apex-azure-cost-optimization

name	apex-azure-cost-optimization
description	Assess APEX cost and utilization evidence for savings opportunities. Use for cost optimization, rightsizing, orphan candidates, reservations, and Redis cost review.
user-invocable	false

APEX Azure Cost Optimization

Use this skill for an active APEX assessment that evaluates spending and utilization evidence. It is advisory only: a capability produces evidence and the kernel decides whether a later task may authorize a change.

Prerequisites

• apex/taskContext identifies the target subscriptions, resource boundary, assessment period, currency, and the cost question to answer.
• Each evidence record identifies its producing capability, observation time, freshness status, target scope, redactions, completeness, and evidence hash.
• Cost, utilization, inventory, and pricing evidence use compatible scopes and periods. Missing, stale, partial, or scope-mismatched evidence is a blocker.

Workflow

1. Confirm the target scope and whether the request is portfolio-wide, resource-specific, or Redis-specific. Do not expand the boundary from names, tags, or model memory.
2. Separate observed cost from observed utilization, validated price context, and calculated savings. A calculated estimate is not an invoice prediction.
3. Evaluate only evidence-backed candidates using the assessment rules in cost assessment criteria.
4. Classify each candidate as safe to investigate, review required, or high risk. State dependencies, uncertainty, evidence hash, and freshness.
5. Return ranked opportunities, non-actionable observations, and blockers. Send any proposed configuration, purchase, scaling, or deletion decision to the kernel-authorized owning workflow.

Boundaries

• Do not request, run, or imply external queries, scans, direct reads, pricing lookups, or resource actions. Treat all such observations as scoped capability-produced evidence.
• Do not treat an orphan candidate, an unused-looking resource, or a missing tag as proof that removal or downsizing is safe.
• Do not promise savings where pricing evidence is absent, free allowances may apply, shared allocation is uncertain, or the calculation cannot be traced.
• Escalate evidence that indicates an availability, security, compliance, or active incident concern to the kernel-selected owning assessment.

Output

Return the target scope, assessment period, evidence hashes and freshness, findings, estimated savings with method, uncertainty, classification, and kernel-provided next action. Use indeterminate when evidence cannot support the conclusion.

References

• Cost assessment criteria - evidence rules, heuristics, Redis assessment, classification, and uncertainty.
• Operational checklist - normalization, candidate safety, and savings traceability.