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Run npx skillmds@latest add paulasilvatech/azure-cost 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.

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Is Azure Cost free to use?

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Who published Azure Cost?

paulasilvatech (@paulasilvatech) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Azure Cost by paulasilvatech — Agent Skill

Name: Azure Cost
Author: paulasilvatech

Azure Cost

Manage Azure cost by querying actual spend, forecasting future spending, and optimizing resources to reduce waste. Use when the user asks about Azure costs or bills, wants a cost breakdown, asks how much they are spending, wants to forecast spending, optimize or reduce spend, find orphaned resources, rightsize VMs, investigate a cost spike, or lower storage and AKS costs.

paulasilvatech a1e5840 23 files · 95.7 KB Updated Sep 17, 2026

File contents

Azure Cost Management Skill

Query historical costs, forecast future spending, optimize to reduce waste.

When to invoke

"How much am I spending on Azure this month?"
"Give me a cost breakdown by resource group."
"Forecast next quarter Azure spending."
"Find waste and reduce our Azure bill."

Routing

User Intent	Workflow
Understand current costs	Cost Query
Reduce costs / find waste	Cost Optimization
Project future costs	Cost Forecast

Quick Reference

Property	Value
Query API	`POST {scope}/providers/Microsoft.CostManagement/query?api-version=2023-11-01`
Forecast API	`POST {scope}/providers/Microsoft.CostManagement/forecast?api-version=2023-11-01`
Required Role	Cost Management Reader + Monitoring Reader + Reader (on target scope)

Scope Patterns

Subscription: /subscriptions/<id>
Resource Group: /subscriptions/<id>/resourceGroups/<name>
Management Group: /providers/Microsoft.Management/managementGroups/<id>
Billing Account: /providers/Microsoft.Billing/billingAccounts/<id>

Service-Specific Optimization

Redis
Storage

References

MCP Tools, Best Practices, Safety
SDK: Redis .NET

Output template

## Cost analysis result

**Status:** reported | forecast | optimized
**Summary:** <one sentence covering scope and outcome>

### Details
Spend breakdown, forecast, or savings actions with amounts and scope.

### Validation
- <check performed>: <result and evidence>

Quality gate

Every figure came from a cost or pricing query, never an estimate from memory.
The scope, currency, and time range are stated explicitly.
The output follows ## Output template exactly.
Every reported check was performed and its evidence is shown.
Irreversible Azure actions were confirmed with the user first.

---name: azure-costdescription: Manage Azure cost by querying actual spend, forecasting future spending, and optimizing resources to reduce waste. Use when the user asks about Azure costs or bills, wants a cost breakdown, asks how much they are spending, wants to forecast spending, optimize or reduce spend, find orphaned resources, rightsize VMs, investigate a cost spike, or lower storage and AKS costs.license: MIT---# Azure Cost Management SkillQuery historical costs, forecast future spending, optimize to reduce waste.## When to invoke- "How much am I spending on Azure this month?"- "Give me a cost breakdown by resource group."- "Forecast next quarter Azure spending."- "Find waste and reduce our Azure bill."## Routing| User Intent | Workflow ||-------------|----------|| Understand current costs | [Cost Query](cost-query/workflow.md) || Reduce costs / find waste | [Cost Optimization](cost-optimization/workflow.md) || Project future costs | [Cost Forecast](cost-forecast/workflow.md) |## Quick Reference| Property | Value ||----------|-------|| **Query API** | `POST {scope}/providers/Microsoft.CostManagement/query?api-version=2023-11-01` || **Forecast API** | `POST {scope}/providers/Microsoft.CostManagement/forecast?api-version=2023-11-01` || **Required Role** | Cost Management Reader + Monitoring Reader + Reader (on target scope) |## Scope Patterns- Subscription: `/subscriptions/<id>`- Resource Group: `/subscriptions/<id>/resourceGroups/<name>`- Management Group: `/providers/Microsoft.Management/managementGroups/<id>`- Billing Account: `/providers/Microsoft.Billing/billingAccounts/<id>`## Service-Specific Optimization- [Redis](cost-optimization/services/redis/azure-cache-for-redis.md)- [Storage](cost-optimization/services/storage/azure-storage.md)## References- [MCP Tools, Best Practices, Safety](references/tools-and-best-practices.md)- [SDK: Redis .NET](cost-optimization/sdk/azure-resource-manager-redis-dotnet.md)## Output template```markdown## Cost analysis result**Status:** reported | forecast | optimized**Summary:** <one sentence covering scope and outcome>### DetailsSpend breakdown, forecast, or savings actions with amounts and scope.### Validation- <check performed>: <result and evidence>```## Quality gate- [ ] Every figure came from a cost or pricing query, never an estimate from memory.- [ ] The scope, currency, and time range are stated explicitly.- [ ] The output follows `## Output template` exactly.- [ ] Every reported check was performed and its evidence is shown.- [ ] Irreversible Azure actions were confirmed with the user first.

Frequently asked questions