App Mentions & AI Intent
Mention @frugally in any channel where the app is installed and ask a question in natural language. frugally.app uses AI intent parsing to understand your question and respond with relevant data.
How it works
- Type
@frugallyfollowed by your question in a Slack channel - frugally.app parses the intent of your message
- It queries the relevant data (costs, Executions, Schedules, resources, etc.)
- A response is posted in the channel
No slash command syntax required — just ask in plain English.
Supported queries
Cost questions
| Example | What it returns |
|---|---|
@frugally how much did we spend this month? | Total AWS spend for the current month |
@frugally what's our EC2 cost this week? | EC2 spend for the current week |
@frugally are we over budget? | Budget status for all active budgets |
@frugally what are our top 5 most expensive services? | Top services ranked by spend |
@frugally compare this month to last month | Month-over-month spend comparison |
Execution questions
| Example | What it returns |
|---|---|
@frugally what happened last run? | Summary of the most recent Execution |
@frugally did the dev environment stop last night? | Status of the last Execution against dev Targets |
@frugally any failed executions today? | List of failed Executions from today |
@frugally how much have we saved this week? | Savings from completed Executions this week |
Schedule questions
| Example | What it returns |
|---|---|
@frugally when does the dev environment stop? | Next scheduled stop time for dev Targets |
@frugally what schedules are active? | List of active Schedules with next run times |
@frugally is anything scheduled for tonight? | Executions scheduled for the remainder of today |
Resource questions
| Example | What it returns |
|---|---|
@frugally how many EC2 instances are running? | Count of running EC2 instances across all Connections |
@frugally which resources are not in any target? | Resources not covered by any Target |
@frugally what's the status of the staging RDS? | Current state of RDS resources in staging Targets |
Response format
Responses are posted as channel messages and include:
- Direct answer — The data requested in a readable format
- Source — Which data source was queried (Cost Explorer, Executions, Schedules, etc.)
- Link — A link to the full detail in the web dashboard for further exploration
- Caveats — Any limitations (e.g. "Cost data is up to 24 hours behind")
[SCREENSHOT: slack-ai-mention-response.png -- AI-powered response to a cost question in Slack]
Tips for effective queries
- Be specific about time — "this month", "last week", "today" help frugally.app return the right data range
- Name resources — Use Target names or service names to narrow results
- Ask follow-ups — Mention
@frugallyagain in a thread to ask a follow-up question with context from the previous response - Use channels appropriately — Responses are visible to everyone in the channel. For sensitive cost data, use a private channel or DM
What AI intent cannot do
AI intent is read-only. It can answer questions about your data but cannot:
- Trigger Executions (use
/frugally runfor that) - Create or modify Targets, Schedules, or Budgets
- Change settings or configurations
If frugally.app cannot understand your query, it responds with a suggestion to rephrase or a link to the relevant dashboard page.
If frugally.app misunderstands your query, try rephrasing with more explicit keywords. For example, instead of "what's happening?" try "what executions ran today?"