Meta CAPI for a custom website via server GTM

Step 1. Configure server Google Tag Manager container.

1.1. Open your WEB Google Tag Manager container.

Click Admin. Under the container column, click +

1.2. Type the container name, choose Server, and click Create.

1.3. Choose Manually provision tagging server, copy your container config and paste it in any text editor. We will need it for the next steps.

1.4. Create a stape.io account or log in to your existing one.

1.5. In Stape’s admin dashboard click Create container on the top right. 

1.6. Enter your container details:

• Container name. The name does not necessarily have to be the same as the container name in your server GTM.
• Container configuration - paste Container Config that you copied from your Google Tag Manager Server Container.
• Server location - select your server location based on the location of most of your clients. Please note, location can not be changed later.

Click Create Container.

1.7. Choose a plan for your container. You can start with a Free plan. 

1.8. You will see the status of your container, container config, and plan name. 

It takes around 5 minutes to deploy a server container. Please reload the page to update the status. If the Google Tag Manager server-side setup was done correctly, you should see the status “Running”. 

Step 2. Set up Custom Loader in Stape admin.

2.1. Find and copy your WEB GTM ID in GTM. 

To find GTM ID log in to your Google Tag Manager account and open a Web GTM container. In the top right corner (next to the Submit and Preview buttons) you’ll see some short text that starts with "GTM-" and then contains some letters/numbers.

2.2. Open your sGTM container on Stape → Click Power-Ups.

Find Custom Loader and click Configure.

2.3. Add the following settings:

• Select the domain from the dropdown. Select the custom domain if you configured a custom domain for your sGTM container. Otherwise, select the default one.
• Add the web GTM ID that you copied on the first step. 
• Select Other. You will see updated web GTM code → Copy this web GTM script and add or replace the existing web GTM script on your site.

Step 3. Create the Data Layer.

As this guide is specifically designed for a custom website, and we do not currently offer an application or extension to automatically build the dataLayer, we have prepared a detailed dataLayer specification outline for you to provide to your development team.

The document includes all possible native Meta events. Since it is unlikely that you will need every event type, you are encouraged to make a copy of the specification and modify it to suit your specific requirements. Please find the link to the document here.

Step 4. Download and import container templates from our GitHub.

4.1. Download GTM templates on our GitHub.

4.2. You should import the templates in both your web and server container on GTM (process is the same across the two). You need to go Admin → Import Container:

4.3. Select your template file (make sure the template matches the container type - web/server).

4.4. Pick a workspace for this import (you can create a new one for this specific purpose).

4.5. Select Overwrite or Merge.

Step 5. Сonfigure GTM container templates.

5.1. Templates are fully built, so triggers, payloads, and event names are all taken care of for you. 

You just need to input your specific destinations, ids, API keys etc. We’ve tried to make it as comfortable as possible, so in both containers (web and server), you will find a folder called “[Stape] _Settings”.

Web

Server

All these variables are already referenced in tags that use them; you just need to give them proper values, for example:

5.2. Pixel ID and API token can found in your pixel settings:

5.3. Once you’ve changed all these variables and saved them, your last step (assuming this a new container) is to add a preview URL in your server container by going to Admin → Container Settings. If the container is not new, just skip this step.

Step 6. Test the setup.

Facebook provides the ability to test Browser and Server events. That is very useful if you set up Facebook pixel using GTM Server for the first time and wish to check that all data tracked correctly.

6.1. First, you need to obtain test_event_code. For this, you need to log into your Facebook manager, choose the data source that you liked to test, and open the tab “Test events”. There you will find the test event code. It can look like this: TEST2120

Note: TEST id will change once in a couple of hours, if your debug sessions are spread in time make sure to check the value you’re using is still valid.6.2. Fill the LT - Map | Debug Mode → FB Test ID variable, in your server container, with the test event code that you get from the previous step.

6.2. Fill the LT - Map | Debug Mode → FB Test ID variable, in your server container, with the test event code that you get from the previous step.

This variable is already referenced in all Facebook tags. Variable will also only populate the tag in preview mode, so you don’t necessarily need to remove it before going live.

6.3. Launch preview mode on both your containers (web & server) If done right, you will see both web and server test events on the Facebook Test Event page.