How do I install Cloudcostwise?

Copy the stdio config for Cursor, Claude Desktop, Claude Code, or VS Code on this page. It uses the publisher's install, not a PlugMCP proxy.

Does Cloudcostwise need an API key?

The publisher lists these environment variables: AWS_PROFILE.

What transport does Cloudcostwise use?

Cloudcostwise runs locally over stdio.

When was Cloudcostwise last checked?

Last checked 2026-11-09. Find AWS waste with your own read-only credentials. Runs locally. Nothing is sent unless you opt in.

Cloudcostwise MCP server

Power your agent

Add this server

The publisher's own command. Not a PlugMCP endpoint.

Add to Cursor Add to VS Code Run on PlugMCP

Host a copy with our keys and logs.

Local command

uvx cloudcostwise==0.1.19

Credentials from the publisher

AWS_PROFILE — AWS profile to scan with (read-only access is enough). Defaults to the standard credential chain.

Claude Code has no install link for a local command. Copy the command below and run it in a terminal.

shClaude Code

1AWS_PROFILE=<value> claude mcp add io.github.cloudwise-app-cloudcostwise -- uvx cloudcostwise==0.1.19

Run in a terminal.

jsonClaude Desktop

1{2  "mcpServers": {3    "io.github.cloudwise-app-cloudcostwise": {4      "command": "uvx",5      "args": [6        "cloudcostwise==0.1.19"7      ],8      "env": {9        "AWS_PROFILE": "<value>"10      }11    }12  }13}

claude_desktop_config.json

Local · pypiPublisher installStep-by-step: add this in Claude

Remote URL or a command on your machine? How the two installs differ

Run on PlugMCP

Host a copy with our keys and logs.

A new server you create. It is not this listing's official endpoint. Use the publisher install when you want their URL and their credentials.

Launch

Server facts

Local

Transport: stdio
Version: 0.1.19
API key

Tools

No tool list yet. Remote servers get one after the first health check.

FAQ

Questions

cloudcostwise

Find AWS waste from your terminal or your AI assistant. cloudcostwise runs CloudWise's free waste checks on your own machine, with your own read-only AWS credentials.

Nothing is sent to CloudWise. The only network calls are AWS API calls in your account. No signup, no IAM role for a third party, no telemetry. Used through an AI assistant (MCP), the findings go to that assistant like any tool output.
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.

cloudcostwise scanning our test account: findings ranked by monthly cost

Install and run

pipx install cloudcostwise          # or: uvx cloudcostwise scan
cloudcostwise scan                      # us-east-1 plus your profile's region
cloudcostwise scan --profile prod --regions all
cloudcostwise scan --format json > waste.json

Options:

Option	Meaning
`--profile NAME`	AWS profile; otherwise the standard credential chain (env vars, SSO, instance role)
`--regions LIST`	Comma-separated regions, or `all` for every enabled region. Account-level checks (Cost Explorer, Route 53) run once, in us-east-1
`--format table\|markdown\|json`	Output format
`--no-cost-explorer`	Make no Cost Explorer call. AWS bills those at $0.01 per request and a scan makes about 19. Skips the RI/Savings Plans checks; extended-support surcharges fall back to estimates
`--parallel N`	Regions scanned at once, each in its own process (default 4; `--regions all` takes ~2–3 min instead of ~10)
`--verbose`	Show data warnings (checks that could not read a metric report it as missing, never as zero)

What AWS's free tools don't flag

This tool has 50 proven checks (L2 or above in VALIDATION.md: each fired on a real AWS resource built to trigger it and stayed silent on a healthy twin). 18 of them flag waste that none of AWS's own tools flag, and 9 more go further than the closest AWS check, going by AWS's lists of what its tools cover (Trusted Advisor, Cost Optimization Hub, Compute Optimizer; checked 2026-10-11).

