AWS FinOps MCP Server

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that brings powerful AWS FinOps capabilities directly into your AI assistant. Analyze cloud costs, audit for waste, and get budget insights using natural language, all while keeping your credentials secure on your local machine.

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Table of Contents

1. What is an MCP Server?
2. Why Use the AWS FinOps MCP Server?
3. Key Features
4. Prerequisites
   • General Requirements
   • AWS Requirements & IAM Permissions
5. Installation
6. Configuration
   • Step 1: AWS CLI Profile Setup
   • Step 2: MCP Client Setup (Claude for Desktop)
7. Usage & Example Prompts
   • Use Case: Cost & Usage Analysis
   • Use Case: FinOps Waste & Savings Audit
8. Tool Reference
   • get_cost
   • run_finops_audit
9. Cost Considerations
10. Development & Contributing
11. License

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What is an MCP Server?

MCP (Model Context Protocol) is an open protocol that standardizes how AI applications connect with external data sources and tools. Think of it as a universal adapter, like USB-C, but for AI.

An MCP server is a lightweight program that "exposes" capabilities (like accessing files, querying a database, or calling an API) to any compatible AI application (the "client"). This allows you to extend the power of your AI assistant to your own data and workflows securely.

For more information, visit the MCP Introduction.

Why Use the AWS FinOps MCP Server?

Managing AWS costs can be complex. Finding answers to questions like "What did we spend on S3 last month?" or "Do we have any unused EC2 instances?" often requires navigating the AWS Console or writing scripts.

This server bridges that gap by connecting the powerful, natural language understanding of an LLM directly to your AWS account's financial data. You can ask complex questions and get immediate, actionable insights without ever leaving your chat interface.

Use Case: Quick Cost Breakdown

Prompt: "What was our cost for the prod-main profile from May 1st to May 15th, 2024, grouped by service?"

[Here you can embed a screenshot or a short screen recording showing this prompt and the server's output in Claude.]

Use Case: Proactive Waste Detection

Prompt: "Run a finops audit for all profiles in us-west-2 and eu-central-1."

[Here you can embed a screenshot or GIF showing the audit finding unused EBS volumes or EIPs.]

Key Features

• Detailed Cost Analysis: Slice and dice your AWS cost data using tags, time ranges, and service groupings via the Cost Explorer API.
• Automated FinOps Audit: Instantly find common sources of cloud waste, such as stopped EC2 instances, unattached EBS volumes, and unassociated Elastic IPs.
• Budget Monitoring: Check the status of your AWS Budgets to see if you are on track, over budget, or forecasted to exceed your limits.
• Multi-Profile & Multi-Region: Seamlessly query across any or all of your configured AWS profiles and regions in a single command.
• Secure by Design: Your AWS credentials never leave your machine. The server runs locally and uses your existing AWS CLI configuration to make API calls directly to AWS.

Prerequisites

General Requirements

• Python 3.8+: Ensure you have a compatible Python version installed.
• MCP Client: An application that supports MCP. This guide uses Claude for Desktop as the example.

AWS Requirements & IAM Permissions

• AWS CLI: The AWS CLI must be installed on your machine.
• AWS Account & Profile(s): You need at least one configured AWS profile.
• IAM Permissions: The AWS identity (IAM User or Role) associated with your profile(s) requires specific read-only permissions to function correctly.

Create an IAM policy with the following JSON and attach it to your user or role. These permissions are read-only and grant access only to the necessary services.

{
    "Version": "2012-10-17",
    "Statement": [
        {
            "Sid": "AllowFinOpsMCPServer",
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Action": [
                "ce:GetCostAndUsage",
                "budgets:DescribeBudgets",
                "ec2:DescribeInstances",
                "ec2:DescribeVolumes",
                "ec2:DescribeAddresses",
                "sts:GetCallerIdentity"
            ],
            "Resource": "*"
        }
    ]
}

Installation

Install the server from PyPI with a single command:

pip install aws-finops-mcp-server

This will install the server and make the aws-finops-mcp-server command available in your terminal's path.

