
After a run, the card shows the decisions created and the matches. Nexus also shows "N decision(s) created.", "No matches in this run." or a message that starts with "Run failed." When a safety cap stops a run, the message reads "Brakes tripped:" and the cap names.
Rule cards and Preview
Each card shows Enabled or Disabled, an approval menu, Edit and Run now. Run now works once the rule exists. After you save a rule, Preview shows "N of M ads match this rule" and lists the ads.
What to do with it
| What you see | Decision or action | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| Master mode on Off | Start with Require human approval for all. Move to Auto-approve where allowed when you trust your rules. | media buyer |
| A Disabled template card | Tick it to create the rule, then read Preview. | media buyer |
| A rule set to Require human approval | Decide whether each match should apply. Nexus holds the match as a pending decision and changes nothing until it is approved. | media buyer |
| A Scale up budget match | Decide whether to raise the budget. Nexus never applies it. Change the budget in Meta Ads Manager or Google Ads. | ecommerce manager |
| A cap in Automation safety (advanced) | Set the daily limit you accept, then select Save. | ecommerce manager |
| Out of Stock pauses an ad | Check your stock data. Recovery Resume resumes the ad once the product is back in stock. | ecommerce manager |
Expected value and measurement
Rules can help you stop spend on weak ads sooner and keep ads for sold-out products from running. Scale Winner can help you find ads that deserve more budget.
To check the effect, open Performance > Ad performance and choose By ad. Compare Spend, ROAS and CPA for the ads a rule acted on, before and after, with the same dates and platform.
Other changes in the same weeks, such as new creatives or budget edits, hide the effect. Note the date you enable each rule. Nexus has no page that isolates it.
Limitations and exceptions
- Rules act only on ads that Nexus created and deployed. They do not touch ads you built outside Nexus.
- A match compares a metric with your threshold. It does not forecast results.
- Messages and what to do:
- "Could not load Auto Rules configuration" or "Could not load templates": reload the page.
- "No ads currently match this rule.": no ad meets the trigger now. Check the threshold if you expected a match.
- "Save the rule once to see live matches." or "Live preview not yet available for this rule type.": save the rule, then reopen it.
- "Could not load preview.": close the panel and reopen it.
- "Run failed.": the run stopped. Select Run again or try later.
- A red message beside Retry: Nexus could not start or follow the run. Select Retry or try later.
- Demo Mode: the page shows a Sample data badge. Creating or editing a rule can report success, but Nexus does not save the change and no ad changes, so a new rule does not appear.