Check	What it finds	Closest AWS check
`ami_orphaned_snapshot`	EBS snapshots left behind by an AMI that was deregistered	None
`classic_lb_migration`	Classic Load Balancers that would cost less as an ALB or NLB	None
`elasticache_data_tiering_opportunity`	Redis OSS or Valkey replication groups on r6g/r7g nodes that would cost less on data-tiering r6gd nodes	None
`elasticache_engine_migration`	Redis OSS or Memcached clusters that would cost about 20% less on Valkey	None
`elasticache_extended_support_cost`	ElastiCache engine versions billed the Extended Support surcharge	None
`idle_lightsail`	Stopped or idle Lightsail instances that still bill their bundle price	None
`lambda_arm64_migration`	Lambda functions that would cost about 20% less on arm64 (Graviton)	None
`lambda_provisioned_concurrency_idle`	Lambda provisioned concurrency that is paid for and barely used	None
`lightsail_idle_load_balancer`	Idle Lightsail load balancers	None
`lightsail_unattached_disk`	Lightsail disks attached to nothing	None
`lightsail_unattached_static_ip`	Lightsail static IPs attached to nothing	None
`low_traffic_alb`	Application Load Balancers carrying almost no traffic	None
`multiple_eips_per_instance`	Extra Elastic IPs on one instance, each billed as a public IPv4 address	None
`no_lifecycle_efs`	Large EFS file systems with no Infrequent Access or Archive tiering	None
`orphaned_ebs_snapshot`	EBS snapshots whose source volume no longer exists	None
`previous_gen_sagemaker_instance`

For idle EC2, RDS and NAT gateways, rightsizing and Savings Plans, AWS's tools cover the same ground: use them too. Trusted Advisor's cost checks need a Business, Enterprise or Unified Operations support plan; Cost Optimization Hub and Compute Optimizer are free.

The hosted CloudWise product adds 22 more proven checks that none of AWS's tools flag, across AWS Backup, AppSync, CloudFront, Elastic Beanstalk, FSx, Glue, KMS, Kinesis, Route 53, Step Functions.

Excerpt of a real scan of our test account (cloudcostwise 0.1.15, us-east-1, 2026-10-27). The resources there are deliberately tiny, which is why the amounts are cents:

no_retention_log_group  x6  $0.06/mo
    us-east-1       /aws/lambda/cwfx-clo464-docdb-connect                               $0.01/mo
    us-east-1       /aws/lambda/cwfx-ec-hold-driver                                     $0.01/mo
    us-east-1       /aws/sagemaker/Endpoints/cwfx-w8b-ep-big                            $0.01/mo
    us-east-1       /aws/sagemaker/Endpoints/cwfx-w8b-ep-big-control                    $0.01/mo
    us-east-1       /aws/sagemaker/Endpoints/cwfx-w8b-ep-idle                           $0.01/mo
    us-east-1       /aws/sagemaker/Endpoints/cwfx-w8b-ep-idle-control                   $0.01/mo
old_ecr_images  x1  $0.06/mo
    us-east-1       cwfx-old-ecr-images                                                 $0.06/mo
untagged_ecr_images  x1  $0.02/mo
    us-east-1       cwfx-untagged-ecr-images                                            $0.02/mo
idle_efs  x1  $0.01/mo
    us-east-1       fs-090bfb32bd49de8b7                                                $0.01/mo

Use it from Claude Code, Codex or any MCP client

cloudcostwise mcp runs the same scan as an MCP server (stdio). Then ask your assistant: "Where am I wasting money on AWS?"

The plugin and registry entries start the server with uvx, so install uv first (brew install uv or pipx install uv).

Claude Code, as a plugin (asks for your AWS profile):

/plugin marketplace add cloudwise-app/cloudcostwise
/plugin install cloudcostwise@cloudcostwise

Claude Code, as a plain MCP server:

claude mcp add cloudcostwise -- uvx cloudcostwise mcp
# a specific profile:
claude mcp add cloudcostwise -e AWS_PROFILE=prod -- uvx cloudcostwise mcp

Codex (~/.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.

Permissions

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.

How the numbers are counted

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.

For consultancies and MSPs

The partner licence runs on your own machine like this tool: the other 26 service checks, one scan across every client account, and a client report under your firm's name. One price per firm, unlimited client accounts: https://cloudcostwise.io/partners?utm_source=cloudcostwise&utm_medium=readme.

What the hosted product adds

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?utm_source=cloudcostwise&utm_medium=cli.

Tell us where it's wrong

A false positive, a miss, or a dollar figure that looks off: post it in issue #1, or email [email protected] if you'd rather not post in public. The waste types and counts from your scan are enough. Leave out account IDs and resource names. Every report gets a reply, and a confirmed false positive gets fixed in the next release.

License

FSL-1.1-ALv2. Each release becomes Apache-2.0 two years after it ships.

How we know it's right

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.

Add this server

Host a copy with our keys and logs.

Server facts

Tools

Questions

How do I install Cloudcostwise?

Does Cloudcostwise need an API key?

What transport does Cloudcostwise use?

When was Cloudcostwise last checked?

Documentation

cloudcostwise

Install and run

What AWS's free tools don't flag

Use it from Claude Code, Codex or any MCP client

Permissions

How the numbers are counted

For consultancies and MSPs

What the hosted product adds

Tell us where it's wrong

License

How we know it's right