Azure Resource Group Cost Analyzer

Analyze an Azure resource group to produce a comprehensive cost optimization report following Microsoft Well-Architected Framework and FinOps Foundation best practices.

Arguments:

• •$0 - Resource Group name (required)
• •$1 - Region for pricing context (optional, defaults to auto-detect from RG)

Output: ~/azure-cost-analysis/{rg-name}-cost-analysis.md

Workflow

Phase 1: Pre-flight Validation

Run the pre-flight check script to validate the environment:

bash scripts/az-preflight-check.sh "$0"

If pre-flight fails, report the specific failure and stop. Common issues:

• •Azure CLI not installed
• •Not logged in (az login needed)
• •Resource group does not exist
• •Subscription not accessible

Phase 2: Resource Discovery

Enumerate all resources in the resource group and categorize by type:

az resource list --resource-group "$0" --output json

Build a resource inventory table with: Name, Type, SKU/Tier, Location, Tags.

Determine which analysis categories apply based on discovered resource types:

• •Compute & Apps: App Service Plans, Web Apps, Functions, VMs, VMSS, Container Apps
• •Data & Cache: Storage Accounts, Redis, SQL, PostgreSQL, Cosmos DB
• •Monitoring & Certs: Log Analytics, App Insights, Alerts, Key Vault, Certificates
• •Cost Management: Cost trends, Advisor recommendations, Activity logs

Phase 3: Parallel Deep Analysis

Spawn 4 azure-infra-engineer agents via the Task tool, each analyzing their assigned category. Pass the resource group name and the list of relevant resources to each agent.

Agent 1 - Compute & Apps Analyst:

Instruct the agent to analyze compute and application resources in resource group $0. For each resource found:

• •App Service Plans: SKU, worker count, app count, CPU/memory utilization (last 30 days), slot configurations
• •Web Apps / Function Apps: Runtime, always-on setting, deployment slots, custom domains, SSL bindings, app settings count, connection strings, outbound IP dependencies
• •VMs: Size, OS, disk configuration, CPU/memory utilization, auto-shutdown settings
• •Container Apps: Revision mode, scaling rules, resource limits

Use commands from the references/azure-cli-commands.md reference. Save findings to ~/azure-cost-analysis/$0-compute-analysis.md.

Agent 2 - Data & Cache Analyst:

Instruct the agent to analyze data and caching resources in resource group $0. For each resource found:

• •Storage Accounts: SKU, replication, access tier, container count, blob metrics (capacity, transaction count), lifecycle policies, CORS rules
• •Redis Cache: SKU/tier, memory usage, connected clients, cache hit ratio, eviction policy, clustering config
• •SQL/PostgreSQL: SKU, DTU/vCore, storage used vs allocated, connection count, long-running queries, backup retention
• •Cosmos DB: Throughput model (provisioned vs serverless), RU consumption, partition key distribution

Use commands from the references/azure-cli-commands.md reference. Save findings to ~/azure-cost-analysis/$0-data-analysis.md.

Agent 3 - Monitoring & Certs Analyst:

Instruct the agent to analyze monitoring and certificate resources in resource group $0. For each resource found:

• •Log Analytics Workspaces: SKU, daily cap, retention period, ingestion volume (last 30 days), connected sources
• •Application Insights: Type, daily cap, retention, ingestion volume, sampling rate
• •Alert Rules: Count, action groups, frequency, evaluation windows
• •Key Vault: SKU, secret/key/certificate count, access policies, soft-delete status
• •Certificates: Expiration dates, issuer, associated bindings

Use commands from the references/azure-cli-commands.md reference. Save findings to ~/azure-cost-analysis/$0-monitoring-analysis.md.

Agent 4 - Cost & Governance Analyst:

Instruct the agent to analyze cost trends and governance for resource group $0:

• •Cost Management: Last 6 months of cost data by resource, identify cost spikes and trends
• •Azure Advisor: Pull all recommendations (cost, security, reliability, performance)
• •Activity Logs: Last 6 months of resource modifications, identify unused/stale resources
• •Resource Graph: Run orphaned resource queries from references/resource-graph-queries.md
• •Tags: Audit tag compliance, identify untagged resources
• •Resource Locks: Check for delete/read-only locks

Use commands from the references/azure-cli-commands.md reference. Save findings to ~/azure-cost-analysis/$0-cost-governance-analysis.md.

Phase 4: Azure Advisor & Resource Graph

After parallel agents complete, run additional cross-cutting analysis:

# Orphaned resource detection
az graph query -q "Resources | where resourceGroup =~ '$0' | where type =~ 'microsoft.network/publicipaddresses' | where properties.ipConfiguration == ''" --output json

Load queries from references/resource-graph-queries.md and execute each one scoped to the target resource group. Compile a list of orphaned/zombie resources.

Phase 5: Report Compilation

Merge all agent findings into a single professional report. Use the template structure from references/report-template.md:

1. •Read all agent output files from ~/azure-cost-analysis/$0-*-analysis.md
2. •Compile into the report template structure
3. •Cross-reference findings between agents (e.g., App Service connecting to Redis)
4. •Calculate estimated monthly costs using references/pricing-reference.md
5. •Generate 3 optimization scenarios (Conservative, Moderate, Aggressive)
6. •Produce the final report at ~/azure-cost-analysis/$0-cost-analysis.md

Phase 6: Summary & Recommendations

Present to the user:

1. •Executive summary (total estimated monthly cost, top 3 savings opportunities)
2. •Critical issues requiring immediate attention (security, expiring certs, governance gaps)
3. •Recommended next steps with the safety checklist from references/safety-checklist.md
4. •Link to the full report file

Reference Files

Load these as needed during analysis:

• •Azure CLI Commands: references/azure-cli-commands.md - All Azure CLI commands organized by resource type
• •Resource Graph Queries: references/resource-graph-queries.md - KQL queries for orphaned/zombie resource detection
• •Pricing Reference: references/pricing-reference.md - Azure pricing estimates by SKU for cost calculations
• •Report Template: references/report-template.md - Professional report structure following FinOps standards
• •Safety Checklist: references/safety-checklist.md - Pre-deletion safety protocol and verification steps

Scripts

• •Pre-flight Check: scripts/az-preflight-check.sh - Validates Azure CLI, login state, subscription, and resource group existence

Key Design Principles

1. •Adaptive Analysis: Dynamically adjust analysis based on discovered resource types -- never assume a fixed resource list
2. •FinOps-Aligned: Follow Microsoft Well-Architected Framework Cost Optimization pillar
3. •Safety-First: Never recommend hard deletes without the safety checklist; always recommend resource locks before deletion
4. •Parallel Execution: Use 4 agents for speed on large resource groups
5. •Cross-Reference Dependencies: Map connections between resources (e.g., App Service -> Redis, Web App -> Storage) before recommending deletions
6. •Actionable Output: Every recommendation includes an az CLI command to execute it