aws-billing-and-cost-management Skill for Claude: Analyze and Cut AWS Costs

Makes Claude analyze your AWS costs, find savings, set budgets and right-size resources, using the AWS CLI.

Installs: 9.3K; on skills.sh
Stars: 3.4K; on GitHub
Files: 15; besides SKILL.md
Updated: Oct 2026; last repo commit

This skill is published by AWS in its own agent-toolkit-for-aws repo. It makes Claude run aws commands for Cost Explorer, Budgets, Compute Optimizer, Cost Optimization Hub, the Price List and Free Tier APIs, and CUR queries in Athena. It covers cost breakdowns, spikes, Savings Plans and Reserved Instance advice, right-sizing and a 7-step cost audit.

Two rules stand out. Claude must check the current date before any cost query, and must do all arithmetic in a script, not in its head. It needs AWS credentials. Most commands only read, but a few change your account, such as creating a budget or exports, opting in to Compute Optimizer, or updating a Lambda.

Good for

Teams who want to know where their AWS spend goes and how to cut it
Engineers weighing Savings Plans or Reserved Instances
Anyone with AWS credentials who wants a repeatable cost audit

Install aws-billing-and-cost-management

Claude Code

Copy this prompt.

Install the aws-billing-and-cost-management skill in Claude Code. Run this command:

/plugin install aws-core@claude-plugins-official

Then check that it loaded and tell me how to use it.

2
Paste it into Claude Code. It shows the change and asks before running it.

Pick one route. The plugin route installs aws-core: 25 skills (counted from plugins/aws-core/skills in the repo tree), an AWS MCP server entry in .mcp.json, and a PreToolUse hook that runs secret-safety.py. The skills routes install skill files only. You need the AWS CLI with credentials. SKILL.md recommends the AWS MCP server but says plain AWS CLI access is enough. It needs no sibling skills.

From the project README. Source.

What's in the skill

When it loads

Analyze AWS costs, find savings, manage budgets, evaluate Savings Plans and Reserved Instances, right-size EC2/Lambda/RDS/EBS with Compute Optimizer, look up service pricing, query CUR with Athena, detect cost anomalies, scope costs to billing views, and monitor Free Tier usage. Triggers on: AWS bill, cost analysis, reduce spend, savings plan, reserved instance, right-size, budget alert, cost optimization, pricing, free tier, cost anomaly, CUR, cost audit, billing view, billing view ARN.

Sections in SKILL.md

Overview
Usage
Core Concepts
Critical Rule: Always Check the Current Date
Critical Rule: Deterministic Calculations
Decision Guide
Common Tasks
Analyze costs by service
Run a cost audit
Get right-sizing recommendations
Look up service pricing
Billing Views
Discover available billing views
Use a billing view with Cost Explorer
Create a budget scoped to a billing view
API support for --billing-view-arn

Key facts

Author: Amazon Web Services (vendor's own repo; named as marketplace owner)
Repo: aws/agent-toolkit-for-aws
Installs on skills.sh: 9,275 (Nov 2, 2026)
GitHub stars: 3,366 (Nov 2, 2026, whole repo)
License: Apache-2.0 (plugin manifest)
Last repo commit: Oct 30, 2026
What installs: 16 files including SKILL.md: 15 reference notes, no scripts
Skill version: 1
Needs: AWS CLI access with credentials; the AWS MCP server is recommended, not required
Works in: Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Devin, Kiro and fx
skills.sh audits: Gen Agent Trust Hub pass, Socket pass, Snyk pass (Nov 2, 2026)

What it includes

aws ce get-cost-and-usage and related calls for spend by service, account or tag
Defaults to UnblendedCost, excludes Credits and Refunds with a filter, and treats the end date as exclusive. references/cost-explorer.md also covers cost anomaly detection.
Runs code · Cost Explorer
7-step audit from top cost drivers to a final report
Defined in references/cost-audit.md. Starts with Cost Optimization Hub for where to save.
Read · Cost audit
Purchase recommendations, coverage and utilization checks
Uses aws ce get-savings-plans-purchase-recommendation and get-reservation-purchase-recommendation. The references explain how the two stack and the 7-day Savings Plan return window.
Read · Savings Plans and Reserved Instances
Compute Optimizer advice for EC2, Lambda, EBS and RDS, one reference each
Compute Optimizer needs opt-in first: aws compute-optimizer update-enrollment-status --status Active. Cost Optimization Hub needs its own opt-in.
Write · Right-sizing
aws budgets create-budget, optionally scoped to a billing view ARN
Budgets calls need --region us-east-1. billing list-billing-views finds views. Not every Cost Explorer call accepts --billing-view-arn; a table lists which do.
Write · Budgets and billing views
Price List API lookups and Free Tier usage checks
Notes that Price List service codes differ from Cost Explorer service names.
Read · Pricing and Free Tier
Queries detailed billing data; setup uses aws bcm-data-exports create-export
The setup example creates a PARQUET export into an S3 bucket you name. Athena queries then run on that data.
Write · CUR 2.0 with Athena
Check today's date before any query; do all arithmetic in a script
SKILL.md says models often assume a stale year, and that sums, averages and percentages must come from a script or the AWS MCP run_script tool.
Critical rules

From the official docs

Permissions

Medium risk

Most of what it runs reads billing data, but its references also create budgets and data exports, opt in services, and change a Lambda. Give it a role with only the billing permissions you need.

