FAQ: error messages

What it means: You are not signed in, or your houndtool session (30 days) has ended.

What to do: Sign in with Google again from the sidebar.

What it means: Your Google sign-in token was refused by Google, usually because access was removed at myaccount.google.com/permissions.

What to do: Log out and sign in with Google again.

What it means: Shown when saving your login for background jobs with a sign-in that Google no longer accepts.

What to do: Click "Sign in again" in the message, then save your login on the Connections page once more.

What it means: Your email is not on the houndtool access list yet, or it was added but the site has not been redeployed since.

What to do: Ask an admin to add you. Admins: the change only takes effect after a redeploy (see below).

What it means: Password sign-in: the email or the password is wrong. For safety houndtool doesn't say which. After 5 wrong passwords the account is locked for 15 minutes (longer if it keeps happening).

What to do: Check for typos and Caps Lock. Forgot it? Ask a houndtool admin to send you a reset link (Admin → Users).

What it means: Too many wrong passwords for this account (locked for 15 minutes or more), or from your network (5 per hour, shared by everyone on the same office network).

What to do: Wait and try again, or ask a houndtool admin to unlock the account or unblock the address on Admin → Users.

What it means: The password is right, but the account hasn't finished being set up: the email isn't on ALLOWED_EMAILS yet (or the site hasn't been redeployed since), or the invite was never completed.

What to do: Ask the admin who added you. Admins: add the email to ALLOWED_EMAILS in Vercel and redeploy.

What it means: An admin disabled the account on Admin → Users.

What to do: Ask a houndtool admin to enable it again if you still need access.

What it means: Password sign-in is still being tested (alpha) and isn't switched on for your account.

What to do: Admins: Admin → Feature Access → the user → Per feature → Password sign-in: On.

What it means: Google sign-in worked, but nobody has added you on Admin → Users. Being on ALLOWED_EMAILS alone is no longer enough.

What to do: Ask a houndtool admin to add you with "Signs in with Google".

What it means: Your account was added with password sign-in, so Google sign-in is refused for it.

What to do: Sign in with your email and password (the page linked from your invite email).

What it means: Invite links work once and expire after 72 hours; reset links after 1 hour. A newer link also cancels an older one.

What to do: Ask a houndtool admin to resend the invite or send a new reset link (Admin → Users), and use the newest email.

What it means: The password is on Have I Been Pwned's list of leaked passwords (checked without sending the password anywhere), so attackers try it first.

What to do: Pick a different password, e.g. a few unrelated words. A password manager can make one for you.

What it means: Google refused the saved login ("Token has been expired or revoked"). Common reasons: the Google user removed houndtool at myaccount.google.com/permissions (this ends every houndtool login for that user at once), the Google user signed out of a tool that shares the same Google client, or more than 100 logins were created for that user (Google drops the oldest).

What to do: Owner: click Reconnect on the Connections page. It keeps the name and shares. Others: ask the owner to reconnect it.

What it means: Google does not tell houndtool when access is removed. Houndtool finds out the next time the login is used, or when the Connections page checks (at most every 10 minutes).

What to do: Open the Connections page or run something small with it; it then switches to Expired.

What it means: The owner revoked the share, or it reached its end date.

What to do: Ask the owner to share it again.

What it means: The share is at a lower level (Reports or Basic Changes) than the action needs.

What to do: Ask the owner to raise the access level, or use your own login.

What it means: Some actions, like approving a multi-party approval, can never go through someone else's connection.

What to do: Switch "Run as" to yourself.

What it means: The share is limited to certain MCCs and the one you picked is not one of them.

What to do: Pick an allowed MCC, or ask the owner to widen the share.

What it means: A connection must always be your own Google user. You picked a different Google account in the pop-up.

What to do: Connect again and choose the same Google account you are signed in to houndtool with.

What it means: The Google Ads permission was unticked on Google's consent screen.

What to do: Connect again and leave the Google Ads box ticked.

What it means: The request to houndtool came from another website or subdomain, not from houndtool's own pages. Houndtool refuses those so other sites can't act with your login.

What to do: Use houndtool directly at its own address. If you see this inside houndtool itself, tell an admin.

What it means: Actions through someone else's connection are always logged first. The log could not be written (database problem).

What to do: Try again in a minute. If it keeps happening, tell an admin.

What it means: The MCC used to reach the account (the "login-customer-id") is not above that account. Usually the account sits under a different MCC tree, or its link to your MCC is pending or removed. Your admin access on another MCC does not help.

What to do: Pick the MCC the account is actually linked under, or check the link in the Google Ads UI. Accounts outside the picked MCC will keep failing.

What it means: The account was created, but its billing setup was refused. Google limits new billing setups per payments profile per week: about 15 for card/prepay (automatic or manual payments) and 1,500 for monthly invoicing.

What to do: Stop creating accounts on that profile. Wait about a week, then add billing only to the accounts that are missing it (don't re-create them). Google Ads support can sometimes reset the limit.

What it means: Google limits how many new accounts can be created (around 2,500 per week, and unpublished caps through the API). Earlier runs or retries may have used it up.

