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AWS Cost Explorer MCP Server

Create a powerful Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for AWS Cost Explorer in minutes with our AI Gateway. This guide walks you through setting up seamless Cost Explorer integration with enterprise-grade security and AWS Signature v4 authentication.

About AWS Cost Explorer API​

AWS Cost Explorer enables you to visualize, understand, and manage your AWS costs and usage over time. The Cost Explorer API provides programmatic access to:

  • Cost Analysis: Query detailed cost and usage data
  • Forecasting: Predict future costs based on historical data
  • Budgets: Create and manage cost budgets with alerts
  • Recommendations: Get savings recommendations for Reserved Instances and Savings Plans
  • Anomaly Detection: Detect unusual spending patterns
  • Cost Allocation: Tag-based cost tracking and reporting
  • Usage Reports: Detailed resource utilization metrics
  • Savings Opportunities: Identify cost optimization potential

Key Features​

  • Granular Data: Hourly, daily, and monthly cost breakdowns
  • Multi-Dimensional Analysis: Filter by service, region, account, tags
  • Historical Data: Up to 13 months of cost history
  • Forecast Accuracy: ML-powered cost predictions
  • Real-time Updates: Cost data updated multiple times daily
  • Reserved Instance Tracking: RI utilization and coverage
  • Savings Plans Analysis: Track savings and recommendations
  • Custom Cost Categories: Business-specific cost grouping

What You Can Do with Cost Explorer MCP Server​

The MCP server transforms Cost Explorer's API into a natural language interface, enabling AI agents to:

Cost Analysis​

  • Cost Queries

    • "Show total AWS costs for last month"
    • "Break down costs by service for this quarter"
    • "Compare costs between production and development"
    • "Show daily cost trend for current month"

  • Dimensional Analysis

    • "Show EC2 costs by instance type"
    • "List costs by AWS region"
    • "Display costs by cost allocation tags"
    • "Analyze costs by linked account"

Budgets & Alerts​

  • Budget Management

    • "Create $5000 monthly budget for production"
    • "Set up budget alert at 80% threshold"
    • "Track budget vs actual spend"
    • "Create budgets by service or tag"

  • Alert Configuration

    • "Alert when daily spend exceeds $200"
    • "Notify on 20% cost increase"
    • "Set up anomaly detection alerts"
    • "Create forecast-based alerts"

Forecasting​

  • Cost Predictions

    • "Forecast next month's AWS bill"
    • "Predict quarterly infrastructure costs"
    • "Show cost trend for next 12 months"
    • "Calculate year-end total projection"

  • What-If Analysis

    • "Estimate cost of adding 10 EC2 instances"
    • "Project savings from Reserved Instances"
    • "Calculate impact of usage changes"
    • "Model different growth scenarios"

Optimization Recommendations​

  • Reserved Instances

    • "Show RI purchase recommendations"
    • "Calculate potential RI savings"
    • "Analyze RI utilization rates"
    • "Find unused Reserved Instances"

  • Savings Plans

    • "Get Savings Plans recommendations"
    • "Compare Compute vs EC2 Instance plans"
    • "Track Savings Plans utilization"
    • "Calculate commitment optimization"

Anomaly Detection​

  • Unusual Spending

    • "Detect cost anomalies in last week"
    • "Show root cause of cost spikes"
    • "Monitor specific service anomalies"
    • "Set custom anomaly thresholds"

  • Pattern Analysis

    • "Identify unusual usage patterns"
    • "Track seasonal cost variations"
    • "Detect unauthorized resource usage"
    • "Monitor cost trend deviations"

Reporting​

  • Custom Reports

    • "Generate executive cost summary"
    • "Create departmental chargeback report"
    • "Show cost savings achievements"
    • "Build tag-based cost allocation report"

  • Automated Insights

    • "Weekly cost optimization tips"
    • "Monthly savings opportunities"
    • "Unutilized resource reports"
    • "Cost efficiency metrics"

Quick Start Guide​

1. Prerequisites​

  • AWS Account with billing access
  • Authentication method (choose one):
    • AWS IAM credentials (Access Key ID and Secret Access Key)
    • OAuth2 via AWS IAM Identity Center (SSO)
    • SAML 2.0 federation
  • Cost Explorer API enabled
  • AI Gateway account

2. Authentication Options​

Option A: AWS IAM Credentials (Traditional)​

Use AWS Access Key ID and Secret Access Key with the required IAM permissions below.

