Click on "Deploy Server".
Wait a few minutes for the server to deploy. Once ready, it will show a "Started" state.
In the chat, type @ followed by the MCP server name and your instructions, e.g., "@cloudcostwise where am I wasting money on AWS?"
That's it! The server will respond to your query, and you can continue using it as needed.
Here is a step-by-step guide with screenshots.
Find AWS waste from your terminal or your AI assistant. cloudcostwise runs CloudWise's open waste
checks on your own machine, with your own read-only AWS credentials.
Nothing leaves your machine. The only network calls are AWS API calls in your account. No signup, no IAM role for a third party, no telemetry.
It cannot change anything. Every AWS call goes through a guard that
refuses any operation that isn't a Describe, List, Get, Search or
Lookup, whatever your credentials allow.
20 of CloudWise's 46 service checks: EC2, Lambda, SageMaker, WorkSpaces, Lightsail, EBS, S3, EFS, ECR, RDS, DynamoDB, ElastiCache, Elastic IPs, NAT gateways and load balancers, VPC endpoints, dangling DNS records, CloudWatch logs and dashboards, security posture, RI/Savings Plans opportunities, and Compute Optimizer.
pipx install cloudcostwise
cloudcostwise scan # us-east-1 plus your profile's region
cloudcostwise scan --profile prod --regions all
cloudcostwise scan --format json > waste.jsonOptions:
Option | Meaning |
| AWS profile; otherwise the standard credential chain (env vars, SSO, instance role) |
| Comma-separated regions, or |
| Output format |
| Make no Cost Explorer call. AWS bills those at $0.01 per request and a scan makes about 13. Skips the RI/Savings Plans checks; extended-support surcharges fall back to estimates |
| Show data warnings (checks that could not read a metric report it as missing, never as zero) |
Related MCP server: AWS FinOps MCP Server
cloudcostwise mcp runs the same scan as an MCP server (stdio). Then ask your
assistant: "Where am I wasting money on AWS?"
Claude Code:
claude mcp add cloudcostwise -- uvx cloudcostwise mcp
# a specific profile:
claude mcp add cloudcostwise -e AWS_PROFILE=prod -- uvx cloudcostwise mcpCodex (~/.codex/config.toml):
[mcp_servers.cloudcostwise]
command = "uvx"
args = ["cloudcostwise", "mcp"]
env = { AWS_PROFILE = "prod" }Tools, all read-only: scan, list_findings, explain_finding,
fix_guidance. fix_guidance returns the steps and AWS CLI command as text
for you to review; nothing is ever executed. The assistant is told about the
Cost Explorer cost before it scans, and include_cost_explorer=false skips it.
ReadOnlyAccess (AWS managed) is enough. The minimal policy the checks use is
in docs/iam-policy.json. It was derived from a scan of
an account with most supported resource types; if a check lacks a permission,
the scan says so in its data warnings instead of failing.
Each finding shows an estimated monthly saving. Advisory waste types, ones CloudWise could not validate against a real AWS resource, are listed but never added to the total.
The other 26 service checks (Glue, ECS, Step Functions, Backup, CloudFront, commitments and more), history and trends, alerts, and safe automated fixes: https://cloudcostwise.io/connect?src=cli.
FSL-1.1-ALv2. Each release becomes Apache-2.0 two years after it ships.
See VALIDATION.md: the validation level of every waste type this tool reports, from L0 (unit-tested) to L2 (fired on a real AWS resource and stayed silent on a healthy twin) and beyond.
This server cannot be deployed
Lowers your AWS bill by helping you clean up and optimize your setup
AWS pricing and cost estimates with no signup, plus read-only idle-resource scans of your account.
AWS cloud security scanners for AI agents — S3, IAM, EC2, EKS, RDS, CloudTrail, CloudWatch Logs
AWS Cost Explorer cost, forecast, and anomaly reporting through user-connected IAM credentials.
