The-transit-Project/.github/agents/azure-deploy/prepare/references/subagent-pricing.md

Important: This skill provides guidance and recommended instructions to assist the AI system. Outputs are not guaranteed to be complete, correct, secure, or applicable to every scenario. Results should be reviewed and validated by a human before being applied. The AI model may choose not to follow all instructions exactly, and additional verification may be required.

Subagent Template — Cost Estimation (Step 6)

Estimate monthly costs for planned Azure services using Azure Retail Prices API.

References to Read Internally

Read BOTH before making any pricing calls:

• pricing-guide.md — methodology, free-grant handling, API patterns, troubleshooting
• pricing-guide-services.md — per-service filter strings, meter names, formulas

Input (provided by caller)

Field	Required
services[] with service type and selected SKU per service	YES
region — deployment region	YES
Budget tier (free / balanced / performance)	YES

Output

Return JSON (≤500 tokens):

{
  "costEstimate": {
    "monthlyTotal": 42.50,
    "currency": "USD",
    "breakdown": [
      { "service": "App Service", "sku": "B1", "monthlyUsd": 13.14, "formula": "retailPrice × 730" },
      { "service": "PostgreSQL Flexible Server", "sku": "Standard_B1ms", "monthlyUsd": 24.82, "formula": "compute + storage" }
    ],
    "freeGrants": [
      { "service": "Container Apps", "grant": "180K vCPU-sec + 360K GiB-sec", "monthlySavings": 0 }
    ],
    "assumptions": [],
    "disclaimer": "Estimate based on Azure Retail Prices API. Verify at azure.com/pricing."
  }
}

Rules

• ⛔ Do NOT invoke any other agents or hand off — no external agent calls of any kind. You are a pricing subagent only. Use direct HTTP to https://prices.azure.com/api/retail/prices for price queries (MCP pricing was already attempted inline by the caller).
• ⛔ No $0 shortcut — compute always has cost (App Service B1 / SWA Standard / Functions Flex Consumption floor). Price every compute app via live API; note free grants (Cosmos free-tier account, Container Apps/Functions grants) but still price paid meters. Do NOT return $0 for a compute app.
• ⛔ armSkuName is case-sensitive — use B1 not b1
• ⛔ For services with empty armSkuName (Container Apps, Functions Flex Consumption, ACR, Storage, Cosmos): use filter/meterName matching — a sku filter returns []
• ⛔ Monthly multiplier = each meter's unitOfMeasure (1 Hour→×730, 1/Day→×30 [ACR/registry, SQL DTU], 1 GB/Month→×GB, 1 Second→usage) — NEVER blanket ×730; applying ×730 to a 1/Day meter overstates ~24×
• ⛔ Use direct HTTP to https://prices.azure.com/api/retail/prices for all price lookups. Do NOT use mcp_azure_mcp_pricing — it was already tried inline and failed.
• ⛔ Never hardcode dollar amounts — always query live prices
• ⛔ If pricing API returns 400: verify --sku included in the query

Token Budget

≤500 tokens for cost estimate report.