Google announced on April 9, 2026, that the Merchant API will begin rolling out inside the Google Ads scripts editor starting April 22, 2026. The disclosure, published on the Google Ads Developer Blog by Dora Sun of the Google Ads API Team, marks a concrete step in the transition away from the Content API for Shopping, which will be permanently shut down on August 18, 2026 - a deadline that has been fixed since Google announced the Merchant API's general availability in August 2025.

The April 22 rollout date is less than two weeks away from the announcement. For developers managing product data through Google Ads scripts, the arrival of Merchant API support in that environment closes a gap that existed since the broader Merchant API reached general availability last July.

What the Merchant API actually is

The Merchant API is the designated successor to the Content API for Shopping. Google describes it as a simplified API designed to help developers manage Merchant Center accounts and showcase products programmatically. According to the Google Ads Developer Blog announcement, it "provides a shift toward more robust, scalable, and feature-rich integrations."

The architectural difference from its predecessor is significant. Where the Content API operated as a monolithic interface, the Merchant API uses a modular design, broken down into sub-APIs. According to the announcement, this structure allows for "faster access to new features and updates," "easier versioning and maintenance," and "reduced disruption, as changes in one sub-API are less likely to impact others." Each sub-API can be versioned and updated independently, which means a change to the Products sub-API does not force coordinated changes across the entire surface area of the API.

The Merchant API v1 - the stable, generally available version - launched in July 2025. A v1beta version was discontinued and shut down on February 28, 2026. At this point, active development happens across v1 and v1alpha. Sub-APIs that previously lived in v1beta have graduated to v1, while features still being refined continue in v1alpha.

New capabilities not present in the Content API

The modular structure enables several features that were not available under the older API. According to the Merchant API documentation, four capability areas stand out.

The Google Product Studio API brings generative AI features into the programmatic product management workflow. An Image resource in the Product Studio API, available in alpha, uses generative AI to produce new product backgrounds, remove image backgrounds, and upscale image resolution. Access requires submitting a specific form to request entry.

The Reviews APIs allow developers to upload and manage both product reviews and store reviews directly through the API. This was not a supported workflow in the Content API for Shopping.

A Notifications API enables event-driven workflows by triggering notifications when changes occur, rather than requiring developers to poll for updates on a scheduled basis.

Expanded data source management is another structural improvement. According to the documentation, the Merchant API supports creating and managing a wider range of data source types - supplemental product data, local inventory data, regional inventory data, and promotion data are all now manageable through the API's Data Sources sub-API. The Content API handled these areas with less cohesion, and supplemental feed support was added incrementally over its lifetime.

Omnichannel support is built into the Merchant API's design from the start. According to the April 9 announcement, it provides "backward compatibility for legacy separate online/local offer structures using the legacy_local flag," which means developers who built systems around the older channel-separated model are not forced into an immediate restructuring of their product data logic. The design accommodates businesses operating across online and physical retail channels without requiring parallel data architectures.

The Google Ads scripts integration

Inside the Google Ads scripts editor, the Merchant API will be classified as an Advanced API - the same category the Content API for Shopping occupies today. This means developers access it through the same mechanism they currently use for the Content API, just pointing to a different underlying interface.

The significance of this rollout is that Google Ads scripts users have a distinct migration context from developers using the Merchant API through direct REST or gRPC calls. The scripts environment has its own editor, its own authentication context, and its own update cycle. According to the announcement, Merchant API support will be available "just as the Content API is" in that environment - no separate approval process or onboarding step appears to be required beyond enabling it as an Advanced API.

For scripts-based automation, this matters because a substantial portion of retail advertiser automation runs through Google Ads scripts rather than through full programmatic API integrations. Scripts are used for tasks like monitoring product disapprovals, updating bids based on inventory signals, and pulling merchant performance data for reporting. Those workflows currently depend on the Content API. Starting April 22, developers can begin building equivalent or enhanced workflows against the Merchant API within the scripts environment.

The Google Ads scripts platform has itself been through significant changes in the past year. Legacy ad customizers for expanded text ads were removed on July 14, 2025, completing a multi-year deprecation process. The Merchant API scripts rollout follows that pattern of using a defined advance notice period before enforcing a hard cutoff.

What changed in recent Merchant API updates

The Merchant API has moved quickly since reaching general availability. Release notes covering updates through early 2026 document a series of additions relevant to developers planning their migration.

In September 2025, the first Model Context Protocol (MCP) service for the Merchant API became available. According to the documentation, "The new MCP service integrates authoritative Google API documentation into your Integrated Development Environment (IDE) coding assistant to accelerate your Merchant API integration and improve the accuracy of your migration workflows." The MCP pattern has spread across Google's developer tooling, with a parallel open-source MCP server released for the Google Ads API on October 7, 2025. New methods for Regions management were also added in September 2025 - batchCreate, batchDelete, and batchUpdate - to enable call batching for create, update, and delete operations for Regions in the Accounts sub-API.