What it can do

Read your data
Create and change things
Delete things
Read-only mode

Watch out for

Some referenced commands change your AWS account
SKILL.md and its references include aws budgets create-budget, aws bcm-data-exports create-export (writes a CUR 2.0 export to an S3 bucket you name), update-enrollment-status for Compute Optimizer and Cost Optimization Hub, aws compute-optimizer export-ec2-instance-recommendations, aws lambda update-function-configuration and aws ec2 create-vpc-endpoint. Review each command before you approve it. github.com
The plugin route adds an AWS MCP server and a hook
aws-core's .mcp.json starts mcp-proxy-for-aws-cli 1.7.0 through uvx against https://aws-mcp.us-east-1.api.aws/mcp with a --skip-auth flag. Its hook runs secret-safety.py before Bash and AWS tool calls, with a 5 second timeout, and denies direct Secrets Manager value fetches. The skills CLI and folder routes do not add either. github.com
Billing data goes into the chat
Cost and account data returned by the CLI is read by Claude, so use a role with only the billing access you need (our advice). github.com
Savings Plans and Reserved Instances are binding commitments
The references explain how to read purchase recommendations. Savings Plans are binding for the full term, with a conditional 7-day return window for plans of $100 per hour or less bought in the same calendar month. A reference file lists recommendation calls; we found no purchase command in the folder. github.com

Technical details

Talks to	AWS APIs through the aws CLI (Budgets calls need us-east-1). aws-mcp.us-east-1.api.aws, if you use the plugin route
Sign-in and keys	SKILL.md does not store credentials. It uses whatever AWS credentials your aws CLI or the AWS MCP server already has.
Scopes	Claude runs aws CLI commands with your AWS credentials: mostly Cost Explorer, Budgets, Compute Optimizer and Price List reads Claude writes and runs local Python scripts for the arithmetic, which SKILL.md requires A few referenced commands create or change things in your account (budgets, data exports, opt-ins, a Lambda setting, a VPC endpoint)

Questions

What does the aws-billing-and-cost-management skill do?

It makes Claude analyze AWS costs with the aws CLI: breakdowns by service, cost spikes, budgets, Savings Plans and Reserved Instance advice, right-sizing with Compute Optimizer, pricing lookups, Free Tier checks and CUR queries in Athena.

How do I install it in Claude Code?

Use the install box at the top. The aws-core plugin from the AWS README installs this skill with 24 others, plus an AWS MCP server entry and a secret-safety hook. The skills CLI and folder routes install only skill files.

Does it need the AWS MCP server?

No. SKILL.md recommends it for sandboxed execution and audit logging, but says all commands use standard AWS CLI syntax and work with any agent that has CLI access.

Can it change my AWS account?

Yes, some referenced commands do: they create budgets and data exports, opt in to Compute Optimizer and Cost Optimization Hub, update a Lambda and create a VPC endpoint. Approve each write command yourself, and consider a role limited to billing reads (our advice).

Why does it insist on checking the date and using scripts?

SKILL.md says models often default to a training-data year and are unreliable at arithmetic, so Claude must fetch the current date and calculate with a script.

Is it made by AWS?

Yes. It sits in AWS's own agent-toolkit-for-aws repo.

Does it work in the Claude app?

The README lists Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Devin, Kiro and fx. The skill runs the aws CLI on your machine, so use a client that can run commands.

Is it safe?

The folder holds 16 markdown files and no scripts. The risk is in the aws commands Claude runs with your credentials: mostly reads, but also budgets, exports and opt-ins. The aws-core plugin adds a hook that denies direct Secrets Manager value reads. Use a limited role.

Information

updated Nov 2, 2026

Repository: aws/agent-toolkit-for-aws
Folder: skills/core-skills/aws-billing-and-cost-management

aws/agent-toolkit-for-aws skills.sh

Sources

Docs, issue trackers and discussions this page is built from.

Show all 11

SKILL.md · github.com
agent-toolkit-for-aws README · github.com
cost-audit.md · github.com
cur-athena.md · github.com
budgets.md · github.com
hooks.json · github.com
.mcp.json · github.com
secret-safety.py · github.com
lambda-optimization.md · github.com
service-optimization.md · github.com
ec2-rightsizing.md · github.com