Step 1: Identify Use Case & Read Documentation

• Determine Destination Account Type: [CRITICAL] If it's not clear where the data is being sent (e.g., Google Ads, Display & Video 360, etc.), STOP and CLARIFY with the user BEFORE generating any code. Do not assume Google Ads by default. This maps to the account_type field of the operating_account in the Destination.
• Read the implementation guide: Read the relevant guide for your destination and use case. Do this before answering questions or writing code because each destination has unique payload structures, consent rules, and required fields.

Step 2: Retrieve Code Sample

[!IMPORTANT] If writing or updating an ingestion script, ALWAYS retrieve the relevant code sample to use as a reference:

Step 3: Retrieve Migration Guides

[!IMPORTANT] If refactoring code to upgrade from another Google API, ALWAYS extract the full contents of the relevant field mapping guide.

Google Ads

• Google Ads API Customer Match: Google Ads API to Customer Match Migration Field Mappings

Display & Video 360

• Display & Video 360 API Customer Match: Display & Video 360 API to Customer Match Migration Field Mappings

Step 4: Implementation

Implement the ingestion logic using the following checkpoints:

• Initialize Client: Instantiate the Data Manager client (IngestionServiceClient).
• Define Destinations: Build the Destination object using the product_destination_id and the appropriate account configurations: operating_account (target account receiving data), login_account (if authenticating using a manager account or a data partner account), and linked_account (if you're a data partner accessing the account via a partner link to a manager account). STRONGLY RECOMMENDED: Refer to the Configure destinations and headers guide for more details on configuring destinations.
• Format User Data: If sending an IngestAudienceMembersRequest or RemoveAudienceMembersRequest, refer to Formatting User Data to properly normalize and hash user identifiers using the utility library.
• Construct Payload: Build the appropriate request payload based on the operation:
  • Add: IngestAudienceMembersRequest
  • Remove: RemoveAudienceMembersRequest
  • Remove All: RemoveAllAudienceMembersRequest
• Support Validation: Support sending the validate_only boolean option on the payload to allow developers to validate schemas without actually applying changes.
• Send Request: Execute the appropriate method and record the returned request_id for later diagnostics:
  • Add: ingest_audience_members
  • Remove: remove_audience_members
  • Remove All: remove_all_audience_members
• Check for Ingestion Warnings: If any non-required field had a validation failure, the response from ingest_audience_members will also include field_warnings, a list of FieldWarning objects detailing the issues.
• Retrieve Request Status: Check the status of the ingestion request using diagnostics. Since request processing is asynchronous, a successful response (HTTP 200 OK returning a request_id) only indicates the payload was received. To check if the records actually succeeded, partially succeeded, or failed to process, query client.retrieve_request_status using the request_id. Skipping this step is a common user mistake.

Critical Gotchas

• If sending hashed user identifiers in user_data for ingest_audience_members or remove_audience_members, you must set the encoding field on the IngestAudienceMembersRequest to HEX or BASE64.
• If uploading to a Customer Match audience, the terms_of_service field is required on the IngestAudienceMembersRequest to indicate the user has accepted the policies.
• Only set the address field on UserIdentifier if all required fields (postal_code, family_name, given_name, region_code) are present; incomplete address fields will cause the API request to fail.
• product_destination_id must be a numeric string. It is NOT a resource name.
• The enum values for ConsentStatus are CONSENT_GRANTED and CONSENT_DENIED. Do not use the values GRANTED and DENIED.
• Field names on UserIdentifier are email_address and phone_number. Do not use the Google Ads API field names hashed_email and hashed_phone_number.
• Do not call the diagnostics endpoint (retrieve_request_status) if validate_only is set to true.

Error Handling & Troubleshooting

Inspecting Error Payloads & Ingestion Warnings

[!IMPORTANT] Refer to Understand API Errors for a detailed guide on how to understand the structure of errors and warnings returned by the API.

Retrieving Request Status (Diagnostics)

Periodically poll for status using exponential backoff, starting at least 30 minutes after sending the request.

1. Call client.retrieve_request_status using RetrieveRequestStatusRequest(request_id=...).
2. Loop through request_status_per_destination in the response to inspect each target's request_status.
3. If processing is complete and request_status is SUCCESS, PARTIAL_SUCCESS, or FAILED, inspect diagnostic values:
   • Audience Status: Check the status specific to your request:
     • Ingest: Check the data-type-specific status nested under audience_members_ingestion_status (e.g., composite_data_ingestion_status).
     • Remove Individual Members: Check the data-type-specific status nested under audience_members_removal_status (e.g., composite_data_removal_status).
     • Remove All Members: There are no nested status fields or record counts available to check for this request type.
     • Record Count: If applicable (ingest or remove individual members), check record_count (nested inside the data-type-specific status object) which includes both success and failure.
     • Identifier Counts: If applicable (ingest or remove individual members), check the data-type-specific count field nested inside the status object (e.g., data_type_counts if uploading or removing composite data, or mobile_id_count if uploading or removing mobile IDs). Refer to the Diagnostics Guide for other count fields.
     • Match Rate Range: For uploads of user_data and composite_data, check upload_match_rate_range nested inside the status object.
   • Error Details: If status is FAILED or PARTIAL_SUCCESS, inspect each error's reason and record_count under error_info.error_counts.
   • Warning Details: Inspect each warning's reason and record_count under warning_info.warning_counts (even if the destination status is SUCCESS).

API Reference

• Send audience members guide
• REST API Reference: Ingest
• REST API Reference: Remove
• REST API Reference: Remove All