--- title: "Partner access to the client's Meta portfolio" description: "Your client has a Meta Business Portfolio — good, that's the easy case." canonical_url: https://chatfuel.com/docs/for-agencies/meta-partner-access markdown_url: https://chatfuel.com/docs/for-agencies/meta-partner-access.md last_updated: 2026-07-06 lang: en site: https://chatfuel.com/docs llms_txt: https://chatfuel.com/llms.txt --- # Partner access to the client's Meta portfolio Your client has a Meta Business Portfolio — good, that's the easy case. Your client has a Meta Business Portfolio — good, that's the easy case. (If they don't have one at all, start with [When the client has no Business Manager](https://chatfuel.com/docs/for-agencies/when-the-client-has-no-business-manager) instead.) Now you need to get inside it the professional way: **partner access**, business-to-business, no shared passwords, revocable by the client at any time. There are two routes: the client grants it, or you request it from your side and the client only clicks Approve. Learn both — the second one is what separates agencies that launch in a day from agencies that spend a week emailing screenshots. ## People access vs. partner access [#people-access-vs-partner-access] Meta has two mechanisms for letting someone into a portfolio, and clients mix them up constantly. Know the difference cold, because you'll be the one explaining it: | | People access | Partner access | | ----------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------- | | **Who it's for** | Individuals — the client's own employees | Businesses — agencies, freelancers with a portfolio | | **How it's granted** | Email invite to one person | Your agency's Business Portfolio ID | | **Your team** | Client invites each of your teammates one by one | You assign your own people to the client's assets yourself | | **When someone leaves your agency** | Client has to remember to remove them | You remove them on your side — client does nothing | | **Ownership** | Client keeps it | Client keeps it — partner access never transfers ownership | For day-to-day agency work — running ads, managing the Page, reading the pixel — **partner access is the answer**. It scales: one grant from the client, and you manage your team's permissions internally. There's one exception where people access matters, covered at the end of this page. ## Before you start: find your Business Portfolio ID [#before-you-start-find-your-business-portfolio-id] Both routes need your agency's own portfolio. If you don't have one yet, create it at [business.facebook.com](https://business.facebook.com) — it takes five minutes and you only do it once, for your agency, ever. Your ID lives in **Business Settings → Business Info** — a 16-digit number under your business name. Keep it in your onboarding template; you'll paste it into every new client conversation. ## Route A: the client grants you access [#route-a-the-client-grants-you-access] The classic flow. Send the client these steps (there's a ready-made [script](https://chatfuel.com/docs/for-agencies/scripts-for-asking-clients-for-access) you can forward as-is): 1. **Open Partners in Business Settings.** The client goes to [business.facebook.com/settings](https://business.facebook.com/settings) → **Partners** → **Add** → **Give a partner access to your assets**. Only someone with full control of the portfolio can do this — usually the owner. 2. **Enter your Business Portfolio ID.** They paste your 16-digit ID. Meta finds your agency's portfolio by that number — no emails, no invites to individual people. 3. **Select the assets to share.** Ad account, Facebook Page, Instagram account, pixel/dataset — everything from the [checklist](https://chatfuel.com/docs/for-agencies/what-to-ask-the-client-for). This is the step clients rush: they share the Page and forget the pixel, or share one ad account when there are two. Send them the exact asset names. 4. **Set the permission level and assign.** For each asset the client picks what your agency can do — then clicks **Assign assets**. The assets appear in your portfolio within a minute, and you can start assigning your own teammates to them. ## Route B: you request access — the client just approves [#route-b-you-request-access--the-client-just-approves] Fewer steps on the client's side means fewer things go wrong. From **your** Business Settings: 1. **Send the request.** **Business Settings → Partners → Add → Ask a partner to assign you their assets.** Enter the client's email (the one tied to their portfolio) and, if you have it, their Business Portfolio ID. 2. **Specify assets and permission levels.** You choose what you're asking for — ad account with ads management, Page, Instagram, pixel. Precision here is a professionalism signal: asking for exactly what the job needs, no more. 3. **The client approves.** They get a notification, review what you asked for (they can trim it), and click Approve. Done — no navigating menus, no screenshots back and forth. 4. **Track it in your Partners tab.** Pending requests sit in **Partners** on your side, so you always know which client is holding up which launch. ## What permissions to ask for [#what-permissions-to-ask-for] Ask for **task-level (partial) access** matched to the job — it's what security-conscious clients expect, and it protects you too: you can't be blamed for what you couldn't touch. | Asset | Ask for | Enough to | | ----------------- | ------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | Ad account | Manage campaigns | Launch, edit, and optimize ads | | Facebook Page | Ads + content (or messaging if you run the inbox) | Publish click-to-WhatsApp ads, manage responses | | Instagram account | Messages + ads | DM automation and ad placements | | Pixel / dataset | Manage | Fire CAPI events, build audiences | | Portfolio-wide | Don't ask | Full control of the whole portfolio is almost never needed — and asking for it triggers the "is this safe?" conversation | ## The exception: connecting WhatsApp to Chatfuel [#the-exception-connecting-whatsapp-to-chatfuel] Partner access runs your ads. But when it's time to [connect the client's WhatsApp](https://chatfuel.com/docs/for-agencies/connect-the-clients-whatsapp), Meta's authorization flow requires the person clicking **Connect** to be logged in with a Facebook account that has **Full control** of the *client's* business portfolio — the client can verify who has it at `business.facebook.com/settings/people`. Two clean ways to handle it: * **Screen-share.** The client logs in and clicks; you navigate. Fifteen minutes, no extra access. This is also the only way for Instagram — that authorization must come from the client's own Instagram account. * **People invite with Full control.** For clients you'll manage long-term, have them add one senior person from your team in **Business Settings → People** with Full control. Reconnections, number changes, and troubleshooting stop requiring the client's calendar. **Important:** never remove the old admin first. If you're helping a client clean up their portfolio, make sure the new account has full access and can see the WhatsApp Business Account under **Accounts → WhatsApp accounts** *before* removing anyone. Removing the old admin first can lock everyone out of the WABA — and getting it back means a support case with Meta. ## When something's still red [#when-somethings-still-red] Request never arrived, assets shared but invisible, permissions that don't let you do anything, an admin who left the company — every access dead-end has a known exit, and they're all collected in [Troubleshooting client access issues](https://chatfuel.com/docs/for-agencies/troubleshooting-client-access-issues).