Optimize
What are the Optimize tools for?
Fourteen MCP tools cover recommendations and schedules. Six read: listing findings, filtering by provider, and summarising the savings available. One sits at tier 1, and seven at tier 2 (reversible) for creating and updating schedules, attaching resources to them, and setting temporary overrides.
Tools
| Tool | Access | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
get_override_candidates | read | List what can be overridden — every resource and resource group that has a schedule attached, each annotated with whether an override can be created for it RIGHT NOW and why |
get_recommendation | read | Get full details of a single recommendation including affected resources and remediation steps |
get_recommendation_by_provider | read | Get recommendation counts and savings breakdown by cloud provider |
get_recommendation_summary | read | Get recommendation summary stats — total potential savings and counts by severity |
get_recommendations | read | List optimization recommendations for cost savings and best practices |
list_recommendation_resources | read | List resources that have active recommendations, with their recommendation details |
update_recommendation_status | write | Set a recommendation's status — this is BOOKKEEPING ONLY |
attach_resource_to_schedule | write | Put one resource under a schedule |
create_override | write | Suspend a schedule for a window, on one resource or on EVERY MEMBER of a resource group |
create_schedule | write | Create a recurring start/stop schedule |
delete_override | write | Remove ONE override, letting its schedule resume on that target within about a minute |
delete_schedule | write | Delete a schedule |
detach_resource_from_schedule | write | Take ONE resource off a schedule, leaving the schedule and every other attached resource untouched |
update_schedule | write | Change a schedule's name, description, timezone or rules |
Reading findings
get_recommendations and get_recommendation_summary are the entry points;
get_recommendation_by_provider and list_recommendation_resources narrow by cloud or by the
resources a finding touches. get_override_candidates lists resources currently forced on or
off against their schedule.
All of these work at the default read-only setting, so an assistant can report what ZopNight found and what it would save without any write tier enabled.
Acting on them
update_recommendation_status is tier 1. It marks a finding accepted, dismissed or snoozed.
That changes a ZopNight record only.
The seven tier 2 tools change scheduling behaviour: create_schedule, update_schedule,
delete_schedule, attach_resource_to_schedule, detach_resource_from_schedule,
create_override, delete_override.
Why scheduling is tier 2 and stopping a resource is tier 3
They look similar and they are not. Creating a schedule changes when something will happen. It
is a rule, fully reversible by deleting it, and nothing has happened yet. Calling
stop_resource acts immediately on live infrastructure.
That distinction is why an org can enable tier 2 and let an assistant propose and wire up schedules, while still refusing it the ability to stop anything on the spot.
Overrides are the safety valve
create_override temporarily forces a resource on or off, taking precedence over its schedule
until it expires. It is the tool an assistant should reach for when someone says “keep staging
up tonight”: reversible, time-boxed, and it leaves the underlying schedule intact.
Savings figures are the rule’s own
When an assistant quotes a saving from get_recommendations, that number comes from the rule
that produced the finding, the same figure the UI shows. Rules that cannot price a change
report no figure at all rather than a guess, so an absent number means “unpriceable”, never
“zero”.
Optimize tools: common questions
Can an assistant set up schedules without being able to stop anything?
Yes, and that is the reason for the split. The seven scheduling tools are tier 2 because a schedule is a reversible rule and nothing has happened yet. Acting on live infrastructure through stop_resource is tier 3 and stays off.
How do I keep staging up tonight without editing the schedule?
create_override. It forces a resource on or off until it expires, taking precedence over the schedule while leaving the schedule itself intact.
A recommendation shows no saving figure. Does that mean zero?
No, it means unpriceable. The figure comes from the rule that produced the finding, the same one the interface shows, and a rule that cannot price a change reports nothing rather than guessing.