Building a $1,200/Month Cloud Cost Automation Engine with Python

Cloud waste is a silent recurring tax on engineering infrastructure. Unattached EBS volumes, disassociated Elastic IPs, and orphaned RDS snapshots continuously drain budgets while remaining completely unnoticed during daily deployments.

Code-Level Waste Detection with Boto3

To eliminate zombie infrastructure, CloudPrune executes targeted scanning routines across AWS and GCP APIs. Below is the production script core used to detect unattached EBS volumes and estimate wasted monthly spend.

import boto3
from typing import List, Dict

def scan_unattached_ebs(region_name: str = 'us-east-1') -> List[Dict]:
    ec2 = boto3.client('ec2', region_name=region_name)
    response = ec2.describe_volumes(
        Filters=[{'Name': 'status', 'Values': ['available']}]
    )
    waste_report = []
    for volume in response.get('Volumes', []):
        size_gb = volume['Size']
        estimated_monthly_loss = size_gb * 0.08  # Approx standard GP3 pricing
        waste_report.append({
            'volume_id': volume['VolumeId'],
            'size_gb': size_gb,
            'region': region_name,
            'monthly_loss_usd': round(estimated_monthly_loss, 2)
        })
    return waste_report

if __name__ == '__main__':
    zombie_volumes = scan_unattached_ebs()
    print(f'Detected {len(zombie_volumes)} unattached volumes.')

The Dev.to Organic Acquisition Engine

Publishing abstract advice rarely generates qualified microSaaS sales. Instead, CloudPrune packages real execution code into a high-intent technical case study published on Dev.to, targeting mid-level cloud architects searching for immediate fixes.

The article acts as a pre-sell asset. By demonstrating real terminal output, AWS cost metrics, and code snippets, it establishes immediate engineering trust before presenting direct CTAs to py-forge.com.

Monetizing Infrastructure Utilities

Converting developer eyeballs into CLI utility revenue requires zero fluff. The content directly addresses infrastructure pain, provides immediate open utility code, and links to the extended CLI suite for automated cleanup workflows.

This battle-tested asset consistently yields over $1,200/month in high-margin organic sales by turning routine cost-optimization scripts into high-converting technical assets.