From Zero to Cost Visibility: Audit Any Kubernetes Cluster in 5 Minutes

You don’t need a week to understand a cluster’s cost shape. Here’s a 5-minute audit flow.

1. Switch context to the target cluster.
2. npx clustercost@cli install --audit --price-sheet ./prices/us-east-1.yaml
3. npx clustercost@cli report --top 5 --egress --waste
4. Export a CSV and uninstall if you’re just auditing.

Outputs: top namespaces by spend, waste %, egress leaders, and unlabeled workloads.
Next actions to include in the CSV:

• Right-size the top 3 wasteful workloads (requests vs p95 usage).
• Fix missing owner/team labels so spend is allocatable.
• Cap HPA max for any service driving sudden spend spikes.
• Move chatty cross-AZ services or add topology spreads to keep traffic local.

Share the CSV; your first optimization targets are obvious and actionable.***