AWS Cost Analysis MCP server

The Cost Analysis MCP Server provides estimated AWS service pricing for pre-deployment planning. It offers detailed cost breakdowns by service, region, and tier, natural language cost querying, and comprehensive cost reports to support informed decision-making before deploying cloud infrastructure.

Prerequisites

Before installing the MCP server, you need to:

1. Install uv from Astral or the GitHub README
2. Install Python using uv python install 3.10
3. Set up AWS credentials with access to AWS services
   • You need an AWS account with appropriate permissions
   • Configure AWS credentials with aws configure or environment variables
   • Ensure your IAM role/user has permissions to access AWS Pricing API

Installation

You can install the MCP server using either uv or Docker.

Using UV

Configure the MCP server in your MCP client configuration. For Amazon Q Developer CLI, edit ~/.aws/amazonq/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "awslabs.cost-analysis-mcp-server": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["awslabs.cost-analysis-mcp-server@latest"],
      "env": {
        "FASTMCP_LOG_LEVEL": "ERROR",
        "AWS_PROFILE": "your-aws-profile"
      },
      "disabled": false,
      "autoApprove": []
    }
  }
}

Using Docker

First, build the Docker image:

docker build -t awslabs/cost-analysis-mcp-server .

Create a .env file with your AWS credentials:

AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=ASIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=wJalrXUtnFEMI/K7MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY
AWS_SESSION_TOKEN=AQoEXAMPLEH4aoAH0gNCAPy...truncated...zrkuWJOgQs8IZZaIv2BXIa2R4Olgk

Then configure your MCP client (edit ~/.aws/amazonq/mcp.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "awslabs.cost-analysis-mcp-server": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "--rm",
        "--interactive",
        "--env",
        "FASTMCP_LOG_LEVEL=ERROR",
        "--env-file",
        "/full/path/to/file/above/.env",
        "awslabs/cost-analysis-mcp-server:latest"
      ],
      "env": {},
      "disabled": false,
      "autoApprove": []
    }
  }
}

Note: Your credentials will need to be kept refreshed from your host.

AWS Authentication

The MCP server authenticates with AWS using the profile specified in the AWS_PROFILE environment variable. If not provided, it defaults to the "default" profile in your AWS configuration.

"env": {
  "AWS_PROFILE": "your-aws-profile"
}

Ensure your AWS profile has permissions to access the AWS Pricing API. The server creates a boto3 session using the specified profile to authenticate with AWS services. Your AWS IAM credentials remain on your local machine and are only used for accessing AWS services.

Usage

Once configured, you can use the MCP server through your MCP client to:

1. Analyze AWS costs for your infrastructure code (CDK or Terraform)
2. Query pricing information using natural language
3. Generate cost reports and optimization recommendations

The server automatically processes your infrastructure code to estimate costs before deployment, helping you make informed decisions about your AWS infrastructure.

How to add this MCP server to Cursor

There are two ways to add an MCP server to Cursor. The most common way is to add the server globally in the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file so that it is available in all of your projects.

If you only need the server in a single project, you can add it to the project instead by creating or adding it to the .cursor/mcp.json file.

Adding an MCP server to Cursor globally

To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > MCP and click "Add new global MCP server".

When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file will be opened and you can add your server like this:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "cursor-rules-mcp": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "cursor-rules-mcp"
            ]
        }
    }
}

Adding an MCP server to a project

To add an MCP server to a project you can create a new .cursor/mcp.json file or add it to the existing one. This will look exactly the same as the global MCP server example above.

How to use the MCP server

Once the server is installed, you might need to head back to Settings > MCP and click the refresh button.

The Cursor agent will then be able to see the available tools the added MCP server has available and will call them when it needs to.

You can also explictly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.