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name: cost-estimation description: "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." license: MIT metadata: author: Microsoft version: "1.1.1"

Azure Cost Estimation

Quick Reference

Intent	Workflow	Primary tools
Forecast existing spend	Cost forecast	forecast_costs
Price planned resources	Pricing estimate	Pricing tools

When to Use This Skill

Use for forecasts, pricing, and planning targets.

MCP Tools

Tool	Use
forecast_costs	Forecast a scope.
get_retail_prices	Get public prices.
start_pricesheet_download, get_pricesheet_status	Get 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

Error	Action
Ambiguous meter	Ask for OS, term, tier, or usage.
Forecast unavailable	Explain the history requirement.
Pricesheet pending	Honor the returned polling interval.
Multiple currencies	Never combine currencies.
Server error	Retry once; then report the trace ID.