AWS DR Cost Estimator Server

This sample is provided for demonstration and educational purposes only and is not intended for production use without additional security review and testing.

Plan your AWS disaster recovery (DR) budget conversationally. Ask your MCP-compatible assistant (Kiro, Cline, Claude, etc.) what it would cost to run DR under backup and restore, pilot light, warm standby, or active/active for your workload. Compare all four strategies side by side in one response.

The server reads your current spend from the AWS Cost Explorer API, applies DR cost multipliers derived from real customer engagements, and returns a budgetary estimate in seconds — with per-row confidence levels so you know where the estimate is well-grounded and where it needs further validation.

For the full methodology, see docs/methodology.md.

Quick start

1. Install

Add the server with one click.

Kiro	Cursor	VS Code
Add to Kiro	Install MCP Server	Install on VS Code

Or paste this into your MCP client config manually:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dr-cost-estimator": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["--from", "git+https://github.com/aws-samples/sample-dr-cost-estimator-mcp.git", "dr-cost-estimator-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "FASTMCP_LOG_LEVEL": "WARNING",
        "AWS_PROFILE": "your-aws-profile",
        "AWS_REGION": "us-east-1"
      }
    }
  }
}

uvx fetches and runs the server from this repo with no clone or build needed.

2. Set up IAM permissions

Attach a policy granting ce:GetCostAndUsage to the IAM identity behind your AWS_PROFILE:

{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Sid": "DRCostEstimatorCostExplorerRead",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": "ce:GetCostAndUsage",
      "Resource": "*",
      "Condition": {
        "StringEquals": {
          "aws:RequestedRegion": "us-east-1"
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}

Cost Explorer doesn't support resource-level ARNs for GetCostAndUsage, so Resource must be *. The condition restricts calls to the us-east-1 endpoint (the only endpoint Cost Explorer uses). For additional controls, consider SCPs or aws:PrincipalTag conditions.

3. Ask your assistant

"Compare all four DR strategies for my AWS account over the last 6 months."

That's it.

Example prompts

• "Compare all four DR strategies for my AWS account over the last 6 months and show me estimated costs."
• "Using my prod AWS profile, analyze warm standby DR cost for the last 3 months."
• "For AWS accounts 111122223333 and 444455556666, analyze pilot light DR cost over the last 3 months."
• "Estimate DR costs for the workload tagged Project=checkout across all my accounts."
• "Compare DR strategies for resources tagged app=payments or app=ledger in production (env=prod)."
• "What would warm standby cost if we keep 30% warm capacity?"

Features

• Three tools: list_dr_strategies, compare_dr_strategies, analyze_dr_strategy
• Four DR strategies: backup/restore, pilot light, warm standby, active/active
• Live Cost Explorer input averaged over 1-24 complete months, optionally scoped by linked accounts or cost allocation tags
• Usage-type-aware multipliers for RDS, OpenSearch, and Elastic Load Balancing (compute vs. storage vs. backup get separate multipliers)
• Dollar-weighted confidence showing what fraction of spend has high-confidence vs. default-fallback multipliers
• Per-row rationale with confidence level and plain-language explanation
• Per-workload estimates via tags (tag_filters parameter)
• Tunable warm-standby capacity (0.1-1.0) to match your RTO requirements

For detailed parameters, response shapes, and example calls, see docs/tool_reference.md.

Customizing multipliers

The DR cost multipliers live in JSON files under dr_cost_estimator_mcp/core/data/; edit them directly in your clone. For a readable rendering of every shipped multiplier with its rationale, see docs/multiplier_reference.md (generated from the data files). For guidance on tuning multipliers for your portfolio, see docs/methodology.md.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Fix
Server doesn't appear in tool list	Restart your MCP client after config changes. Set FASTMCP_LOG_LEVEL=DEBUG and check server logs.
INVALID_INPUT error	Check parameter ranges: strategy must be a valid id, top_n 1-500, months_back 1-24, account ids must be 12 digits.
AWS_ERROR	Verify AWS_PROFILE is set, the profile has the IAM policy above, and months_back covers a period with actual spend.
Empty estimates (no error)	All line items matched the skip list (tax, refunds, support, Savings Plans). This is expected when there's no estimable spend.
Numbers differ from Cost Explorer console	The tools use UnblendedCost at monthly granularity, excluding the current incomplete month. Console views using amortized cost or partial months will differ.

Security

The server is read-only: ce:GetCostAndUsage is the only AWS API call. It cannot create, modify, or delete any resource. No data is written to disk; all output goes to stderr.

Documentation

• Methodology — multiplier tiers, assumptions, worked examples, customization guidance
• Tool Reference — parameters, response shapes, example calls
• Multiplier Reference — every shipped multiplier with rationale (generated)

License

This project is licensed under the MIT-0 License. See the LICENSE file for details.