Pre-execution cost estimation for Alibaba Cloud CLI operations. Use this skill whenever a user asks "how much will this cost", before executing any chargeable operation (create / resize / renew / bandwidth change), or when planning a multi-step workflow whose total cost should be known up front. Covers the --estimate-cost flag (quote without executing), --estimate-cost-context (usage assumptions and future-state overrides for multi-step workflows), reading the quote JSON correctly (pricingMode, pricingUnit, delta amounts), and reconciling quotes against actual bills.
Pre-execution cost estimation for Alibaba Cloud CLI operations. Use this skill whenever a user asks "how much will this cost", before executing any chargeable operation (create / resize / renew / bandwidth change), or when planning a multi-step workflow whose total cost should be known up front. Covers the --estimate-cost flag (quote without executing), --estimate-cost-context (usage assumptions and future-state overrides for multi-step workflows), reading the quote JSON correctly (pricingMode, pricingUnit, delta amounts), and reconciling quotes against actual bills.
triggers
estimate cost, cost estimation, price quote, how much will it cost, price inquiry, quotation, how much, cost estimate, cost estimate, configuration change price, pre-execution cost, estimate-cost, PricingContext, billing preview, bill preview, price before execution, chargeable operation, upgrade cost, renewal cost, bandwidth cost
Get an exact price quote for a CLI operation without executing it. The quote
comes from the same pricing source as the trade system: for operations that
produce an immediate order, the quoted amount equals the order amount you would
actually pay (verified across new purchases, spec upgrades, and bandwidth
changes — quote and bill match to the cent).
This is the pre-execution half of cost management. The post-hoc half
(bills already incurred) is aliyun bssopenapi QueryAccountBill — see the
reconciliation section below.
Requirements
Alibaba Cloud CLI ≥ 3.4.2 (aliyun version)
Product plugins up to date (aliyun plugin update)
The Agent Rule: Quote Before Chargeable Execution
When you are about to execute an operation that creates, resizes, renews, or
otherwise changes billable resources:
Check whether the API supports quoting (see Discovery below).
Quote it by appending --estimate-cost to the exact command you intend
to run.
Present the amount to the user as part of the confirmation, e.g.
"This will execute ModifyPrepayInstanceSpec — estimated charge ¥28.89
(prorated upgrade delta). Proceed?"
Execute only after confirmation, by removing --estimate-cost from the
same command.
Never silently execute a chargeable operation when a quote was obtainable.
--estimate-cost is always safe to add: it only quotes, never executes, and
changes nothing in the account.
Multi-step plans: quote everything first, confirm once. When the user's
request decomposes into multiple API calls (a workflow), do NOT interleave
execute-and-ask step by step. Instead:
Quote all chargeable steps up front, before executing step 1 — use
--estimate-cost-context state overrides for steps that depend on the
state an earlier step will produce.
Present one consolidated cost plan: each step's amount labelled by its
nature (immediate order / usage-based estimate with its assumption /
refund / free), plus the total of immediate charges.
Ask for a single confirmation of the whole sequence, then execute the
steps in order.
If a step fails or the account state changes mid-sequence, stop and
re-quote the remaining steps before continuing.
The Cost Plan Format
Present the consolidated plan in this fixed shape:
Cost plan: <goal> (<N> steps)
<i>. <step action> — <LABEL> <amount> (<basis or assumption>)
...
Totals: pay now ¥<X> · refund ¥<Y> · future ¥<Z>/<unit> (assumes <usage>)
Execute all <N> steps in order? [y/N]
Use exactly four labels, one per step:
Label
Meaning
Amount shown
PAY NOW
Immediate order on execution
Quoted order amount
FUTURE
Usage-based, billed as consumed
Estimate × unit price, with the assumption
REFUND
Money returned on execution
Negative amount, or "not quotable" if the API can't quote it
FREE
No money involved
—
Rules:
Never sum different natures together. The totals line keeps pay-now,
refund, and future amounts as separate figures — a single "grand total"
mixing an immediate ¥130 with a ¥80/month estimate is misleading.
Every FUTURE amount must carry its assumption inline; if the user never
confirmed the assumption, ask before presenting the plan.
A step whose quote is unavailable shows the reason in place of a number
(e.g. "refund occurs, amount not quotable yet") — never silently drop it.
Filled example (the 5-step public-IP replacement):
Cost plan: replace public IP (5 steps)
1. Switch bandwidth billing to pay-by-traffic — FUTURE ¥0.8/GB (assumes 100 GB/month → ¥80/month)
2. Convert fixed public IP to EIP — FREE (EIP then billed by usage)
3. Unassociate EIP — FREE
4. Set 5 Mbps bandwidth, new public IP — PAY NOW ¥130.40 (prorated to term end)
5. Release old EIP — FREE (stops the old IP's billing)
Totals: pay now ¥130.40 · refund: step 1 returns unused bandwidth fee (not quotable yet) · future ¥80/month (assumes 100 GB)
Execute all 5 steps in order? [y/N]
Discovery: Which APIs Support Quoting
aliyun list-supported-pricing-apis
# Does a specific API support it? (any output = yes)
aliyun list-supported-pricing-apis \
--cli-query "supportedApis[?apiName=='ModifyInstanceNetworkSpec']"
The list is served live and keeps expanding — query it rather than relying on a
cached copy. Each entry is a popCode / popVersion / apiName triple.
