Setting the file. One moment.
Subchapter 1.11
references/cost-query/workflow.mdMarkdown3 KBView on GitHub
Use this workflow for cost totals, breakdowns, trends, and top spenders.
Use the narrowest Azure scope that answers the question. query_costs defaults
to month-to-date. Custom dates use YYYY-MM-DD, must be supplied as a
from/to pair, and cannot exceed the rolling 92-day lookback.
Supported timeframes are MonthToDate, BillingMonthToDate, TheLastMonth,
TheLastBillingMonth, WeekToDate, TheCurrentMonth, and Custom.
| Parameter | Contract |
|---|---|
metric | PreTaxCost (default), Cost, or AmortizedCost |
granularity | None (default), Daily, or Monthly |
groupBy | Up to five comma-separated supported dimensions |
filterDimension + filterValues | Supply both; values are comma-separated exact matches |
sortBy | Cost column or selected grouping dimension |
sortDirection | desc (default), asc, descending, or ascending |
top | 1-5000 rows; default 100 |
Use dimensions by scope to select dimensions. Resource- and meter-level dimensions require a subscription or resource-group scope. Tag grouping and filtering are not supported by this MCP tool.
Call query_costs. If the operation is unavailable, use the Cost Management
Query API through the approved fallback process.
Preserve the response column order, currency, metric, scope, and period. Keep
different currencies separate.
Request granularity=None when the answer needs a total instead of summing
daily rows. For weekly comparisons, issue one bounded custom-period query per
week, with granularity=None and only the required grouping, rather than
locally parsing or time-bucketing a larger response.
The tool has no continuation input. If the requested data exceeds top, raise
top to at most 5000 or narrow the scope, period, or grouping. State when the
result may be incomplete.
| Error | Action |
|---|---|
| Unsupported timeframe, metric, dimension, or sort | Use a value exposed by the tool contract. |
Missing from/to or filter pair | Supply both members of the pair. |
| Date outside 92 days | Narrow the period; fallback does not bypass this guardrail. |
| Throttled | Honor the retry guidance returned by the tool and reduce fan-out. |
| More than about 10 subscriptions | Ask the user to narrow scope. |
See examples, parameter contract, and guardrails. Use cost query errors for tool-specific remediation.