Your First Dashboard
Once you've connected GitHub, you'll see your CICosts dashboard. This guide walks you through the main features and how to interpret your cost data.
Dashboard Overview
The CICosts dashboard is divided into several sections:
Sidebar Navigation
- Organization Switcher - Switch between connected organizations
- Dashboard - Overview with charts and summaries
- Workflows - List of all workflows with costs
- Alerts - Manage budget alerts
- Settings - User and notification preferences
Summary Cards
At the top of the dashboard, you'll see summary cards:
| Card | Description |
|---|---|
| Today | Total cost incurred today |
| This Week | Running total for the current week |
| This Month | Running total for the current month |
| Total Runs | Number of workflow runs tracked |
Each card shows the percentage change compared to the previous period.
Cost Trend Chart
The main chart shows your daily costs over the selected time period:
- Bars represent daily spending
- Hover over any bar to see the exact amount
- Click a date to drill down into that day's workflows
Top Workflows
A table showing your most expensive workflows:
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| Workflow | The workflow file name (e.g., ci.yml) |
| Repository | Which repo the workflow belongs to |
| Runs | Number of runs in the selected period |
| Total Cost | Sum of all run costs |
| Avg Duration | Average time per run |
Click any workflow to see detailed run history.
Recent Runs
A live feed of recent workflow runs with:
- Workflow name and repository
- Run status (success, failure, cancelled)
- Duration and cost
- Timestamp
Understanding Costs
CICosts calculates costs based on GitHub's billing model:
Runner Pricing
| Runner | Linux | Windows | macOS |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2-core (default) | $0.008/min | $0.016/min | N/A |
| 4-core | $0.016/min | $0.032/min | $0.080/min |
| 8-core | $0.032/min | $0.064/min | $0.120/min |
| 16-core | $0.064/min | $0.128/min | $0.240/min |
| 32-core | $0.128/min | $0.256/min | N/A |
| ARM (2-core) | $0.005/min | N/A | N/A |
Cost Calculation
For each workflow run, CICosts:
- Fetches all jobs in the workflow
- Identifies the runner type for each job
- Calculates billable minutes (rounded up to nearest minute)
- Multiplies by the per-minute rate
- Sums across all jobs
CICosts tracks gross costs before any free minutes are applied. Your actual GitHub bill may be lower if you have included minutes.
Filtering Data
By Date Range
Use the date picker to filter data:
- Today - Just today's costs
- This Week - Last 7 days
- This Month - Last 30 days
- Custom - Pick specific start/end dates
By Repository
From the Workflows page, filter by specific repositories to analyze their cost patterns.
By Status
Filter workflow runs by status:
- Success - Completed successfully
- Failure - Failed runs (still cost money!)
- Cancelled - Cancelled before completion
Dashboard Actions
Set Alerts
Click Alerts in the sidebar to set up budget notifications:
- Click Create Alert
- Choose alert type (budget or anomaly)
- Set the threshold amount
- Select notification method (email, Slack)
- Save
See Budget Alerts for more details.
View Settings
Access settings via the sidebar:
- Update notification preferences
- Manage notification email
- View plan limits and usage
- Access billing portal
Next Steps
Now that you understand your dashboard:
- Set up budget alerts to catch cost spikes
- Explore analytics for deeper insights
- Learn optimization tips to reduce costs
Need help? Contact us at support@cicosts.dev