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Cost Estimation

MicrosoftOfficialCreated by Microsoft

  • Skill
  • Tool integration
  • Cloud and DevOps
  • MIT
  • No issues found
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From the author

Forecast Azure spend and price planned resources or workloads. WHEN: "forecast Azure spending", "project next month cost", "compare forecast to my planning target", "how much will Azure cost", "estimate VM cost", "compare storage tiers", "compare Azure regions", "retail price", "EA rate card", "negotiated pricesheet". DO NOT USE FOR: configured budget health or alerts, bill analysis, cost spikes, rightsizing, or commitments.
— the description by Microsoft

AutoGineer summary

Written by AutoGineer from the skill’s own files, not by the author

The Azure Cost Estimation skill provides a structured approach to projecting future cloud expenditures and pricing hypothetical workloads. It enables users to perform cost forecasting on existing scopes and retrieve pricing data for specific resources, including public retail rates and negotiated Enterprise Agreement (EA) or Microsoft Customer Agreement (MCA) prices. The skill emphasizes accurate scope definition and parameter handling to ensure reliable financial projections.

What it does

  • Forecasts costs for specific Azure scopes based on historical data.
  • Retrieves public retail pricing for Azure services.
  • Downloads and processes negotiated pricesheets for EA or MCA agreements.
  • Supports filtering by service name and metric types like PreTaxCost or AmortizedCost.
  • Provides structured error handling for common API and configuration issues.
  • Facilitates comparison of different storage tiers and regions.

When to use it

  • When you need to project Azure spending for the upcoming month.
  • When planning new infrastructure and requiring cost estimates for specific resources.
  • When comparing costs across different Azure regions or storage configurations.
  • When you need to access negotiated pricing via an Enterprise Agreement.
  • When you need to validate planned resource costs against a specific budget target.

Advantages

  • Direct integration with Azure pricing and forecast tools.
  • Supports both public retail and negotiated contract pricing.
  • Standardized workflow for distinguishing between forecasts and hypothetical pricing.
  • Clear error handling guidance for common API and scope-related issues.
  • Reduces manual effort in calculating complex cloud resource costs.

Usage examples

“Forecast the costs for my resource group for the next 30 days.”
The agent uses the forecast_costs tool to project spending for the specified resource group scope over the requested period.
“What is the estimated cost for a standard VM in the East US region?”
The agent utilizes pricing tools to retrieve the current retail price for the specified VM configuration in the requested region.
“Download my current EA pricesheet.”
The agent initiates the pricesheet download process and monitors the status until the data is ready for review.
“Compare the cost of storage tier A versus tier B.”
The agent retrieves pricing data for both storage tiers to provide a side-by-side cost comparison for the user.

Install

  1. Download the skill as a ZIP:

    https://autogineer.com/agent-skills/microsoft/cost-estimation/download

  2. Unzip it into the cross-client skills folder of your project:

    mkdir -p .agents/skills && unzip cost-estimation.zip -d .agents/skills

Documentation by Microsoft

Azure Cost Estimation

Quick Reference

IntentWorkflowPrimary tools
Forecast existing spendCost forecastforecast_costs
Price planned resourcesPricing estimatePricing tools

When to Use This Skill

Use for forecasts, pricing, and planning targets.

MCP Tools

ToolUse
forecast_costsForecast a scope.
get_retail_pricesGet public prices.
start_pricesheet_download, get_pricesheet_statusGet Enterprise Agreement (EA) or Microsoft Customer Agreement (MCA) prices.

Fallback: API mappings.

Workflow

  1. Distinguish forecasts from hypothetical pricing.

  2. Confirm scope, assumptions, period, region, OS, and currency.

  3. Load the matching workflow and label every value type.

  4. Never transform MCP results in a shell or interpreter; request tool-side filtering or bounded follow-up queries.

Error Handling

ErrorAction
Ambiguous meterAsk for OS, term, tier, or usage.
Forecast unavailableExplain the history requirement.
Pricesheet pendingHonor the returned polling interval.
Multiple currenciesNever combine currencies.
Server errorRetry once; then report the trace ID.

Files

references/pricing-estimate.md

Pricing Estimate

  1. Confirm service, SKU, region, OS, tier, usage quantity, and billing period. Ask only for missing details needed to disambiguate a meter.

  2. Call get_retail_prices. Compare options with separate calls when needed. Preserve productName, skuName, armSkuName, price type, unit, region, and currency so the selected row is auditable. The tool requests up to 5000 rows. If Count reaches that limit or NextPageLink is present, narrow the filters and disclose that the result set was truncated; do not invoke the returned URL directly.

  3. Exclude Spot, Dev/Test, Windows, Reservation, or Savings Plan meters unless they match the request. If multiple plausible meters remain, ask for the minimum missing detail or show a short candidate table containing productName, skuName, armSkuName, meter name, and price type. Never silently choose among multiple meter shapes.

  4. Show unit price x usage = estimated period cost and list every assumption. Reservation prices are term purchase totals; normalize one-year prices by 12 and three-year prices by 36. Savings Plan and consumption prices are hourly meter rates and may be multiplied by expected hours.

  5. For negotiated rates, confirm the Enterprise Agreement (EA) or Microsoft Customer Agreement (MCA) billing scope. Call start_pricesheet_download, then poll get_pricesheet_status using its retry interval. Label retail and negotiated values separately. If a pricing operation is unavailable, use the mapped API from tool fallback.

  6. Pricesheet downloads return a short-lived ZIP URL. The MCP server does not download or parse it. Return the URL and ask the user to download and provide the file for comparison; do not claim a negotiated-price analysis before the file is available.

Retail estimates are not bills or realized savings. If the user provides an existing scope and wants current spend, hand off to cost-analysis.

Requirements and compatibility

Works with: Claude Code, Claude apps, OpenAI Codex, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Kiro, OpenCode, Goose, Amp, Roo Code, JetBrains Junie, Factory Droid, Devin (ex-Windsurf), Mistral Vibe, OpenHands, Letta

“Works with” means the tool reads the open Agent Skills format; a skill written for one tool may use features others lack.

Security

No issues found by our static scan· No issues found

A static scan is not a guarantee. Skills are third-party content: review a skill before you let an agent use it.

Attribution and licence

Created by
Microsoft
Publisher
Microsoft (Official)
Source
microsoft/skills · .github/plugins/azure-cost/skills/cost-estimation · commit 0696600
Licence
MIT License (redistribution allowed)
  • LICENSE (added by AutoGineer from .github/plugins/azure-cost/LICENSE)
  • ATTRIBUTION.md (written by AutoGineer)
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AutoGineer is not affiliated with or endorsed by Microsoft or Microsoft.

Download ZIP

The ZIP holds the skill’s files, its licence files and an ATTRIBUTION.md. Download cost-estimation.zip