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aws-billing-and-cost-management

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

Updated Jul 1, 2026
Search Tags:#aws#cost optimization#billing#finops#right-sizing#savings plans#cost explorer
One-click install
npx skills add https://github.com/sakicodes/BuildFestHackathon26 --skill aws-billing-and-cost-management-sakicodes
Or copy as Structured Prompt for Agent▼
Please help me install this Agent Skill.
Skill: aws-billing-and-cost-management
Source: https://github.com/sakicodes/BuildFestHackathon26/tree/main/.agents/skills/aws-billing-and-cost-management
Command: npx skills add https://github.com/sakicodes/BuildFestHackathon26 --skill aws-billing-and-cost-management-sakicodes

SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION & REQUIREMENTS

💡 This Skill includes references (resource) components.

What problem does it solve? AWS billing data is complex and easy to misinterpret — wrong service names, stale dates, and manual arithmetic errors produce misleading cost analyses. This Skill encodes the correct API patterns, gotchas, and workflows for AWS cost management so analyses are accurate and actionable. ## Core Features & Use Cases - Cost Analysis & Auditing: Query Cost Explorer for spend breakdowns, detect cost anomalies, and run a structured 7-step cost audit covering top drivers, idle resources, and commitment coverage. - Savings Recommendations: Evaluate Savings Plans and Reserved Instances, and right-size EC2, Lambda, RDS, and EBS resources using Compute Optimizer and Cost Optimization Hub. - Deep Billing Data: Query CUR 2.0 with Athena, look up service pricing via the Price List API, manage budgets with alerts, scope costs to billing views, and monitor Free Tier usage. - Use Case: A user asks why their AWS bill jumped last month. The Skill checks the current date, pulls month-over-month Cost Explorer data, calculates percent changes with a script, identifies the spiking service, and surfaces right-sizing or commitment recommendations. ## Quick Start Ask the assistant to analyze my AWS costs for last month and identify the top 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. Exclude Credits and Refunds with a RECORD_TYPE filter, and remember the end date is exclusive.

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 Finding=Overprovisioned. Recommendations include suggested instance types, migration effort, and savings estimates.

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

Compute Savings Plans are the default recommendation, covering EC2, Fargate, and Lambda with high flexibility at up to 66% discount. 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 invalid filters from filters with no data. Call GetDimensionValues first to confirm the exact value exists — for example, the EC2 other-charges service is named "EC2 - Other" with spaces around the hyphen.

How do I query CUR 2.0 data with Athena?▼

Create a CUR 2.0 export via bcm-data-exports to S3 in Parquet format, then query the COST_AND_USAGE_REPORT table. Filter billing periods with the timestamp column bill_billing_period_start_date, and access tags via the resource_tags map column.

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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