Azure Cost Optimization Skill

13 steps · start to finish.

1. 1
   Step 1

   Environment Setup

   ▶

   Verify all required tools, permissions, and inputs are available before proceeding.

   echo "=== ENVIRONMENT SETUP ==="
   
   # Verify az CLI
   az --version || { echo "ERROR: Azure CLI not installed"; exit 1; }
   
   # Verify azqr
   azqr version || { echo "ERROR: Azure Quick Review (azqr) not installed"; exit 1; }
   
   # Verify az extensions
   az extension show --name costmanagement || az extension add --name costmanagement
   az extension show --name resource-graph || az extension add --name resource-graph
   
   # Verify authentication
   az account show || { echo "ERROR: Not authenticated — run 'az login'"; exit 1; }
   
   # Show subscription context
   az account list --output table
   
   # Create output directory
   mkdir -p /app/results
   
   echo "=== SETUP COMPLETE ==="
   

   Prompt the user for:

   • SUBSCRIPTION_ID (required): the Azure subscription to analyze
   • RESOURCE_GROUP (optional): leave blank for subscription-wide analysis
   • ANALYSIS_SCOPE (optional, default: subscription): narrow to redis-only or aks-only if the user specifies
2. 2
   Step 2

   Validate Prerequisites

   ▶

   SUBSCRIPTION_ID="<SUBSCRIPTION_ID>" RESOURCE_GROUP="<RESOURCE_GROUP>" # leave empty for subscription-wide

3. 3
   Step 3

   Conditional — Redis-Specific Analysis

   ▶

   **Skip this step unless** the user specifically asks about Redis, Azure Cache for Redis, or Azure Managed Redis optimization.

4. 4
   Step 4

   Conditional — AKS-Specific Analysis

   ▶

   **Skip this step unless** the user mentions AKS, Kubernetes, cluster, node pool, pod, or kubectl.

5. 5
   Step 5

   Load Best Practices

   ▶

   Load Azure cost optimization best practices to inform recommendations:

6. 6
   Step 6

   Run Azure Quick Review

   ▶

   Run azqr to identify orphaned resources eligible for immediate deletion:

7. 7
   Step 7

   Discover Resources

   ▶

   Use Azure Resource Graph for efficient cross-subscription resource discovery:

8. 8
   Step 8

   Query Actual Costs

   ▶

   Get actual cost data from Azure Cost Management API (last 30 days):

9. 9
   Step 9

   Validate Pricing

   ▶

   Fetch current pricing from official Azure pricing pages for the top resources identified in Step 8:

10. 10
    Step 10

    Collect Utilization Metrics

    ▶

    Query Azure Monitor for utilization data (last 14 days) to support rightsizing recommendations:

11. 11
    Step 11

    Iterate on Errors (max 3 rounds)

    ▶

    If any step above returns an error or incomplete data:

12. 12
    Step 12

    Generate Optimization Report

    ▶

    Create a comprehensive cost optimization report at `/app/results/cost-optimization-report.md`:

13. 13
    Step 13

    Final Checklist (MANDATORY — do not skip)

    ▶

    echo "=== FINAL OUTPUT VERIFICATION ===" RESULTS_DIR="/app/results" for f in \ "$RESULTS_DIR/cost-optimization-report.md" \