Basic Usage
Append --estimate-cost to any supported command (works on both PascalCase
built-in and kebab-case plugin command forms):
# What would a 1-month subscription instance cost?
aliyun ecs run-instances --biz-region-id cn-hangzhou \
--image-family acs:ubuntu_22_04_x64 \
--instance-type ecs.e-c1m1.large \
--instance-charge-type PrePaid --period 1 --period-unit Month \
--system-disk-category cloud_essd --system-disk-size 20 \
--vswitch-id vsw-xxx --security-group-id sg-xxx \
--estimate-cost
# What is the prorated delta for upgrading an instance type?
aliyun ecs modify-prepay-instance-spec --region cn-hangzhou \
--instance-id i-xxx --instance-type ecs.e-c1m2.large --estimate-cost
Reading the Quote JSON
Top level is price + requestId. Decide how to read the amount in this order:
pricingMode: "delta" (spec changes) → read calculatedAmount. That is
the net amount to pay after the old configuration's remaining value is
refunded. components.baseline / components.target are the gross sides —
do not present them as the price.
pricingMode: "single" → read priceSummary.effectiveModuleSum
(post-discount total), then check pricingUnit:
Present (e.g. "1 Month", "Once") → the amount is per that unit.
Missing → this is a usage-based quote: amount = the estimated usage
you supplied × unit price. Its dimension is the usage you passed in
(e.g. ¥80 for the 100 GB you estimated). Do not present it as a monthly
or one-time charge.
priceSummary.modules[] gives the per-billing-item breakdown
(originalCost / invoiceDiscount / costAfterDiscount) — useful when the user
asks where the money goes.
success: false → read errorCode / errorMessage; do not infer from the
exit code.
PricingContext: --estimate-cost-context
Some quotes need input that is not an API parameter. Pass it as repeatable
Key=Value pairs (must be combined with --estimate-cost):
Usage-based billing: cost = usage × unit price, and only the user knows the expected usage
State override
InternetChargeType=PayByTraffic
Multi-step workflows: a later step must be quoted against the state produced by an earlier step, not the current state
Ask the user for usage assumptions when a quote requires them (e.g. "How much
monthly outbound traffic do you expect?") instead of inventing a number; state
the assumption alongside the quoted amount.
Multi-Step Workflow Quoting
Example: replacing a fixed-bandwidth instance's public IP (5 steps). All
chargeable steps can be quoted before executing step 1:
# Step 1 — switch bandwidth billing to pay-by-traffic.# Usage-based: supply the traffic estimate.
aliyun ecs modify-instance-network-spec --region cn-hangzhou \
--instance-id $INS --network-charge-type PayByTraffic \
--estimate-cost --estimate-cost-context EstimatedInternetTrafficOutGB=100
# Step 2 — convert the fixed public IP to an EIP. No context needed.
aliyun ecs convert-nat-public-ip-to-eip \
--instance-id $INS --biz-region-id cn-hangzhou --estimate-cost
# Step 3 — unassociate EIP: free operation (see "Free APIs" below).# Step 4 — set new bandwidth. At quoting time the instance is still# fixed-bandwidth, but by execution time step 1 will have completed —# override the state so the quote is based on the future state:
aliyun ecs modify-instance-network-spec --region cn-hangzhou \
--instance-id $INS --network-charge-type PayByBandwidth \
--internet-max-bandwidth-out 5 \
--estimate-cost --estimate-cost-context InternetChargeType=PayByTraffic
# Step 5 — release old EIP: free; its effect is stopping the old IP's billing.
Sum the per-step quotes client-side and present one pre-execution bill preview,
labelling each amount by its nature: immediate order vs future usage-based cost
vs refund vs free step.
Free / Unsupported APIs
Quoting an API with no pricing information returns an explicit message:
Error: no pricing information for vpc/2016-04-28/UnassociateEipAddress:
this OpenAPI either incurs no cost or has no pricing mapping registered yet
This is an answer, not a failure — treat it as "this step is not chargeable
(or not yet quotable)" and say so, rather than reporting an error to the user.
For APIs that are not yet quotable, never present a number from your own
knowledge as if it were a quote. If you cite public list prices, label them
explicitly as unverified estimates with their assumptions, and point the user
to the official pricing page (or to bssopenapi QueryAccountBill after a
trial run) for authoritative figures.
Troubleshooting
Symptom
Meaning / action
no pricing information for ...
API is free or not yet quotable — informational
No pricingTarget matched the input request
The parameter combination hit no pricing rule. The error lists each rule's when condition — usually a required PricingContext key is missing (e.g. traffic estimate for pay-by-traffic)
--estimate-cost-context requires --estimate-cost
Add --estimate-cost
invalid --estimate-cost-context 'xxx'
Use Key=Value form; key must be non-empty
Quote succeeds but no pricingUnit
Usage-based quote: amount = your estimate × unit price
Reconciliation (Post-Execution)
Chargeable executions return an OrderId. To verify the quote against the
actual bill:
