azure-cost-estimation

# Azure Cost Estimation

Estimate Azure deployment costs before provisioning by analyzing Bicep and ARM templates using the Azure Retail Prices API.

## Skill Activation Triggers

**Use this skill immediately when the user asks to:**
- "How much will this deployment cost?"
- "Estimate the cost of this Bicep/ARM template"
- "What's the monthly cost of this infrastructure?"
- "Compare pricing across regions"
- "Show me the cost breakdown for my Azure resources"
- "Analyze costs before I deploy"
- "What will my Azure bill be for this?"
- "Is this deployment within my budget?"

**Key Indicators:**
- User has Bicep (.bicep) or ARM (.json) template files
- User mentions cost, pricing, budget, or spending
- User wants to understand infrastructure costs before deployment
- User is comparing deployment options by price
- User mentions Azure Pricing Calculator or wants similar functionality

## Overview

This skill provides pre-deployment cost estimation by:
1. Parsing infrastructure templates (Bicep/ARM)
2. Extracting Azure resources and their configurations
3. Querying the Azure Retail Prices API for current pricing
4. Calculating monthly/yearly costs with itemized breakdowns
5. Providing cost optimization recommendations

```
Template → Parse Resources → Query Prices → Calculate Costs → Generate Report
   ↓            ↓                ↓               ↓                ↓
 .bicep    Extract SKU,      Azure Retail    Monthly +      Markdown table
 .json     location, size    Prices API      yearly totals  with breakdown
```

## Pattern 0: Prerequisites Check

Before estimating costs, verify the environment is ready.

**Required:**
- Python 3.10+ installed
- `requests` library (`pip install requests`)
- Template file accessible

**Optional but recommended:**
- Azure CLI authenticated (for subscription context)
- Parameter file for templates with parameters

**Bash:**
```bash
# Check Python version
python --version

# Install dependencies
pip install requests

# Verify Azure CLI