azure-pricing

# Azure Pricing Skill

Use this skill to retrieve real-time Azure retail pricing data from the public Azure Retail Prices API. No authentication is required.

## When to Use This Skill

- User asks about the cost of an Azure service (e.g., "How much does a D4s v5 VM cost?")
- User wants to compare pricing across regions or SKUs
- User needs a cost estimate for a workload or architecture
- User mentions Azure pricing, Azure costs, or Azure billing
- User asks about reserved instance vs. pay-as-you-go pricing
- User wants to know about savings plans or spot pricing

## API Endpoint

```
GET https://prices.azure.com/api/retail/prices?api-version=2023-01-01-preview
```

Append `$filter` as a query parameter using OData filter syntax. Always use `api-version=2023-01-01-preview` to ensure savings plan data is included.

## Step-by-step Instructions

If anything is unclear about the user's request, ask clarifying questions to identify the correct filter fields and values before calling the API.

1. **Identify filter fields** from the user's request (service name, region, SKU, price type).
2. **Resolve the region**: the API requires `armRegionName` values in lowercase with no spaces (e.g. "East US" → `eastus`, "West Europe" → `westeurope`, "Southeast Asia" → `southeastasia`). See [references/REGIONS.md](references/REGIONS.md) for a complete list.
3. **Build the filter string** using the fields below and fetch the URL.
4. **Parse the `Items` array** from the JSON response. Each item contains price and metadata.
5. **Follow pagination** via `NextPageLink` if you need more than the first 1000 results (rarely needed).
6. **Calculate cost estimates** using the formulas in [references/COST-ESTIMATOR.md](references/COST-ESTIMATOR.md) to produce monthly/annual estimates.
7. **Present results** in a clear summary table with service, SKU, region, unit price, and monthly/annual estimates.

## Filterable Fields

| Field | Type | Example |
|---|---|---|
| `serviceName` | string (exact, case-sensitive) | `'Functions'`, `'Virtual Machines'`, `'Storage'` |
| `serviceFamily` | string (exact, case-sensitive) | `'Compute'`, `'Storage'`, `'Databases'`, `'AI + Machine Learning'` |
| `armRegionName` | string (exact, lowercase) | `'eastus'`, `'westeurope'`, `'southeastasia'` |
| `armSkuName` | string (exact) | `'Standard_D4s_v5'`, `'Standard_LRS'` |
| `skuName` | string (contains supported) | `'D4s v5'` |
| `priceType` | string | `'Consumption'`, `'Reservation'`, `'DevTestConsumption'` |
| `meterName` | string (contains supported) | `'Spot'` |

Use `eq` for equality, `and` to combine, and `contains(field, 'value')` for partial matches.

## Example Filter Strings

```
# All consumption prices for Functions in East US
serviceName eq 'Functions' and armRegionName eq 'eastus' and priceType eq 'Consumption'

# D4s v5 VMs in West Europe (consumption only)
armSkuName eq 'Standard_D4s_v5' and armRegionName eq 'westeurope' and priceType eq 'Consumption'

# All storage prices in a region
serviceName eq 'Storage' and armRegionName eq 'eastus'

# Spot pricing for a specific SKU
armSkuName eq 'Standard_D4s_v5' and contains(meterName, 'Spot') and armRegionName eq 'eastus'

# 1-year reservation pricing
serviceName eq 'Virtual Machines' and priceType eq 'Reservation' and armRegionName eq 'eastus'

# Azure AI / OpenAI pricing (now under Foundry Models)
serviceName eq 'Foundry Models' and armRegionName eq 'eastus' and priceType eq 'Consumption'

# Azure Cosmos DB pricing
serviceName eq 'Azure Cosmos DB' and armRegionName eq 'eastus' and priceType eq 'Consumption'
```

## Full Example Fetch URL

```
https://prices.azure.com/api/retail/prices?api-version=2023-01-01-preview&$filter=serviceName eq 'Functions' and armRegionName eq 'eastus' and priceType eq 'Consumption'
```

URL-encode spaces as `%20` and quotes as `%27` when constructing the URL.

