MANDATORY validation of AWS cost findings. Cross-checks savings estimates against actual billing data and correct pricing formulas. Catches errors like confusing storage vs ingestion costs. Run BEFORE generating any report.

Validating AWS Pricing

MANDATORY validation step that catches pricing errors before they reach the user.

Why This Matters

Common errors this skill catches:

CloudWatch Logs: Confusing $0.50/GB ingestion with $0.03/GB storage
Savings exceeding actual service spend (impossible)
Wrong multipliers or formulas
Missing cost components

Purpose

This skill validates pricing for ALL findings using the Zero Hallucination Pricing System. Every finding must have a verifiable pricing_source. Findings without a pricing source or with fabricated prices are rejected (set to monthly_savings=0 with pricing_unknown=true).

Quick Start

# Validate with default $100 threshold (queries API only for >$100 findings)
python skills/validating-aws-pricing/scripts/validate_pricing.py findings.json --profile ctm

# Lower threshold to validate more findings
python skills/validating-aws-pricing/scripts/validate_pricing.py findings.json --profile ctm --threshold 50

# Works with any AWS auth method (SSO, access keys, IAM role)
python skills/validating-aws-pricing/scripts/validate_pricing.py findings.json  # uses default credentials

What Gets Updated

For findings above threshold (default $100):

Queries real AWS Pricing API for EC2, RDS, EBS
Updates monthly_savings with validated value
Marks api_validated: true in metadata

For findings below threshold:

Uses fallback estimates (fast, no API calls)
Marks api_validated: false in metadata

All findings get pricing_validated metadata showing the source.

Pricing Calculation by Finding Type

Idle Resources (EC2-001, etc.)

Savings = Full monthly cost of the resource

savings = hourly_rate * 730  # Resource should be terminated

Unattached Storage (EC2-012, EBS-001)

Savings = Storage cost per month

savings = size_gb * price_per_gb  # e.g., 100GB * $0.08 = $8.00

Over-provisioned (RDS-002, LAMBDA-001)

Savings = Difference between current and recommended size

current_cost = current_hourly * 730
recommended_cost = recommended_hourly * 730
savings = current_cost - recommended_cost

No RI Coverage (RDS-005)

Savings = On-Demand cost - Reserved Instance cost

on_demand_monthly = hourly_rate * 730
ri_monthly = ri_upfront / 12 + ri_hourly * 730
savings = on_demand_monthly - ri_monthly  # ~40-60% typically

CloudWatch Logs (SEC-001)

Savings = Storage cost that can be avoided with retention policy

savings = stored_gb * 0.03  # $0.03 per GB-month

AWS Pricing Reference

Current pricing (us-east-1):

Resource	Price	Unit	Monthly (730 hrs)
t2.nano	$0.0058	/hour	$4.23
t3.nano	$0.0052	/hour	$3.80
gp3 storage	$0.08	/GB-month	-
db.r5.xlarge	$0.50	/hour	$365.00
cache.t3.small (Valkey)	$0.0272	/hour	$19.86
CloudWatch Logs	$0.03	/GB-month	-

For complete pricing, see PRICING_REFERENCE.md.

Output

The script updates findings.json in place:

{
  "check_id": "EC2-001",
  "monthly_savings": 4.23,
  "pricing_validated": {
    "source": "AWS Pricing API",
    "validated_at": "2026-01-19T10:00:00Z",
    "hourly_rate": 0.0058,
    "calculation": "0.0058 * 730 hours"
  }
}

Workflow

Load findings.json
For each finding:
- Identify resource type from check_id and details
- Query AWS Pricing API (or use cached known prices)
- Calculate correct savings based on finding category
- Update monthly_savings field
- Add pricing_validated metadata
Recalculate total_monthly_savings in metadata
Save updated findings.json