Configuration

Step 1: AWS CLI Profile Setup

If you haven't already, configure your AWS profiles. For each profile you want to use, run:

aws configure --profile your-profile-name

The CLI will prompt you for:

• AWS Access Key ID: Your credential's access key.
• AWS Secret Access Key: Your credential's secret key.
• Default region name: e.g., us-east-1.
• Default output format: e.g., json.

For your default profile, you can omit the --profile flag.

Step 2: MCP Client Setup (Claude for Desktop)

To use this server with Claude for Desktop, you need to tell the application how to run it.

1. Open your Claude for Desktop configuration file. It's located at:

   • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
   • Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

2. Add the following entry to the mcpServers object. If the file doesn't exist or is empty, you'll need to create the JSON structure.

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "aws_finops": {
         "command": "aws-finops-mcp-server",
         "args": []
       }
     }
   }
   

3. Save the file and completely restart Claude for Desktop.

After restarting, the server will launch in the background, and its tools will be available to Claude.

Usage & Example Prompts

You can now ask questions about your AWS finances in plain English.

Use Case: Cost & Usage Analysis

Basic Query: "Show me my AWS costs for the default profile this month."

Time-Range Query: "get aws cost for my dev profile for the last 14 days"

Filtered & Grouped Query: "What was the cost for my production profile last month, filtered by the tag CostCenter=Project-Alpha, and grouped by INSTANCE_TYPE?"

Multi-Profile Query: "Compare the costs for my staging and production profiles over the last 30 days."

Use Case: FinOps Waste & Savings Audit

Simple Audit: "Run a finops audit on my default profile in us-east-1."

Multi-Region, Multi-Profile Audit: "Check for unused resources in us-west-2 and eu-west-1 for my prod-us and prod-eu profiles."

Comprehensive Audit for All Profiles: "Run a FinOps audit for all my configured profiles in us-east-1."

Tool Reference

get_cost

Fetches cost and usage data from AWS Cost Explorer.

Parameter	Type	Description
profiles	List[str]	A list of AWS CLI profile names to use.
all_profiles	bool	If True, use all available profiles. Defaults to False.
time_range_days	int	Number of past days to fetch data for (e.g., 7 for last 7 days).
start_date_iso	str	Start date in YYYY-MM-DD format. Takes precedence over time_range_days.
end_date_iso	str	End date in YYYY-MM-DD format. Must be used with start_date_iso.
tags	List[str]	Filter by cost allocation tags. Format: ["Key=Value", "Key2=Value2"].
dimensions	List[str]	Filter by dimensions. Format: ["REGION=us-east-1"].
group_by	str	The dimension to group costs by. Default is SERVICE.

run_finops_audit

Runs a financial audit to find unused and potentially costly resources.

Parameter	Type	Description
regions	List[str]	A list of AWS regions to run the audit in (e.g., ["us-east-1", "eu-west-1"]).
profiles	List[str]	A list of AWS CLI profile names to use.
all_profiles	bool	If True, use all available profiles. Defaults to False.

Cost Considerations

This tool interacts with the AWS Cost Explorer API. AWS charges for these API calls.

• Cost: Each call to get_cost is a request to the Cost Explorer API and typically costs $0.01.
• The run_finops_audit tool calls other AWS service APIs (EC2, Budgets) which are generally included in the free tier or have negligible costs at typical usage levels.

Be mindful of making frequent get_cost calls, especially in any automated workflows, to avoid unexpected charges.

Development & Contributing

Contributions are welcome! If you'd like to improve the server or add new features, please follow these steps:

1. Fork and Clone: Fork the repository and clone it to your local machine.
2. Set Up Environment:

   git clone https://github.com/your-username/aws-finops-mcp-server.git
   cd aws-finops-mcp-server
   python -m venv .venv
   source .venv/bin/activate  # On Windows, use `.venv\Scripts\activate`
   

3. Install in Editable Mode:

   pip install -e .
   

4. Make Changes: Add your features or bug fixes.
5. Submit a Pull Request: Open a PR against the main branch with a clear description of your changes.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for full details.

Made with ❤️ by Ravi Kiran