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.

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.

Scope Reference (Shared Across All Workflows)

Scope

URL Pattern

Subscription

/subscriptions/

Resource Group

/subscriptions//resourceGroups/

Management Group

/providers/Microsoft.Management/managementGroups/

Billing Account

/providers/Microsoft.Billing/billingAccounts/

Billing Profile

/providers/Microsoft.Billing/billingAccounts//billingProfiles/

💡

Tip:

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

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

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

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

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