cost_breakdown
Use this when the user wants a simple cost breakdown by service, project, or cloud provider (e.g. 'What are my top services by cost?', 'Which projects cost the most?'). Selects the top-N groups by total cost across the range and returns monthly rows for each. The range includes the partial curren...
This record as markdown: /tools/doit/cost-breakdown.md
What cost_breakdown does on Doit
AI agents call cost_breakdown to retrieve information from Doit without modifying anything. It is typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
topN | integer | — | Top dimension values ranked across the range (default 10, max 25). Each value can have a row per month; this is not a row cap. |
cloud | string | — | Filter to a specific cloud provider. Accepts aliases like "aws", "gcp", "azure". |
months | integer | — | Number of calendar months, 1–24 (default 1): N-1 complete months plus the current month-to-date. 1 means current month-to-date. |
groupBy | string | Yes | Dimension to group costs by. "service" = cloud service, "project" = project/account/subscription, "cloud" = cloud provider. |
Parameters from the server's own tool schema.
Why cost_breakdown is rated Low
Even though cost_breakdown only reads data, uncontrolled read access leaks sensitive information and racks up API costs: an agent caught in a retry loop can make thousands of calls a minute without anyone noticing.
Attacks that exploit this kind of access
The rule that runs cost_breakdown safely
PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway: it sits between your AI agents and Doit, and checks every tool call against a rule you set before the call runs. Nothing changes on the server itself. For cost_breakdown, this is the rule to start with:
cost_breakdown is read-only, so it stays allowed. Everything else on the server is denied unless you say otherwise.
The button opens the PolicyLayer dashboard: create your workspace, connect Doit, apply this rule, and every cost_breakdown call is checked against it from then on.
Questions about cost_breakdown
Use this when the user wants a simple cost breakdown by service, project, or cloud provider (e.g. 'What are my top services by cost?', 'Which projects cost the most?'). Selects the top-N groups by total cost across the range and returns monthly rows for each. The range includes the partial current month; months=1 means month-to-date. Output row order is not a cost ranking. For complex multi-filter or multi-metric queries, use run_query instead. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Doit MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
cost_breakdown accepts 4 parameters: topN, cloud, months, groupBy. Required: groupBy. The full parameter table on this page comes from the server's own tool schema.
Register the Doit MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for cost_breakdown: allow, deny, rate-limit, or require approval. Point your MCP client at the PolicyLayer proxy URL and the rule is enforced on every call, before it reaches Doit. Nothing to install.
cost_breakdown is a Read tool with low risk. Read-only tools are generally safe to allow by default.
Yes. Add a rate_limit block to the cost_breakdown rule in your PolicyLayer policy. For example, setting max: 10 and window: 60 limits the tool to 10 calls per minute. Rate limits are tracked per agent session and reset automatically.
Set action: deny in the PolicyLayer policy for cost_breakdown. The AI agent will receive a policy violation error and cannot call the tool. You can also include a reason field to explain why the tool is blocked.
cost_breakdown is provided by the Doit MCP server (@doitintl/doit-mcp-server). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.
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