Cost Visibility Quick Start
This guide walks you through a complete flow for tracking and understanding cost in Amberflo.
By the end, you will have:
- A meter capturing usage
- A cost rate defining how usage translates into cost
- A workload for attribution
- Spend data visible in the dashboard
The goal is to get a working cost visibility loop. Keep it simple.
What You’ll Build
Example use case:
You want to understand the cost of an internal system, such as a text processing pipeline.
You will:
- Create a meter to track usage
- Define cost rates for that usage
- Create a workload
- Send usage attributed to that workload
- View resulting spend
Step 1: Create a Meter
This is identical to the Customer Billing Quick Start.
Navigate
- In the left navigation:
- Go to Meters
Create the Meter
- Click Create Meter (top right)
Configure
- Label Example: Token Usage or API Requests
- API Name Auto-generated
- No spaces
- Allowed: letters, numbers, hyphens, underscores
- Max 50 characters
- Description (optional)
- Meter Type Select Count
Dimensions (Recommended)
Add dimensions that impact cost.
Example:
- model
- type (input, output)
Note:
- Workload is included by default
- You do not need to remove it
Click Create.
Step 2: Configure Cost Rates
Navigate
- In the left navigation:
- Go to Meters
- Select your meter to open it
- Click the Rate tab
- Click Create Meter Rate (top right)
Configure the Rate
- Label Example: Cost Rates v1
- Description (optional)
Choose Rate Model
Option 1: Per Unit
- Same cost for every unit
Example:
- Every request costs $0.01
Option 2: Per Unit with Dimensions (Recommended)
Cost varies based on dimension values.
Example:
- Input vs output usage
- Different models with different costs
Build the Rate Table
- Each row = a combination of dimension values
- Each row has its own cost per unit
Example:
model | type | cost |
|---|---|---|
A | input | 0.001 |
A | output | 0.002 |
B | input | 0.003 |
Notes:
- You cannot remove workload from this page
- Only include dimensions relevant to cost
- Use Add Row to define combinations
Click Save.
Step 3: Create a Workload
Navigate
- In the left navigation:
- Go to Workloads
Create
- Click Create Workload (top right)
Fill in:
- Name Example: Text Processing Pipeline
- Workload ID Unique identifier
- Letters, numbers, hyphens, underscores only
Click Save.
Step 4: Send Usage (with Workload)
Navigate
- In the left navigation:
- Go to Meters
- Open your meter
Upload an Event
- Click Event Upload
Fill in:
- Customer Leave blank
- Workload Select your workload
- Value Example: 1000
- Dimensions Must match values defined in your rate table Example:
- model = A
- type = input
Click Ingest Meter.
Step 5: View Spend
Navigate
- In the left navigation:
- Go to Spend
What to Expect
You should see:
- Spend Month-to-Date
- Spend Quarter-to-Date
- Spend Year-to-Date
Since this is your first data, these may be the same.
Under Overview:
- Top Spend by Workload Your workload should appear
- Top Trending Workloads Your workload should appear
If You Do Not See Data
Amberflo does not automatically refresh dashboards.
- Refresh the page
If data still does not appear:
- Confirm usage was sent with a workload selected
- Confirm your dimension values match the rate table
- Confirm a rate is configured on the meter
What You Just Did
You completed the full cost visibility loop:
- Metered usage
- Defined cost logic
- Attributed usage to a workload
- Generated spend data
What’s Next
From here, you can expand into:
- More detailed dimension-based cost models
- Multiple workloads
- Cost guards and alerts
- Connecting cost with customer billing
This is the foundation for understanding how your system consumes resources and where your costs come from.