How do I install the AWS Cost Inspection skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add aws-sbg-at-the-university-of-kentucky/aws-cost-inspection in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

Is AWS Cost Inspection safe to use?

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Which AI agents work with AWS Cost Inspection?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is AWS Cost Inspection free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free, and the skill stays under its author's original license.

Who published AWS Cost Inspection?

AWS-SBG-at-the-University-of-Kentucky (@aws-sbg-at-the-university-of-kentucky) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

AWS Cost Inspection by aws-sbg-at-the-university-of-kentucky

Name: AWS Cost Inspection
Author: AWS-SBG-at-the-University-of-Kentucky

AWS Cost Inspection

Check AWS spend, cost, budget status, or "how much am I spending" using the FREE Budgets/CloudWatch APIs — never the paid Cost Explorer API. Use whenever a task involves inspecting AWS costs, budgets, month-to-date spend, forecasts, budget-action status, or verifying whether a budget/tripwire has been crossed. Cost Explorer (aws ce ..., ce:GetCostAndUsage) and the console cost widgets bill $0.01 per request — repeatedly querying them to "quickly check" a small budget can itself trip that budget.

File contents

Inspecting AWS cost & budget state — cheaply

The rule

Do NOT use Cost Explorer to routinely check spend. The Cost Explorer API is billed $0.01 per request, and so is every aws ce ... call and every console "Cost and usage" / Cost Explorer widget load. On a tiny budget (e.g. a $0.01 tripwire), the act of checking can be what trips it. Reach for the free sources below first; use Cost Explorer only when itemized cost breakdowns are genuinely required, deliberately, and tell the user it costs ~$0.01/request.

Free ways to inspect cost/budget (prefer these)

1. AWS Budgets API — free, and it's the number budget actions evaluate

# Recorded spend + forecast for one budget (ActualSpend is what actions check):
aws budgets describe-budget --account-id <ACCOUNT_ID> --budget-name <NAME> \
  --query 'Budget.{limit:BudgetLimit.Amount,actual:CalculatedSpend.ActualSpend.Amount,forecast:CalculatedSpend.ForecastedSpend.Amount,updated:LastUpdatedTime}'

# All budgets in the account:
aws budgets describe-budgets --account-id <ACCOUNT_ID> \
  --query 'Budgets[].{name:BudgetName,limit:BudgetLimit.Amount,actual:CalculatedSpend.ActualSpend.Amount}'

# Budget-action status / history (STANDBY | PENDING | EXECUTION_SUCCESS | ...):
aws budgets describe-budget-action --account-id <ACCOUNT_ID> --budget-name <NAME> --action-id <ID>
aws budgets describe-budget-actions-for-account --account-id <ACCOUNT_ID>
aws budgets describe-budget-action-histories --account-id <ACCOUNT_ID> --budget-name <NAME> --action-id <ID>

Note: CalculatedSpend lags — Budgets refreshes ~2–3×/day (8–12h apart), so it can read $0.00 while the Bills page already shows a charge. That lag is normal.

2. CloudWatch billing metric — free (needs billing alerts enabled, us-east-1)

aws cloudwatch get-metric-statistics --namespace AWS/Billing \
  --metric-name EstimatedCharges --dimensions Name=Currency,Value=USD \
  --start-time <ISO> --end-time <ISO> --period 21600 --statistics Maximum \
  --region us-east-1

3. Free Tier usage — free

aws freetier get-free-tier-usage --region us-east-1   # usage toward free-tier limits

4. Audit who queried costs (e.g. find who ran up Cost Explorer charges) — free

aws cloudtrail lookup-events \
  --lookup-attributes AttributeKey=EventName,AttributeValue=GetCostAndUsage \
  --start-time <ISO> --end-time <ISO> --region us-east-1

The userAgent distinguishes aws-cli/SDK calls (billed) from console/browser (Mozilla/...) calls.

The paid Cost Explorer calls to avoid for routine checks

aws ce get-cost-and-usage, get-cost-and-usage-with-resources, get-cost-forecast, get-dimension-values, get-cost-categories, etc. — each ~$0.01/request — and the Cost Explorer / "Cost and usage" console widgets.

When an itemized per-service or per-day breakdown is genuinely needed, Cost Explorer is the only source: do it in ONE deliberate paginated call and say it costs ~$0.01. Don't loop it or use it to poll.