Option B: OAuth2 via AWS IAM Identity Center​

AWS supports OAuth2 through IAM Identity Center for programmatic access:

  1. Enable IAM Identity Center:

    • Navigate to IAM Identity Center in AWS Console
    • Enable Identity Center in your organization's management account
    • Configure identity source

  2. Register OAuth Application:

    aws sso-admin register-client \
      --client-name "AI-Gateway-CostExplorer-MCP" \
      --client-type "public" \
      --scopes "ce:*"

  3. Configure OAuth Settings:

    • Authorization URL: https://[your-sso-url].awsapps.com/start/authorize
    • Token URL: https://[your-sso-url].awsapps.com/start/token
    • Redirect URI: https://auth.aigateway.cequence.ai/v1/outbound/oauth/callback
    • Scopes: Configure based on Cost Explorer operations needed

  4. Permission Sets: Create permission set in IAM Identity Center with Cost Explorer and Budgets policies attached.

3. Required IAM Permissions​

{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "ce:GetCostAndUsage",
        "ce:GetCostAndUsageWithResources",
        "ce:GetCostForecast",
        "ce:GetDimensionValues",
        "ce:GetReservationUtilization",
        "ce:GetReservationPurchaseRecommendation",
        "ce:GetSavingsPlansPurchaseRecommendation",
        "ce:GetSavingsPlansUtilization",
        "ce:GetSavingsPlansUtilizationDetails",
        "ce:GetTags",
        "ce:GetAnomalies",
        "ce:GetAnomalyMonitors",
        "ce:GetAnomalySubscriptions",
        "ce:CreateAnomalyMonitor",
        "ce:CreateAnomalySubscription",
        "ce:UpdateAnomalyMonitor",
        "ce:UpdateAnomalySubscription",
        "budgets:ViewBudget",
        "budgets:CreateBudget",
        "budgets:UpdateBudget",
        "budgets:DeleteBudget"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    }
  ]
}

4. MCP Server Configuration​

For IAM Credentials:​

  1. Navigate to the AI Gateway dashboard
  2. Click "Create New MCP Server"
  3. Select "AWS Cost Explorer" from the available integrations
  4. Choose "AWS IAM" authentication
  5. Configure credentials:
    • Enter AWS Access Key ID
    • Enter AWS Secret Access Key
    • Enable Cost Explorer API if needed
    • Set default time ranges and granularity

For OAuth2 (IAM Identity Center):​

  1. Navigate to the AI Gateway dashboard
  2. Click "Create New MCP Server"
  3. Select "AWS Cost Explorer" from the available integrations
  4. Choose "OAuth 2.0" authentication
  5. Configure OAuth settings:
    • Authorization URL: Your IAM Identity Center authorize endpoint
    • Token URL: Your IAM Identity Center token endpoint
    • Client ID: From registered application
    • Client Secret: From registered application (if confidential client)
    • Scopes: Select required Cost Explorer permissions
    • AWS Region: us-east-1 (Cost Explorer primary region)

5. Test Your Connection​

Try these commands to verify your setup:

  • "Show current month's AWS costs"
  • "List top 5 most expensive services"
  • "Get cost forecast for next month"

OAuth2 Scopes for Cost Explorer Operations​

When using OAuth2 via IAM Identity Center, configure permission sets with these Cost Explorer actions:

Cost Analysis​

  • ce:GetCostAndUsage - Query cost and usage data
  • ce:GetCostAndUsageWithResources - Detailed resource costs
  • ce:GetCostForecast - Predict future costs
  • ce:GetDimensionValues - Available cost dimensions
  • ce:GetTags - Cost allocation tags

Savings & Optimization​

  • ce:GetReservationUtilization - RI utilization metrics
  • ce:GetReservationPurchaseRecommendation - RI recommendations
  • ce:GetSavingsPlansPurchaseRecommendation - Savings Plans advice
  • ce:GetSavingsPlansUtilization - Track savings plans usage

Anomaly Detection​

  • ce:GetAnomalies - View cost anomalies
  • ce:GetAnomalyMonitors - List anomaly monitors
  • ce:CreateAnomalyMonitor - Set up monitoring
  • ce:CreateAnomalySubscription - Configure alerts

Budget Management​

  • budgets:ViewBudget - View budget details
  • budgets:CreateBudget - Create new budgets
  • budgets:UpdateBudget - Modify budgets
  • budgets:DeleteBudget - Remove budgets

Configure permission sets in IAM Identity Center to match your cost management requirements.

