Aws Cost Operations
Analyze AWS bills, estimate pricing, set CloudWatch alarms, query logs, and audit CloudTrail when you need cost and operational visibility on production AWS.
Overview
AWS Cost & Operations is an agent skill most often used in Operate (also Validate, Grow) that optimizes AWS spend and operational monitoring via MCP-backed pricing, cost, CloudWatch, and audit workflows.
Install
npx skills add https://github.com/zxkane/aws-skills --skill aws-cost-operationsWhat is this skill?
- Cost optimization and bill analysis with integrated Pricing and Cost Explorer MCP patterns
- CloudWatch guidance for alarms, logs, and observability workflows
- CloudTrail audit and security-posture assessment hooks
- Requires verifying AWS facts via aws-mcp / awsdocs tools before answering
- Depends on aws-mcp-setup when MCP tools are unavailable
- 3 integrated MCP server areas called out in skill docs (Pricing, cost/ops, CloudWatch family)
Adoption & trust: 1 installs on skills.sh; 306 GitHub stars; 3/3 security scanners passed (skills.sh audits); trending (+100% hot-view momentum).
What problem does it solve?
Your AWS bill and alarms are opaque and you cannot quickly tie spend, logs, and CloudTrail events to what actually changed in production.
Who is it for?
Solo founders shipping on AWS who mention billing, CloudWatch, or CloudTrail and already use or can enable AWS MCP tooling.
Skip if: Greenfield apps with no AWS footprint yet, or teams that forbid shell and MCP access to cloud accounts from agents.
When should I use this skill?
User mentions AWS costs, spending, billing, budget, pricing, CloudWatch, monitoring, alerting, CloudTrail, audit, or operational efficiency on AWS.
What do I get? / Deliverables
You get MCP-verified cost estimates, monitoring steps, and audit queries aligned to your account identity checks instead of generic AWS guesses.
- Verified cost or pricing analysis
- Alarm or log investigation steps
- CloudTrail or posture audit findings
Recommended Skills
Journey fit
Spans multiple journey phases - primary shelf plus alternate fits below.
Operate is the canonical shelf because the skill targets live billing, observability, and audit—not greenfield app code. Monitoring subphase matches CloudWatch, alarms, logs, and cost signals that you watch after launch.
Where it fits
Estimate monthly AWS cost for a proposed architecture before you commit to build.
Create CloudWatch alarms and trace log patterns after error rates spike post-deploy.
Audit CloudTrail for risky IAM or resource changes after an incident.
Relate Cost Explorer trends to feature usage so you know what to optimize next.
How it compares
Agent skill with bundled MCP and CLI guardrails—not a standalone dashboard product like a third-party cost analyzer UI.
Common Questions / FAQ
Who is aws-cost-operations for?
Solo and indie builders operating AWS-backed SaaS or APIs who need agent-assisted cost analysis, observability setup, and audit questions answered with live tooling.
When should I use aws-cost-operations?
In Operate when tuning alarms and reading logs; in Validate when estimating pricing for a scoped architecture; in Grow when correlating spend with usage—whenever you mention AWS costs, billing, budgets, CloudWatch, or CloudTrail.
Is aws-cost-operations safe to install?
It can invoke AWS CLI and MCP tools against your account; review the Security Audits panel on this page, confirm caller identity hooks, and restrict credentials to least privilege.
Workflow Chain
Requires first: aws mcp setup
SKILL.md
READMESKILL.md - Aws Cost Operations
# AWS Cost & Operations This skill provides comprehensive guidance for AWS cost optimization, monitoring, observability, and operational excellence with integrated MCP servers. ## AWS Documentation Requirement Always verify AWS facts using MCP tools (`mcp__aws-mcp__*` or `mcp__*awsdocs*__*`) before answering. The `aws-mcp-setup` dependency is auto-loaded — if MCP tools are unavailable, guide the user through that skill's setup flow. ## Integrated MCP Servers This plugin provides 3 MCP servers: ### Bundled Servers #### 1. AWS Pricing MCP Server (`pricing`) **Purpose**: Pre-deployment cost estimation and optimization - Estimate costs before deploying resources - Compare pricing across regions - Calculate Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) - Evaluate different service options for cost efficiency #### 2. AWS Cost Explorer MCP Server (`costexp`) **Purpose**: Detailed cost analysis and reporting - Analyze historical spending patterns - Identify cost anomalies and trends - Forecast future costs - Analyze cost by service, region, or tag #### 3. Amazon CloudWatch MCP Server (`cw`) **Purpose**: Metrics, alarms, and logs analysis - Query CloudWatch metrics and logs - Create and manage CloudWatch alarms - Troubleshoot operational issues - Monitor resource utilization > **Note**: The following servers are available separately via the Full AWS MCP Server (see `aws-mcp-setup` skill) and are not bundled with this plugin: > - AWS Billing and Cost Management MCP — Real-time billing details > - CloudWatch Application Signals MCP — APM and SLOs > - AWS Managed Prometheus MCP — PromQL queries for containers > - AWS CloudTrail MCP — API activity audit > - AWS Well-Architected Security Assessment MCP — Security posture assessment ## When to Use This Skill Use this skill when: - Optimizing AWS costs and reducing spending - Estimating costs before deployment - Monitoring application and infrastructure performance - Setting up observability and alerting - Analyzing spending patterns and trends - Investigating operational issues - Auditing AWS activity and changes - Assessing security posture - Implementing operational excellence ## Cost Optimization Best Practices ### Pre-Deployment Cost Estimation **Always estimate costs before deploying**: 1. Use **AWS Pricing MCP** to estimate resource costs 2. Compare pricing across different regions 3. Evaluate alternative service options 4. Calculate expected monthly costs 5. Plan for scaling and growth **Example workflow**: ``` "Estimate the monthly cost of running a Lambda function with 1 million invocations, 512MB memory, 3-second duration in us-east-1" ``` ### Cost Analysis and Optimization **Regular cost reviews**: 1. Use **Cost Explorer MCP** to analyze spending trends 2. Identify cost anomalies and unexpected charges 3. Review costs by service, region, and environment 4. Compare actual vs. budgeted costs 5. Generate cost optimization recommendations **Cost optimization strategies**: - Right-size over-provisioned resources - Use appropriate storage classes (S3, EBS) - Implem