In November 2025, Google added a product_filters field to the Accounts sub-API, allowing merchants to share only a subset of their feed with Google Ads accounts based on conditional filters on product attributes. This feature was initially accessible to a limited number of merchants. An upgraded API diagnostics tool was introduced to support migration to Merchant API v1. Support for automatic detection and internal decoding of base64url-encoded product IDs became available across all methods that use product IDs - a practical quality-of-life improvement for integrations handling product data from diverse sources.

Also in November 2025, new YouTube Shopping affiliate analytics became available in v1alpha within the Reports sub-API. These reports retrieve analytics about creators, content, and products featured on YouTube, providing parity with reports available in Google Merchant Center.

In January 2026, a new reporting context value - FREE_LISTINGS_UCP_CHECKOUT - was introduced to understand product eligibility status for UCP (Universal Commerce Protocol) checkout. YouTube Shopping affiliates performance reporting was introduced in v1alpha. Support for ErrorInfo messages was added to provide machine-readable metadata for erroneous API calls, accompanied by a new guide on error handling and a full list of error messages. The same update added InventoryLoyaltyProgram to the local inventory service to allow consolidated control over loyalty features such as discounts, cashback for future purchases, and loyalty points.

The Content API sunset timeline

The August 18, 2026, shutdown date for the Content API for Shopping is now firm. According to the release notes, Content API deprecation was announced on August 18, 2025, and the Merchant API is its "official successor."

The Content API has a long operational history. The release notes document sustained updates from 2019 through 2025. The final significant addition to its Products Service was in June 2025, when a maximum_retail_price field was added to enable specification of MRP in India. The accounttax service was deprecated in April 2025. Orders-related services - including orderinvoices, orderreports, orderreturns, and orders - were deprecated in August 2024. Settlement-related services were deprecated in October 2024 as part of the Buy on Google program shutdown.

The remaining active surface of the Content API is now primarily the Products Service, the Accounts service, and reporting. Those are precisely the areas where the Merchant API is designed to provide coverage, with more granular control at the sub-API level.

The parallel shift in how Google handles product IDs for multi-channel items adds complexity to any migration. Google announced in January 2026 that products with differing attributes between online and in-store channels must now be represented as separate products, with enforcement beginning in March 2026. This structural change in product representation aligns with the Merchant API's design, which eliminated the channel component from product identifiers and shifted from a "channel:contentLanguage:feedLabel:offerId" format to a "contentLanguage~feedLabel~offerId" format.

May 2025 updates that improved scalability

One of the most practically significant changes introduced before the general availability milestone was a pageSize increase. According to the Merchant API release notes for May 2025, the maximum pageSize increased from 250 to 1000 rows per API call. For large merchants managing tens of thousands of SKUs, this reduces the number of API round-trips required to retrieve full product status information. The Content API had a documented delay of several minutes between product insertion and when an inserted product could be retrieved; that delay is fixed in the Merchant API.

Two new sub-APIs launched in May 2025. Order tracking supports business order tracking history to provide precise and accurate shipping estimates to customers. Issue resolution provides access to diagnostic content and support actions in the same way as available in the Merchant Center UI. Neither has a direct equivalent in the Content API's current feature set.

Also added to the Accounts sub-API in May 2025 were three new resources. OmnichannelSettings manages account configuration for omnichannel serving, including Free Local Listings and Local Inventory Ads. LfpProviders connects to Local Feeds Partnership partners for inventory data. GbpAccounts connects to Google Business Profile accounts for local store data. A new method, ProductsUpdate, was added to the Products sub-API to allow updating individual products without providing all fields required for a full ProductInput operation.

April 2025: Product Studio and AutomaticImprovements

The April 2025 update introduced Product Studio in alpha, which leverages generative AI to generate and optimize product titles and descriptions. In the same update, the Accounts sub-API gained AutomaticImprovements resources, managing opt-in to three automatic update features: automatic item updates, automatic image improvements, and automatic shipping improvements. AccountService and AccountRelationship resources were introduced to manage relationships and services with service providers. Three fields for AutomatedDiscounts were launched in the Products sub-API to retrieve real-time prices for products opted into Google Automated Discounts.

How the scripts transition fits the broader developer picture

The Google Ads API Team has tracked several related transitions across 2025 and 2026. A consolidated developer portal launched on April 6, 2026, grouping all developer resources for Google's advertising and measurement products under a single domain. That reorganization brings together documentation, community access, and open-source project links that were previously spread across multiple Google properties. The Merchant API is part of that unified developer ecosystem.