Common Use Cases​

Financial Planning​

Budget and forecast effectively:

"Create annual budget with quarterly milestones"
"Forecast infrastructure costs for next fiscal year"
"Model cost impact of 50% growth"
"Set up variance alerts for budget overruns"

Cost Allocation​

Implement chargeback/showback:

"Generate cost report by department tags"
"Calculate per-project infrastructure costs"
"Show cost breakdown by environment"
"Create monthly chargeback invoices"

Optimization Initiatives​

Reduce AWS spending:

"Identify top 10 cost saving opportunities"
"Find unused or underutilized resources"
"Calculate ROI of Reserved Instance purchases"
"Show resources without cost allocation tags"

Executive Reporting​

Provide cost visibility:

"Generate executive dashboard metrics"
"Show month-over-month cost trends"
"Compare actual vs budgeted costs"
"Highlight cost optimization achievements"

Advanced Features​

Custom Cost Categories​

Organize costs by business logic:

"Create cost category for product lines"
"Group costs by business unit"
"Categorize shared vs dedicated resources"
"Track costs by customer segment"

Multi-Account Analysis​

Manage organization-wide costs:

"Aggregate costs across all accounts"
"Compare costs between AWS accounts"
"Show organizational unit spending"
"Track cross-account resource sharing"

Detailed Filtering​

Precise cost analysis:

"Show costs for specific tags combinations"
"Filter by multiple dimensions simultaneously"
"Exclude credits and refunds"
"Include only production resources"

Time-Based Analysis​

Historical and trend analysis:

"Compare costs year-over-year"
"Show hourly cost patterns"
"Analyze weekend vs weekday usage"
"Track cost trends by service"

Best Practices​

Tagging Strategy​

  • Implement comprehensive tagging policy
  • Use consistent tag keys and values
  • Tag all resources at creation
  • Regular tag compliance audits

Budget Management​

  • Set budgets for all major cost centers
  • Use forecasted budgets for planning
  • Configure multi-threshold alerts
  • Review and adjust budgets quarterly

Cost Optimization​

  • Regular recommendation reviews
  • Automate resource scheduling
  • Right-size instances based on usage
  • Leverage spot instances where appropriate

Reporting Cadence​

  • Daily anomaly monitoring
  • Weekly optimization reviews
  • Monthly cost reports
  • Quarterly budget reviews

Troubleshooting​

Common Issues​

  • No Data: Ensure Cost Explorer is enabled
  • Missing Costs: Check for untagged resources
  • Forecast Errors: Need 30+ days of history
  • Access Denied: Verify IAM permissions

Data Accuracy​

  • Allow 24 hours for cost finalization
  • Credits may affect calculations
  • Check for data transfer costs
  • Verify tax inclusion settings

Integration Examples​

With AWS Services​

"Create CloudWatch alarm for budget exceeded"
"Export cost data to S3 for analysis"
"Trigger Lambda on anomaly detection"
"Send cost reports via SNS"

With AI Gateway Tools​

"Send daily cost summary to Slack"
"Create cost dashboard in Google Sheets"
"Update Jira with monthly AWS costs"
"Generate cost reports in Confluence"

Cost Categories and Allocation​

Built-in Dimensions​

  • Service: EC2, S3, RDS, Lambda, etc.
  • Region: us-east-1, eu-west-1, etc.
  • Usage Type: BoxUsage, DataTransfer, etc.
  • Operation: RunInstances, GetObject, etc.
  • Instance Type: t3.micro, m5.large, etc.

Custom Dimensions​

  • Cost Allocation Tags: Department, Project, Owner
  • AWS-Generated Tags: aws:createdBy, aws:cloudformation:stack-name
  • Linked Account: For AWS Organizations
  • Cost Categories: Business-defined groupings

Anomaly Detection​

Monitor Types​

  • Service Monitors: Track specific AWS services
  • Linked Account: Monitor individual accounts
  • Cost Category: Monitor custom categories
  • Tags: Track tagged resource groups

Alert Configuration​

"Create anomaly monitor for production tag"
"Set 50% threshold for anomaly alerts"
"Exclude expected seasonal variations"
"Configure daily anomaly summary"

Savings Recommendations​

Reserved Instances​

"Show RI recommendations for EC2"
"Calculate break-even point for RIs"
"Compare No Upfront vs All Upfront"
"Track RI expiration dates"

Savings Plans​

"Recommend optimal Savings Plan commitment"
"Compare savings across plan types"
"Show current plan utilization"
"Calculate additional savings potential"

Security Considerations​

Access Control​

  • Use read-only IAM policies
  • Implement MFA for sensitive operations
  • Audit Cost Explorer API usage
  • Restrict budget modification permissions

Data Privacy​

  • Mask sensitive tag values
  • Control cost data visibility
  • Implement data retention policies
  • Encrypt exported cost data

API Limits and Pricing​

Rate Limits​

  • GetCostAndUsage: 100 requests per second
  • GetCostForecast: 10 requests per second
  • Recommendations: 10 requests per second
  • Anomaly Detection: 10 requests per second

Pricing​

  • API Requests: $0.01 per request
  • Anomaly Detection: Free for first 100 monitors
  • Budgets: Free for first 2 budgets
  • No charges: For viewing in console

Ready to take control of your AWS costs? Start creating your Cost Explorer MCP server today and enable AI-powered cloud financial management!