## Key Response Fields

```json
{
  "Items": [
    {
      "retailPrice": 0.000016,
      "unitPrice": 0.000016,
      "currencyCode": "USD",
      "unitOfMeasure": "1 Execution",
      "serviceName": "Functions",
      "skuName": "Premium",
      "armRegionName": "eastus",
      "meterName": "vCPU Duration",
      "productName": "Functions",
      "priceType": "Consumption",
      "isPrimaryMeterRegion": true,
      "savingsPlan": [
        { "unitPrice": 0.000012, "term": "1 Year" },
        { "unitPrice": 0.000010, "term": "3 Years" }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "NextPageLink": null,
  "Count": 1
}
```

Only use items where `isPrimaryMeterRegion` is `true` unless the user specifically asks for non-primary meters.

## Supported serviceFamily Values

`Analytics`, `Compute`, `Containers`, `Data`, `Databases`, `Developer Tools`, `Integration`, `Internet of Things`, `Management and Governance`, `Networking`, `Security`, `Storage`, `Web`, `AI + Machine Learning`

## Tips

- `serviceName` values are case-sensitive. When unsure, filter by `serviceFamily` first to discover valid `serviceName` values in the results.
- If results are empty, try broadening the filter (e.g., remove `priceType` or region constraints first).
- Prices are always in USD unless `currencyCode` is specified in the request.
- For savings plan prices, look for the `savingsPlan` array on each item (only in `2023-01-01-preview`).
- See [references/SERVICE-NAMES.md](references/SERVICE-NAMES.md) for a catalog of common service names and their correct casing.
- See [references/COST-ESTIMATOR.md](references/COST-ESTIMATOR.md) for cost estimation formulas and patterns.
- See [references/COPILOT-STUDIO-RATES.md](references/COPILOT-STUDIO-RATES.md) for Copilot Studio billing rates and estimation formulas.

## Troubleshooting

| Issue | Solution |
|-------|----------|
| Empty results | Broaden the filter — remove `priceType` or `armRegionName` first |
| Wrong service name | Use `serviceFamily` filter to discover valid `serviceName` values |
| Missing savings plan data | Ensure `api-version=2023-01-01-preview` is in the URL |
| URL errors | Check URL encoding — spaces as `%20`, quotes as `%27` |
| Too many results | Add more filter fields (region, SKU, priceType) to narrow down |

---

# Copilot Studio Agent Usage Estimation

Use this section when the user asks about Copilot Studio pricing, Copilot Credits, or agent usage costs.

## When to Use This Section

- User asks about Copilot Studio pricing or costs
- User asks about Copilot Credits or agent credit consumption
- User wants to estimate monthly costs for a Copilot Studio agent
- User mentions agent usage estimation or the Copilot Studio estimator
- User asks how much an agent will cost to run

## Key Facts

- **1 Copilot Credit = $0.01 USD**
- Credits are pooled across the entire tenant
- Employee-facing agents with M365 Copilot licensed users get classic answers, generative answers, and tenant graph grounding at zero cost
- Overage enforcement triggers at 125% of prepaid capacity

## Step-by-step Estimation

1. **Gather inputs** from the user: agent type (employee/customer), number of users, interactions/month, knowledge %, tenant graph %, tool usage per session.
2. **Fetch live billing rates** — use the built-in web fetch tool to download the latest rates from the source URLs listed below. This ensures the estimate always uses the most current Microsoft pricing.
3. **Parse the fetched content** to extract the current billing rates table (credits per feature type).
4. **Calculate the estimate** using the rates and formulas from the fetched content:
   - `total_sessions = users × interactions_per_month`
   - Knowledge credits: apply tenant graph grounding rate, generative answer rate, and classic answer rate
   - Agent tools credits: apply agent action rate per tool call
   - Agent flow credits: apply flow rate per 100 actions
   - Prompt modifier credits: apply basic/standard/premium rates per 10 responses
5. **Present results** in a clear table with breakdown by category, total credits, and estimated USD cost.

## Source URLs to Fetch

When answering Copilot Studio pricing questions, fetch the latest content from these URLs to use as context:

| URL | Content |
|---|---|
| https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-copilot-studio/requirements-messages-management | Billing rates table, billing examples, overage enforcement rules |
| https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-copilot-studio/billing-licensing | Licensing options, M365 Copilot inclusions, prepaid vs pay-as-you-go |

Fetch at least the first URL (billing rates) before calculating. The second URL provides supplementary context for licensing questions.

See [references/COPILOT-STUDIO-RATES.md](references/COPILOT-STUDIO-RATES.md) for a cached snapshot of rates, formulas, and billing examples (use as fallback if web fetch is unavailable).