Reference Guide
Check your connected AWS accounts and configure detection settings at any time with the /sanecost status and /sanecost config commands.
Type this in any channel where SaneCost is installed to view your connected AWS accounts and their connection status:
SaneCost replies with your connected AWS accounts and their connection status. To view or update current detection settings, use /sanecost config.
Here's what a healthy status response looks like:
📊 SaneCost Connection Status
Connected Accounts: 1
| Account ID | 270313871197 |
| Tier | read-only |
| Connected | 2026-03-27 14:32 UTC |
| Status | ✅ CREATE_COMPLETE |
Your 12-digit AWS account number. Matches the account where you deployed the CloudFormation stack.
The permission level of the connection. Typically read-only — SaneCost can read EC2 and CloudWatch data but can't modify resources.
The date and time the CloudFormation stack was created and the account was linked to your workspace.
✅ CREATE_COMPLETE means the CloudFormation stack is healthy. Other statuses indicate a problem with the stack.
Run /sanecost config (without any arguments) to see your current detection settings. These control when and how SaneCost flags idle instances:
CPU percentage below which an instance is considered idle. Default: 5%
How many hours of continuous low CPU before flagging. Default: 2 hours
Minimum monthly savings to trigger an alert. Filters out tiny instances. Default: $5/month
The Slack channel where waste alerts are posted. Set via /sanecost config channel #channel.
Changing a setting: Use /sanecost config <setting> <value>. For example, /sanecost config cpu-threshold 10 raises the idle CPU bar to 10%, or /sanecost config cpu-duration 0.5 sets it to 30 minutes.
Fix: Run /sanecost connect aws and complete the CloudFormation setup. The account appears automatically once the stack reaches CREATE_COMPLETE.
Likely cause: The CloudFormation stack failed or the IAM cross-account role was modified. Open your AWS console, navigate to CloudFormation, and check the SaneCost-* stack events for errors. You may need to delete and re-create the stack.
Fix: Make sure SaneCost is a member of the notification channel — go to the channel and run /invite @SaneCost. Also verify the channel is set with /sanecost config channel #your-channel.
SaneCost supports connecting multiple AWS accounts to a single Slack workspace. Run /sanecost connect aws again from a different AWS account to add it. The status command will list all connected accounts:
Connected Accounts: 2
| Account ID | 270313871197 |
| Tier | read-only |
| Status | ✅ CREATE_COMPLETE |
| Account ID | 116108555665 |
| Tier | read-only |
| Status | ✅ CREATE_COMPLETE |
Tip: Each AWS account needs its own CloudFormation stack. Alerts from all accounts are posted to the same notification channel.