---
title: "Generate Google Ads image assets"
method: POST
path: "/api/apps/{app_id}/google-ads/assets/generate-images"
---

# Generate Google Ads image assets

`POST /api/apps/{app_id}/google-ads/assets/generate-images`

<Info>This API is in beta. Endpoints, fields, and behavior may still change, so avoid depending on it in production.</Info>

Generates ad pictures for the app and returns them as previews.

Nothing reaches Google Ads here. Each picture comes back with a `session_asset_id` you pass to [Accept a generated Google Ads asset](/api-reference/accept-a-generated-google-ads-asset) to put it on a live campaign.

Send exactly one of `final_url` and `freeform_prompt`. Sending both is rejected, and so is sending neither, which is the one place this endpoint differs from [Generate Google Ads assets](/api-reference/generate-google-ads-assets), where omitting both is allowed and grounds the pictures in the app's home page.

Pictures are slower than copy, so the response returns once the first one is ready. `assets` holds what finished in time and `background_pending` with `background_count` say that more are coming. Poll [List Google Ads generated assets](/api-reference/list-google-ads-generated-assets) with the returned `session_id` for the rest. `assets` can be empty while `background_pending` is `true`, which means the pictures are being generated but none landed in time.

<Note>Only one generation of each kind runs per app at a time. Calling this while one is running returns a 200 carrying `in_flight` set to `true`, that run's `session_id`, and an empty `assets`. Poll the `session_id` you were given rather than retrying.</Note>

Each shape in `asset_field_types` costs one of 10 picture requests a minute per app, and the retry below costs the whole shape count again. So four shapes cost 4 normally and 8 on a retry, which is one call a minute in the worst case rather than two, and a single shape costs 1 or 2.

<Note>When Google refuses the page you pointed at, Base44 retries once on the app's own published URL, and that retry costs the same again. Pace requests against the doubled figure, not the single one, or a refusal-heavy app hits a 429 part-way through its own recovery.</Note>

<Note>Generating creative does not spend credits and is not billed. It is capped by rate limits instead, so a burst gets a 429 rather than a bill.</Note>

<Note>This endpoint accepts a personal API key. Workspace API keys are not authorized for it and are rejected with a 403.</Note>

<Warning>The response includes fields beyond the ones documented here. Don't rely on undocumented response fields, as they can change at any time. Send only the fields documented here. Other request fields are not supported and their behavior can change.</Warning>

## Path parameters

- `app_id` string, required — ID of the app whose Google Ads creative you want to generate or read.

## Request body

- object
  - `channel_type` string — Campaign type the pictures are for, one of `PERFORMANCE_MAX`, `DEMAND_GEN`, `SEARCH` or `DISPLAY`. It does not restrict the shapes you may ask for.
  - `asset_field_types` string[] — Which picture shapes to generate, from `MARKETING_IMAGE`, `SQUARE_MARKETING_IMAGE`, `PORTRAIT_MARKETING_IMAGE` or `TALL_PORTRAIT_MARKETING_IMAGE`. Send between one and four entries. Each shape costs one request against the picture rate limit, so asking for fewer gets you more calls a minute. A text field type here is rejected with a 422.
  - `final_url` string — Page to base the pictures on. Send exactly one of this and `freeform_prompt`.
  - `freeform_prompt` string — What the pictures should show, in your own words, up to 1500 characters. Send exactly one of this and `final_url`.

## Response `200`

The pictures that were generated.

- GenerateImageAssetsResult — The pictures one image generation produced.
  - `session_id` string, required — ID of this generation. Pass it as `session_id` to [List Google Ads generated assets](/api-reference/list-google-ads-generated-assets) to collect the pictures that are still coming.
  - `assets` GeneratedAssetSummary[], required — The pictures that finished in time to be returned inline. Empty when nothing landed in time, when the engine produced nothing, and when a generation for this app was already running, which `in_flight` tells apart.
    - `session_asset_id` string, required — ID of this asset within the session. Pass it as `session_asset_id` to [Accept a generated Google Ads asset](/api-reference/accept-a-generated-google-ads-asset).
    - `asset_field_type` string, required — Which slot on the ad this asset fills. Text assets are `HEADLINE`, `LONG_HEADLINE` or `DESCRIPTION`. Image assets are `MARKETING_IMAGE`, `SQUARE_MARKETING_IMAGE`, `PORTRAIT_MARKETING_IMAGE` or `TALL_PORTRAIT_MARKETING_IMAGE`.
    - `kind` string, required — Whether the asset is copy (`text`) or a picture (`image`).
    - `text` string, nullable, required — The generated copy, or `null` on an image asset.
    - `image_url` string, nullable, required — URL of the generated picture, or `null` on a text asset. It is a Base44 preview URL, not a Google one, and it stops resolving once the asset is cleaned up.
    - `source` string, required — Which engine wrote it. The value is `google` for Google's own asset generation and `inhouse` for the Base44 model that covers languages Google does not generate for, and that stands in when Google's call fails.
    - `language` string, nullable, required — Language of a text asset as a lowercase two-letter code, or `null` on an image, because image assets carry no copy.
    - `channel_type` string, required — Campaign type the asset was generated for, one of `SEARCH`, `PERFORMANCE_MAX`, `DISPLAY` or `DEMAND_GEN`.
    - `created_at` string, date-time, required — When the asset was generated.
  - `background_pending` boolean, nullable — Present and `true` when more pictures are still being generated under this `session_id`, including when `assets` came back empty because the first one took too long. Absent on a lock-miss response.
  - `background_count` integer, nullable — How many more pictures are still being generated. Absent on a lock-miss response.
  - `in_flight` boolean, nullable — Present and `true` only when an image generation for this app was already running, in which case `session_id` is that run's and `assets` is empty. Poll the returned `session_id` rather than retrying. The field is absent on every other response.

## Other responses

- `400` — Google Ads rejected the generation request, for example a landing page it could not read. The response message carries Google's reason.
- `401` — Missing or invalid credentials.
- `403` — You don't have access to this app, the app does not exist, or you used a workspace API key. A missing app and an app you cannot reach are deliberately the same answer.
- `409` — The request to Google Ads timed out after being sent. Nothing was attached to a campaign, so retrying is safe.
- `422` — You sent both `final_url` and `freeform_prompt` or neither, or `asset_field_types` contains a value that is not an image field type, is empty, or has more than four entries, or `freeform_prompt` is longer than 1500 characters.
- `429` — The app has used up one of the creative rate limits, either 20 copy requests a minute or 10 picture requests a minute. Retry later.

---

[API](https://skmtc.dev/base44/apis/base44-app-management-api.md) · [All operations](https://skmtc.dev/base44/apis/base44-app-management-api/llms.txt) · [OpenAPI document](https://skmtc-service-production.skmtc.workers.dev/v1/apis/base44/base44-app-management-api/revisions/173e4e9c63c2/schema)