What to do: Check for accounts already created, stop retrying, and try a single account the next day.

What it means: Creating accounts is a "sensitive action": Google wants proof that the user signed in again recently. Older saved logins don't carry it. Most likely linked to Google's passkey rules for sensitive actions (since July 2026).

What to do: Sign in again with Google (with your passkey) to get a fresh login, then retry.

What it means: A hiccup on Google's side, often because one manager is creating many accounts in a short time and Google slows it down. Google answered before creating the account, so normally nothing was created.

What to do: Background jobs try these rows again by themselves (up to 5 tries over about 5 minutes, checking first that the account wasn't created after all). If a row still fails, wait a few minutes and use "Retry rows". In the browser tool: run the failed rows again a bit later.

What it means: Two budget changes hit the same manager at the same moment.

What to do: Houndtool retries this automatically. If it still fails, the row shows "budget failed": add the budget by hand in Google Ads.

What it means: The Google Cloud project behind houndtool only has test access to the Google Ads API.

What to do: An admin must request Basic or Standard access for the Cloud project in Google Cloud Console.

What it means: Inviting users to an account can trigger Google's multi-party approval.

What to do: Someone else must approve it, for example on the Multi-Party Approvals page. Requests expire after 20 days.

What it means: An earlier change to this account's budget is still waiting for approval, or has not taken effect yet. Google allows one at a time.

What to do: Wait until it is approved (or cancel it in Google Ads under Billing → Budgets), then load the budgets again.

What it means: An account budget belongs to a billing setup, and this account has none that is approved.

What to do: Set up billing for the account in Google Ads first. Rows like this show "No billing setup" and are left alone.

What it means: The account has no active account budget to change, and "Create budgets for accounts without one" was not ticked.

What to do: Tick "Create budgets for accounts without one", or type an amount in the row, and apply again.

What it means: An account budget's limit is a total from its start date. It can't be set lower than the amount already spent on it.

What to do: Enter a total above the Spent column, or end the budget with an end date instead.

What it means: Accounts without a budget get a new one, which needs both values. Unlimited is never picked by itself.

What to do: Fill in the amount and end date, or tick Unlimited for the one you want open-ended.

What it means: Google returned no verification for the account: it is not (yet) asking this advertiser to verify.

What to do: Nothing to do. You can still start it voluntarily with "Start verification". Check again later: Google can add a requirement with a deadline at any time.

What it means: Google only gives a verification link after a verification session was started, and the link expires.

What to do: Use "Start verification" on those accounts, then "Get links". Starting again after the link expired gives a new link.

What it means: Google requires active billing on the account before verification can be started through the API.

What to do: Set up billing on the account (or check that its billing setup is approved), then start again.

What it means: Google only lets verification be started through the API for accounts billed by monthly invoicing.

What to do: Start verification for that account in the Google Ads interface instead (Billing → Advertiser verification).

What it means: A verification session was already running for the account, so Google did not start a new one.

What to do: Nothing is wrong. Use "Get links" for the current link, or start again once the link has expired.

What it means: A job keeps running after you close the tab, so it can't use this browser's sign-in.

What to do: Connections page → save your login, or choose a connection in "Run as" before starting the job.

What it means: The job stopped because Google no longer accepts your saved login.

What to do: Save your login again, then use "Retry rows" on the job page.

What it means: Every row re-checks the share. The owner revoked it or lowered the level while the job ran.

What to do: Ask the owner to share it again, then use "Retry rows".

What it means: The feature is not switched on for you (it may still be in alpha or beta), or an admin switched it off. Running jobs stop at the next row.

What to do: Ask a houndtool admin for access.

What it means: The account exists, but one of the later steps failed. The row shows Google's reason.

What to do: Fix that step in Google Ads for that account. Don't retry the row: that would create a second account.

What it means: The job was interrupted right after Google created the account, before billing/budget/invites finished.

What to do: Check that account's billing, budget and invites in Google Ads.

What it means: Before trying a row again, houndtool looks for an account with exactly that name directly under the manager. It found one, so it didn't create a second. Usually an earlier try created it even though Google answered with an error; it can also be an older account that happens to have the same name.

What to do: Open the account id from the message in Google Ads. If it is from this job, set up its billing, budget and invites there. If it is an unrelated account, give the row another name and run it again.

What it means: Houndtool could not reach Inngest, the service that runs jobs.

What to do: Try again in a minute. If it keeps failing, tell an admin.

What it means: Each job can be retried once, so a double click or a second tab can't create the same accounts twice.

What to do: Click "Open retry job" on the job page. If rows failed there too, retry that job. The original job's page shows the combined result of all tries.

What it means: Something unexpected went wrong several times in a row (for example the database or Google could not be reached). The full error is kept in Houndtool's own server log, not sent to the job runner.

What to do: Use "Retry rows" on the job page. If it keeps happening, tell an admin the time it happened so they can look it up in the Vercel logs.

What it means: Each person gets 3 rows running at a time, shared by all their jobs, and the whole houndtool account gets 5. A new job waits until a slot is free.

What to do: Wait for your other job to finish, or stop it. If nothing else is running, check that the job runner (Inngest) is connected.