Azure Cost Management Skill

Unified skill for all Azure cost management tasks: querying historical costs, forecasting future spending, and optimizing to reduce waste.

When to Use This Skill

Activate this skill when user wants to:

• Query or analyze Azure costs (how much am I spending, show my bill, cost breakdown)
• Break down costs by service, resource, location, or tag
• Analyze cost trends over time
• Forecast future Azure spending or project end-of-month costs
• Optimize Azure costs, reduce spending, or find savings
• Find orphaned or unused resources
• Rightsize Azure VMs, containers, or services
• Generate cost optimization reports

Quick Reference

Property	Value
Query API Endpoint	POST {scope}/providers/Microsoft.CostManagement/query?api-version=2023-11-01
Forecast API Endpoint	POST {scope}/providers/Microsoft.CostManagement/forecast?api-version=2023-11-01
MCP Tools	azure__documentation, azure__extension_cli_generate, azure__get_azure_bestpractices
CLI	az rest, az monitor metrics list, az resource list
Required Role	Cost Management Reader + Monitoring Reader + Reader on scope

MCP Tools

Tool	Description	Parameters	When to Use
azure__documentation	Search Azure documentation	query (Required): search terms	Research Cost Management API parameters and options
azure__extension_cli_generate	Generate Azure CLI commands	intent (Required): task description, cli-type (Required): "az"	Construct az rest commands for cost queries
azure__get_azure_bestpractices	Get Azure best practices	intent (Required): optimization context	Inform query design with cost management best practices
azure__extension_azqr	Run Azure Quick Review compliance scan	subscription (Required): subscription ID, resource-group (Optional): resource group name	Find orphaned resources and cost optimization opportunities
azure__aks	Azure Kubernetes Service operations	varies by sub-command	AKS cost analysis: list clusters, get node pools, inspect configuration

💡 Tip: Prefer MCP tools over direct CLI commands. Use az rest only when MCP tools don't cover the specific operation.

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Routing

Read the user's request and follow the appropriate workflow below.

User Intent	Workflow	Example Prompts
Understand current costs	Cost Query Workflow	"how much am I spending", "cost by service", "show my bill"
Reduce costs / find waste	Cost Optimization Workflow	"optimize costs", "find orphaned resources", "reduce spending"
Project future costs	Cost Forecast Workflow	"forecast costs", "end of month estimate", "how much will I spend"
Full cost picture	All three workflows combined	"give me the full picture of my Azure costs"

Important: When optimizing costs, always present the total bill and cost breakdown alongside optimization recommendations.

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Scope Reference (Shared Across All Workflows)

Scope	URL Pattern
Subscription	/subscriptions/<subscription-id>
Resource Group	/subscriptions/<subscription-id>/resourceGroups/<resource-group-name>
Management Group	/providers/Microsoft.Management/managementGroups/<management-group-id>
Billing Account	/providers/Microsoft.Billing/billingAccounts/<billing-account-id>
Billing Profile	/providers/Microsoft.Billing/billingAccounts/<billing-account-id>/billingProfiles/<billing-profile-id>

💡 Tip: These are scope paths only — not complete URLs. Combine with the API endpoint and version.

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Part 1: Cost Query Workflow

For the full cost query workflow (scope selection, report types, timeframes, dataset configuration, API calls, pagination, guardrails, examples, and error handling), see:

📄 Cost Query Workflow

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Part 2: Cost Optimization Workflow

For the full cost optimization workflow (prerequisites, best practices, Redis/AKS-specific analysis, Azure Quick Review, resource discovery, cost queries, pricing validation, utilization metrics, and report generation), see:

📄 Cost Optimization Workflow

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Part 3: Cost Forecast Workflow

For the full cost forecast workflow (scope selection, time period rules, dataset configuration, forecast-specific options, API calls, response interpretation, guardrails, and error handling), see:

📄 Cost Forecast Workflow

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Data Classification

• ACTUAL DATA = Retrieved from Azure Cost Management API
• ACTUAL METRICS = Retrieved from Azure Monitor
• VALIDATED PRICING = Retrieved from official Azure pricing pages
• ESTIMATED SAVINGS = Calculated based on actual data and validated pricing

Best Practices

• Always query actual costs first — never estimate or assume
• Always present the total bill alongside optimization recommendations
• Validate pricing from official sources — account for free tiers
• Use REST API for cost queries (more reliable than az costmanagement query)
• Always include the ClientType: GitHubCopilotForAzure header on all Cost Management API requests (--headers "ClientType=GitHubCopilotForAzure" in az rest)
• Save audit trail — include all queries and responses
• Include Azure Portal links for all resources
• For costs < $10/month, emphasize operational improvements over financial savings
• Never execute destructive operations without explicit approval
• On 429 responses, check all x-ms-ratelimit-microsoft.costmanagement-*-retry-after headers (qpu-retry-after, entity-retry-after, tenant-retry-after), wait for the longest value, and do not retry until that duration has elapsed. The per-scope limit (4 requests/minute) is the most restrictive.

Common Pitfalls

• Assuming costs: Always query actual data from Cost Management API
• Ignoring free tiers: Many services have generous allowances
• Using wrong date ranges: 30 days for costs, 14 days for utilization
• Not showing the bill: Always present cost breakdown alongside optimization recommendations
• Cost query failures: Use az rest with JSON body, not az costmanagement query

Safety Requirements

• Get approval before deleting resources
• Test changes in non-production first
• Provide dry-run commands for validation
• Include rollback procedures

SDK Quick References

• Redis Management: .NET