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aws-billing-and-cost-management

Analyze AWS costs, budgets, and savings using Cost Explorer, Compute Optimizer, and CUR data.

Updated Sep 8, 2026
Search Tags:#aws#cost optimization#billing#finops#budgets#savings plans#cost explorer
One-click install
npx skills add https://github.com/dennisvink/yolomancer --skill aws-billing-and-cost-management-dennisvink
Or copy as Structured Prompt for Agent▼
Please help me install this Agent Skill.
Skill: aws-billing-and-cost-management
Source: https://github.com/dennisvink/yolomancer/tree/main/skills/aws/core-skills/aws-billing-and-cost-management
Command: npx skills add https://github.com/dennisvink/yolomancer --skill aws-billing-and-cost-management-dennisvink

SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION & REQUIREMENTS

💡 This Skill includes references (resource) components.

What problem does it solve? AWS billing data is spread across Cost Explorer, Budgets, Compute Optimizer, Savings Plans, and CUR reports, each with its own API quirks and gotchas. This Skill encodes the correct API usage patterns, common pitfalls, and optimization workflows so cost analysis produces accurate, actionable results instead of stale or miscalculated figures. ## Core Features & Use Cases - Cost Analysis & Auditing: Query Cost Explorer by service, tag, or time range, run a 7-step cost audit workflow, detect cost anomalies, and analyze data transfer charges with correct usage-type filtering. - Savings & Right-Sizing: Evaluate Savings Plans and Reserved Instance purchases, get right-sizing recommendations for EC2, Lambda, RDS, and EBS via Compute Optimizer and Cost Optimization Hub. - Budgets, Pricing & CUR: Create budget alerts scoped to billing views, look up service pricing via the Price List API, monitor Free Tier usage, and query CUR 2.0 data with Athena. - Use Case: A user asks why their AWS bill jumped last month. The Skill checks the current date, queries Cost Explorer for month-over-month service costs, runs anomaly detection, identifies idle resources, and calculates percent changes with a Python script rather than error-prone mental arithmetic. ## Quick Start Ask the assistant to analyze your AWS spending for last month and identify the top cost drivers and savings opportunities.

Frequently Asked Questions about aws-billing-and-cost-management

High-intent search queries and answers about installing and using this skill.

FAQPage Schema
How do I analyze AWS costs by service with Cost Explorer?▼

Use aws ce get-cost-and-usage with a monthly time period, UnblendedCost metric, and GroupBy on the SERVICE dimension. Note the end date is exclusive, and exclude Credits and Refunds with a RECORD_TYPE filter for accurate totals.

How do I get EC2 right-sizing recommendations from Compute Optimizer?▼

First opt in with aws compute-optimizer update-enrollment-status --status Active, then call get-ec2-instance-recommendations filtered by the Overprovisioned finding. Memory metrics from the CloudWatch agent significantly improve recommendation quality.

Savings Plans vs Reserved Instances: which should I buy?▼

Compute Savings Plans are the default recommendation, covering EC2, Fargate, and Lambda with up to 66% discount and high flexibility. Use Reserved Instances only when you need AZ capacity reservation, Marketplace resale, or have a very stable single-instance-type workload.

Why does my Cost Explorer query return empty results with a filter?▼

Cost Explorer does not distinguish between valid filters with no data and invalid filter values. Call GetDimensionValues first to confirm the exact value exists, such as the service name "EC2 - Other" with spaces around the hyphen.

Can I query AWS CUR data with Athena?▼

Yes, CUR 2.0 exports to S3 in Parquet format can be queried with Athena using the fixed COST_AND_USAGE_REPORT table. Filter billing periods with the bill_billing_period_start_date timestamp column, and note that CUR 2.0 uses nested map columns for tags unlike Legacy CUR.

Why does the Budgets API fail outside us-east-1?▼

The AWS Budgets API only works in the us-east-1 region because billing data is global. Always pass --region us-east-1 when creating or describing budgets, or the call will fail.

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