l4 estimate

l4 estimate parses Terraform files in your workspace and estimates the monthly cost of the resources they define — entirely locally, no terraform plan required. It accepts directories, individual .tf files, or a mix.

l4 estimate
l4 estimate ./infra/
l4 estimate main.tf variables.tf

Flags

CI guardrail pattern

Fail the build when a Terraform change pushes monthly cost above $500:

l4 estimate --fail-above 500 -q ./infra/

The -q (--quiet) suppresses output; the exit code is the signal. Combine with l4 diff to gate on the delta, not the absolute cost.

Saving a snapshot for later comparison

When you're not in a git repo, save the current estimate as a baseline file you can diff against later:

l4 estimate --out-file baseline.json ./infra/
# ... make changes ...
l4 diff baseline.json ./infra/

In a git repo, l4 diff automatically uses the merge-base — no snapshot needed. See l4 diff.

Output formats

l4 estimate --format table         # default — color-themed table
l4 estimate --format json          # machine-readable
l4 estimate --format github-comment # markdown suitable for PR comments

The github-comment format is what the LevelFour GitHub Action uses; you can post it manually with:

l4 estimate --format github-comment ./infra/ \
  | gh pr comment "$PR_NUMBER" --body-file -

Related

• l4 diff — compare estimates between branches or against a saved baseline
• GitHub Actions guide — wire l4 estimate into PR checks