CloudZero CostFormation transforms the way you think about Cloud Costs. You declare Business Relevant Dimensions based
on your cost data, even in the absence of good tagging. This CloudZero CostFormation Toolkit enables you to quickly
author and publish your CostFormation.
Walkthrough
Features
The CloudZero CostFormation Toolkit provides:
Full Structural and Semantic Linting of CloudZero CostFormation YAML Syntax
Inline Source Completion: IntelliSense populates with real Dimension source values like K8s Labels and AWS Tags
Server Validation: Full CloudZero CostFormation validation of all language constructs and source usage
Namespace-based Workflows: Download, publish, and restore CostFormation definitions by namespace
Publish and Conflict Detection: Publish definitions and automatically detect drift with a built-in merge editor
TreeView Sidebar: Browse namespaces and definitions in the Activity Bar with click-to-download and Download All
Organization Switching: Switch between CloudZero organizations from the sidebar or command palette
CloudZero Sidebar
After authenticating, the CloudZero icon appears in the Activity Bar with two views:
Organization: Shows your current organization name and ID. Click to switch organizations if you have access to multiple.
Namespaces: Lists all your User:* namespaces and their definition files. Right-click items to access actions like download, restore, and delete. Use the Download All toolbar button to download every namespace's definitions at once.
The Namespaces view auto-refreshes when you save a tracked definition file locally.
Understanding Namespaces
Namespaces organize your CostFormation definitions:
User:Defined is the default namespace for global definitions (previously the only option)
Create custom namespaces (e.g., User:TeamA, User:ProjectX) to organize definitions by team, project, or any other grouping
Getting Started
Using the Sidebar
Run CloudZero: Authenticate from the Command Palette to sign in
Click the CloudZero icon in the Activity Bar to open the sidebar
In the Organization view, verify you're in the correct organization
In the Namespaces view, expand a namespace to see its definition file
Right-click the definition file for actions:
Download CostFormation - download to edit locally
Restore Older CostFormation - revert to a previous version
Or use the Download All toolbar button to download every namespace at once
Edit the downloaded .cz.yaml file with snippet and validation support
Save to trigger full semantic validation
Run CloudZero: Publish CostFormation from the Command Palette to publish changes
Using the Command Palette
CloudZero: Authenticate - opens browser window for authentication
CloudZero: Download CostFormation - select a namespace and download the latest version
Edit the .cz.yaml file with snippet and validation support
Save to trigger full semantic validation including Source and Streams validation
CloudZero: Publish CostFormation - publish changes (detects conflicts and opens diff editor if needed)
CloudZero: Restore Older CostFormation - restore an older version to revert updates
CloudZero: Review CostFormation Changes Against CloudZero - compare local changes against the server version
CloudZero: Log Out - sign out of CloudZero
Namespace Management
Manage namespaces from the Command Palette or sidebar context menus:
CloudZero Namespaces: New Namespace - Create a new User:* namespace
