Cost Forecast Workflow

Use this workflow when the user wants to project future costs.

⚠️ Warning: If the user wants historical cost data, use the Cost Query Workflow. If they want to reduce costs, use the Cost Optimization Workflow.

Key Differences from Query API

Aspect	Query API	Forecast API
Purpose	Historical cost data	Projected future costs
Time period	Past dates only	Must include future dates
Grouping	Up to 2 dimensions	Not supported
includeActualCost	N/A	Include historical alongside forecast
Response columns	Cost, Date, Currency	Cost, Date, CostStatus, Currency
Max response rows	5,000/page	40 rows recommended
Timeframe	Multiple presets + Custom	Typically Custom only

Step 1: Determine Scope

Use the same scope patterns from the Scope Reference table in the main SKILL.md.

Step 2: Choose Report Type

ActualCost is most common for forecasting. AmortizedCost for reservation/savings plan projections.

Step 3: Set Time Period

⚠️ Warning: The to date MUST be in the future.

• Set timeframe to Custom and provide timePeriod with from and to dates
• from can be in the past — shows actual costs up to today, then forecast to to
• Minimum 28 days of historical cost data required
• Maximum forecast period: 10 years

Full rules: Forecast Guardrails

Step 4: Configure Dataset

• Granularity: Daily or Monthly recommended
• Aggregation: Typically Sum of Cost
• See Forecast Request Body Schema for full schema

⚠️ Warning: Grouping is NOT supported for forecast. Suggest using the Cost Query Workflow for grouped historical data instead.

Step 5: Set Forecast-Specific Options

Field	Default	Description
includeActualCost	true	Include historical actual costs alongside forecast
includeFreshPartialCost	true	Include partial cost data for recent days. Requires includeActualCost: true

Step 6: Construct and Execute

Create temp/cost-forecast.json:

{
  "type": "ActualCost",
  "timeframe": "Custom",
  "timePeriod": {