Task Checklist

- [ ] Load findings.json
- [ ] Get actual billing from Cost Explorer (by service AND usage type)
- [ ] ANTI-HALLUCINATION CHECKS (run first):
  - [ ] Every finding has details.pricing_source (reject if missing)
  - [ ] Every finding with savings > 0 has details.calculation (reject if missing)
  - [ ] No findings have savings > 0 with pricing_source="pricing_unknown" (reject if found)
  - [ ] No idle findings count missing metrics as zero activity (reject if found)
  - [ ] Downsize targets are same-family-one-size-down or from Compute Optimizer (reject if not)
- [ ] For EACH finding:
  - [ ] Verify formula matches finding type
  - [ ] Check savings <= service spend (sanity check)
  - [ ] Query AWS Pricing API for ALL findings with pricing_source != "aws_pricing_api"
  - [ ] Check OS matches (Windows vs Linux) for EC2 findings
  - [ ] Check deployment option matches (Multi-AZ vs Single-AZ) for RDS findings
  - [ ] Check all EBS components (storage + IOPS + throughput) for EBS findings
  - [ ] Recalculate if errors found
  - [ ] Add calculation breakdown to details
- [ ] Flag any corrected findings with pricing_corrected: true
- [ ] Set any unfixable findings to monthly_savings=0 with pricing_unknown=true
- [ ] Recalculate total savings in metadata
- [ ] Save corrected findings.json
- [ ] Regenerate report with accurate prices

CRITICAL: Sanity Check Rules

Rule 1: Savings Cannot Exceed Service Spend

assert finding.monthly_savings <= service_monthly_spend, \
    f"Finding {finding.check_id} claims ${finding.monthly_savings} but service only costs ${service_monthly_spend}"

Example Failure:

Finding: CloudWatch Logs retention saves $594/mo
Billing: CloudWatch total spend = $159/mo
INVALID - immediately flag and recalculate

Rule 2: Use Correct Cost Component

Many AWS services have MULTIPLE cost components:

Service	Components	What Retention Affects
CloudWatch Logs	Ingestion ($0.50/GB) + Storage ($0.03/GB)	Storage ONLY
S3	Storage + Requests + Transfer	Storage + old versions
EBS	Storage + IOPS + Throughput	Storage ONLY
RDS	Compute + Storage + I/O	Depends on finding

Rule 3: Verify With Usage Type Breakdown

For any finding > $100, get usage-type breakdown:

aws ce get-cost-and-usage --profile {profile} \
  --time-period Start=2025-12-01,End=2026-01-01 \
  --granularity MONTHLY \
  --metrics UnblendedCost \
  --filter '{"Dimensions": {"Key": "SERVICE", "Values": ["AmazonCloudWatch"]}}' \
  --group-by Type=DIMENSION,Key=USAGE_TYPE

This shows:

DataProcessing-Bytes: Log ingestion ($0.50/GB)
TimedStorage-ByteHrs: Log storage ($0.03/GB)

Only storage can be reduced by retention policy!

Common Pricing Mistakes & Corrections

CloudWatch Logs Retention

WRONG:

savings = stored_gb * 0.50  # Using ingestion price!
# 221 GB * $0.50 = $110.50  # WRONG!

CORRECT:

savings = stored_gb * 0.03  # Storage price
# 221 GB * $0.03 = $6.63    # CORRECT!

Even more correct (check what % is older than retention):

# If setting 90-day retention, only logs older than 90 days are deleted
# Estimate 50% of stored data is older than 90 days
savings = stored_gb * 0.03 * 0.5

Unattached EBS Volume

CORRECT:

savings = size_gb * price_per_gb
# gp3: 100 GB * $0.08 = $8.00
# gp2: 100 GB * $0.10 = $10.00

Over-provisioned RDS

CORRECT:

current_cost = current_hourly * 730
recommended_cost = recommended_hourly * 730
savings = current_cost - recommended_cost

# db.r5.xlarge -> db.r5.large
# $0.50 * 730 - $0.25 * 730 = $365 - $182.50 = $182.50

Validation Output Format

After validation, each finding should include:

{
  "check_id": "LOG-001",
  "monthly_savings": 6.64,
  "pricing_validated": {
    "validated_at": "2026-01-19T12:00:00Z",
    "original_estimate": 594.34,
    "corrected": true,
    "correction_reason": "Used storage price ($0.03/GB) instead of ingestion price ($0.50/GB)",
    "calculation": "221.4 GB × $0.03/GB = $6.64",
    "sanity_check": {
      "service": "AmazonCloudWatch",
      "service_spend": 159.13,
      "finding_savings": 6.64,
      "passed": true
    }
  }
}