azure-cost-mcp

An MCP server that gives Claude live access to Azure pricing and cost data — retail prices, VM comparisons, reservation analysis, architecture estimates, and actual subscription spend.

What it does

Nine tools across two API groups:

Tool	Description	Auth required
azure_search_prices	Search Azure retail prices with OData filters	No
azure_compare_vm_prices	Compare VM SKUs across regions (monthly matrix)	No
azure_find_cheapest_region	Find cheapest regions for a given SKU	No
azure_compare_reservation_vs_payg	PAYG vs 1-yr / 3-yr reservation with break-even	No
azure_estimate_architecture_cost	Estimate multi-component architecture monthly cost	No
azure_query_costs	Query actual subscription spend (group by service, resource group, etc.)	Yes
azure_query_costs_by_resource	Top-N resources by spend with % of total	Yes
azure_get_cost_forecast	Cost forecast for a period	Yes
azure_list_budgets	List budgets with CRITICAL / WARNING / OK status	Yes

Prerequisites

• Node.js 20+
• npm

Build

npm install
npm run build

Azure setup (for authenticated tools)

Create a service principal and assign the Cost Management Reader role:

# Create service principal
az ad sp create-for-rbac --name azure-cost-mcp --role "Cost Management Reader" \
  --scopes /subscriptions/<SUBSCRIPTION_ID>

# Output includes appId (clientId), password (clientSecret), tenant (tenantId)

Claude Desktop configuration

Add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) or %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (Windows):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "azure-cost": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/azure-cost-mcp/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "AZURE_TENANT_ID": "...",
        "AZURE_CLIENT_ID": "...",
        "AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET": "...",
        "AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_ID": "..."
      }
    }
  }
}

The retail tools work without credentials. Cost Management tools will return setup instructions if credentials are missing.

Environment variables

Variable	Required	Description
AZURE_TENANT_ID	For auth tools	Azure AD tenant ID
AZURE_CLIENT_ID	For auth tools	Service principal application ID
AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET	For auth tools	Service principal secret
AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_ID	For auth tools	Subscription to query
AZURE_RETAIL_DEFAULT_CURRENCY	No	Default currency (default: USD)

Companion skill

A Claude Code skill at ~/.claude/skills/azure-cost.md encodes tool routing rules, the reservation comparison rule, output conventions, and graceful degradation guidance. Install it by copying skills/azure-cost.md from this repository to ~/.claude/skills/.

Development

npm test            # run tests
npm run test:watch  # watch mode
npm run lint        # ESLint
npm run format      # Prettier