For the retail advertising community, the scripts integration on April 22 represents the most accessible on-ramp to the Merchant API for advertisers who do not have dedicated engineering resources. Scripts require no external server infrastructure, run inside the Google Ads UI, and operate under the same authentication model as existing Google Ads accounts. A developer comfortable with JavaScript can begin experimenting with Merchant API sub-APIs through scripts before building out more complex integrations.

The migration guide referenced in the April 9 announcement provides detailed comparison between the Content API and Merchant API, covering field mapping and endpoint equivalences. The Merchant API documentation available at the time of the announcement covers at minimum 17 distinct functional areas: managing merchant accounts, products, return policies, data sources, inventories, local feeds partnership, promotions, reports, conversion sources, programs, batch requests, API diagnostics, and the Google Product Studio API.

The deadline of August 18, 2026, leaves approximately four months from the April 22 scripts rollout. For organizations still running Content API-dependent scripts, that window represents the full migration period available within the scripts environment.

Timeline

  • August 28, 2023: Content API Promotions service opens from limited access to all users
  • April 9, 2024: Content API Products Service adds LoyaltyProgram field
  • May 20, 2024: Content API adds LoyaltyPrograms supporting multiple tiers per product
  • August 26, 2024: Orders-related services deprecated in Content API (orderinvoices, orderreports, orderreturns, orders)
  • October 30, 2024: Settlement-related services deprecated in Content API
  • December 12, 2024: Content API Products Service adds sustainability_incentives field
  • April 14, 2025: Content API accounttax service deprecated
  • April 2025: Merchant API launches Product Studio sub-API in alpha and AutomaticImprovements resources
  • May 2025: Merchant API launches Order tracking and Issue resolution sub-APIs; maximum pageSize increases from 250 to 1000 rows per API call
  • June 19, 2025: Content API adds maximum_retail_price field for India MRP
  • July 2025: Merchant API v1 reaches general availability as official Content API successor
  • July 14, 2025: Google Ads scripts remove legacy ad customizers, completing a multi-year deprecation
  • August 18, 2025: Content API for Shopping deprecation announced; August 18, 2026 set as shutdown date
  • September 2025: First MCP service for Merchant API becomes available; batch methods added for Regions management in Accounts sub-API
  • October 7, 2025: Google releases open-source MCP server for the Google Ads API
  • November 2025: Merchant API adds product_filters to Accounts sub-API; YouTube Shopping affiliate analytics introduced in v1alpha; upgraded API diagnostics tool released
  • January 2026: Merchant API adds FREE_LISTINGS_UCP_CHECKOUT reporting context; ErrorInfo messages added for machine-readable error metadata; InventoryLoyaltyProgram added to local inventory service
  • January 6, 2026: Google announces multi-channel product ID separation requirement with enforcement from March 2026
  • February 28, 2026: Merchant API v1beta discontinued and shut down
  • March 2026: Enforcement begins for separate product ID requirement for multi-channel items
  • April 6, 2026: Google launches consolidated Advertising and Measurement Developers Hub
  • April 9, 2026: Google announces Merchant API support coming to Google Ads scripts editor starting April 22, 2026
  • April 22, 2026: Merchant API begins rolling out in Google Ads scripts editor as an Advanced API
  • August 18, 2026: Content API for Shopping scheduled shutdown

Summary

Who: Google, specifically the Google Ads API Team. The announcement was authored by Dora Sun of the Google Ads API Team and published on the Google Ads Developer Blog on April 9, 2026. It affects developers and advertisers who manage product data through Google Ads scripts, as well as all merchants using the Content API for Shopping programmatically.

What: Merchant API support will begin rolling out in the Google Ads scripts editor starting April 22, 2026. The Merchant API is the official successor to the Content API for Shopping, offering a modular sub-API architecture, expanded data source management, generative AI features through the Google Product Studio API, Reviews APIs, a Notifications API, and omnichannel support with a legacy compatibility flag.

When: The announcement was published April 9, 2026. The rollout inside Google Ads scripts begins April 22, 2026. The Content API for Shopping will be shut down permanently on August 18, 2026.

Where: The Merchant API rollout affects the Google Ads scripts editor, accessed through the Google Ads interface. The broader Merchant API is available through the Google for Developers platform. The announcement appeared on the Google Ads Developer Blog.

Why: The Content API for Shopping is being retired after more than a decade of service. The Merchant API is designed to replace it with a more modular, scalable architecture supporting newer capabilities including generative AI product features, expanded reporting for YouTube Shopping affiliates, and better omnichannel support. Bringing Merchant API support to Google Ads scripts ensures that advertisers running JavaScript-based automation workflows have a migration path before the August 18, 2026 shutdown deadline.

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