Watching a budget/tripwire over time

Poll aws budgets describe-budget (free) — never Cost Explorer. Tell the user the recorded spend lags real usage by 8–12h, so status changes appear on Budgets' refresh cadence, not immediately.

---name: aws-cost-inspectiondescription: Check AWS spend, cost, budget status, or "how much am I spending" using the FREE Budgets/CloudWatch APIs — never the paid Cost Explorer API. Use whenever a task involves inspecting AWS costs, budgets, month-to-date spend, forecasts, budget-action status, or verifying whether a budget/tripwire has been crossed. Cost Explorer (aws ce ..., ce:GetCostAndUsage) and the console cost widgets bill $0.01 per request — repeatedly querying them to "quickly check" a small budget can itself trip that budget.---# Inspecting AWS cost & budget state — cheaply## The rule**Do NOT use Cost Explorer to routinely check spend.** The Cost Explorer APIis billed **$0.01 per request**, and so is every `aws ce ...` call and everyconsole "Cost and usage" / Cost Explorer widget load. On a tiny budget (e.g. a`$0.01` tripwire), the act of checking can be what trips it. Reach for the freesources below first; use Cost Explorer only when itemized cost breakdowns aregenuinely required, deliberately, and tell the user it costs ~$0.01/request.## Free ways to inspect cost/budget (prefer these)### 1. AWS Budgets API — free, and it's the number budget actions evaluate```bash# Recorded spend + forecast for one budget (ActualSpend is what actions check):aws budgets describe-budget --account-id <ACCOUNT_ID> --budget-name <NAME> \ --query 'Budget.{limit:BudgetLimit.Amount,actual:CalculatedSpend.ActualSpend.Amount,forecast:CalculatedSpend.ForecastedSpend.Amount,updated:LastUpdatedTime}'# All budgets in the account:aws budgets describe-budgets --account-id <ACCOUNT_ID> \ --query 'Budgets[].{name:BudgetName,limit:BudgetLimit.Amount,actual:CalculatedSpend.ActualSpend.Amount}'# Budget-action status / history (STANDBY | PENDING | EXECUTION_SUCCESS | ...):aws budgets describe-budget-action --account-id <ACCOUNT_ID> --budget-name <NAME> --action-id <ID>aws budgets describe-budget-actions-for-account --account-id <ACCOUNT_ID>aws budgets describe-budget-action-histories --account-id <ACCOUNT_ID> --budget-name <NAME> --action-id <ID>```Note: `CalculatedSpend` lags — Budgets refreshes ~2–3×/day (8–12h apart), so itcan read $0.00 while the Bills page already shows a charge. That lag is normal.### 2. CloudWatch billing metric — free (needs billing alerts enabled, us-east-1)```bashaws cloudwatch get-metric-statistics --namespace AWS/Billing \ --metric-name EstimatedCharges --dimensions Name=Currency,Value=USD \ --start-time <ISO> --end-time <ISO> --period 21600 --statistics Maximum \ --region us-east-1```### 3. Free Tier usage — free```bashaws freetier get-free-tier-usage --region us-east-1 # usage toward free-tier limits```### 4. Audit who queried costs (e.g. find who ran up Cost Explorer charges) — free```bashaws cloudtrail lookup-events \ --lookup-attributes AttributeKey=EventName,AttributeValue=GetCostAndUsage \ --start-time <ISO> --end-time <ISO> --region us-east-1```The `userAgent` distinguishes `aws-cli`/SDK calls (billed) from console/browser(`Mozilla/...`) calls.## The paid Cost Explorer calls to avoid for routine checks`aws ce get-cost-and-usage`, `get-cost-and-usage-with-resources`,`get-cost-forecast`, `get-dimension-values`, `get-cost-categories`, etc. — each~$0.01/request — and the Cost Explorer / "Cost and usage" console widgets.When an itemized per-service or per-day breakdown is genuinely needed, CostExplorer is the only source: do it in ONE deliberate paginated call and say itcosts ~$0.01. Don't loop it or use it to poll.## Watching a budget/tripwire over timePoll `aws budgets describe-budget` (free) — never Cost Explorer. Tell the userthe recorded spend lags real usage by 8–12h, so status changes appear onBudgets' refresh cadence, not immediately.

Frequently asked questions