Scenario 1: Solo Researcher with Budget Constraints¶

Persona: Dr. Sarah Chen¶

Background: - Postdoctoral researcher in computational biology - Personal research budget: $100/month from lab discretionary funds - Works on RNA-seq analysis requiring sporadic compute (3-4 days/week) - Primary concern: Not going over budget - needs to explain every dollar spent - Technical level: Comfortable with command line, not a DevOps expert - Works from laptop, often from home or coffee shops

Pain Points: - Has accidentally left EC2 workspaces running overnight (cost $40 in one month!) - Anxious about trying GPU workspaces (too expensive if forgotten) - Needs to provide monthly cost reports to PI - Current solution: Checks AWS billing dashboard obsessively, sets phone alarms to stop instances

Current State (v0.5.5): What Works Today¶

✅ Initial Setup (Day 0)¶

# Install CloudWorkstation
brew install scttfrdmn/tap/cloudworkstation

# Start daemon and configure AWS
cws daemon start
cws profile create personal-research --aws-profile my-aws --region us-west-2

# Browse available templates
cws templates

What Sarah sees: 22 pre-configured templates with estimated costs - Python Machine Learning - $1.20/day (t3.large) - R Research Environment - $0.80/day (t3.medium) - Bioinformatics Suite - $2.40/day (r5.xlarge - memory-optimized)

✅ Enable Hibernation (Cost Safety Net)¶

# Configure aggressive hibernation for budget safety
cws idle profile create budget-safe \
  --idle-minutes 15 \
  --action hibernate \
  --description "Hibernate after 15min idle - cost savings"

# Apply to future instances
cws idle profile set-default budget-safe

Result: Any workspace automatically hibernates after 15 minutes of inactivity - Hibernation preserves RAM state (no lost work) - Stops compute charges immediately - Sarah can resume work exactly where she left off

✅ Launch First Workspace (Day 1)¶

# Launch bioinformatics workstation
cws launch bioinformatics-suite rnaseq-analysis --size M

# CloudWorkstation output:
# ✅ Workspace launching: rnaseq-analysis
# 📊 Estimated cost: $2.40/day ($72/month if running 24/7)
# ⚙️  Hibernation policy: budget-safe (15min idle)
# 🔗 SSH ready in ~90 seconds...

What Sarah thinks: "Okay, $2.40/day... if I work 15 days this month, that's $36. That's within budget!"

✅ Daily Work (Days 1-15)¶

# Morning: Resume work
cws list                    # See status: hibernated
cws start rnaseq-analysis   # Resume in 30 seconds
cws ssh rnaseq-analysis     # Start working

# Work session: 4 hours
# - Run RNA-seq pipeline
# - Hibernation policy watches: CPU, memory, disk activity
# - Sarah gets coffee, 15 minutes pass with no activity
# - Workspace automatically hibernates

# ✅ Hibernation triggered! Charges stop immediately
# 💰 Real-time savings: $2.40/hour → $0/hour
#    The money you're NOT spending is banked for future use!
#    Budget available increases in real-time as workspaces hibernate/stop

# Afternoon: Check costs
cws cost summary
# Output:
# Total monthly spend: $18.50
# Running instances: 0 (all hibernated)
# Hibernation savings: $24.30 (57% saved) ← THIS IS REAL MONEY BANKED!
# Available budget: $81.50 ($100 - $18.50)
# Projected month-end: $62 (within $100 budget ✅)
#
# 💡 Effective cost per hour: $0.31/hour (vs $2.40/hour if running 24/7)
#    You're paying for 60 hours of actual compute, not 360 hours!
#    That $24.30 savings? It's available RIGHT NOW for more work!
#
# 💡 Cloud vs Owned Reality:
#    Owned workstation: $3,000 upfront, depreciates whether you use it or not
#    CloudWorkstation: Pay $18.50 for 60 actual hours, bank the rest!

💡 GUI Note: Cost summary is available in the GUI Dashboard (Costs tab) with visual charts - coming soon in v0.6.0

What Sarah thinks: "The hibernation is working! Every time it hibernates, I'm banking money for future compute. I'm only paying $0.31/hour instead of $2.40/hour! No anxiety!"

⚠️ Current Pain Points: What Doesn't Work¶

❌ Problem 1: No Budget Enforcement¶

Scenario: Week 3, Sarah accidentally launches GPU workspace

# Sarah tries GPU template for deep learning experiment
cws launch gpu-ml-workstation protein-folding --size L

# CloudWorkstation output:
# ✅ Workspace launching: protein-folding
# 📊 Estimated cost: $24.80/day ($744/month)
# 🔗 SSH ready in ~2 minutes...

What should happen (MISSING):

⚠️  WARNING: High-cost workspace detected!
   Estimated: $24.80/day ($744/month)
   Your monthly budget: $100
   This workspace will exceed your budget in 4 days.

   Continue? [y/N]: _

Current workaround: Sarah has to remember to check costs manually Risk: One forgotten GPU workspace = entire month's budget gone in 4 days

❌ Problem 2: No Budget Alerts¶

Scenario: Week 4, Sarah hits 80% of budget

What should happen (MISSING):

📧 Email Alert: Budget Warning - 80% Spent
   Project: Personal Research
   Spent: $80.00 / $100.00 (80%)
   Remaining: $20.00
   Days left in month: 8

   Current instances:
   - rnaseq-analysis: Running ($2.40/day)

   Recommendation: You have $20 remaining for 8 days.
   Consider hibernating workspaces when not in use.

Current workaround: Sarah checks cws cost summary daily Impact: Constant cognitive load, anxiety about overspending

❌ Problem 3: No Spending Forecasts¶

Scenario: Mid-month, Sarah wants to know if she can launch another instance

What should happen (MISSING):

cws budget forecast

# Output:
# 📊 Budget Forecast - Personal Research
#
# Current spend: $45.00 (Day 15 of 30)
# Projected end-of-month: $90.00
# Budget: $100.00
# Remaining buffer: $10.00 ✅
#
# Active instances:
# - rnaseq-analysis (hibernated): ~$1.20/day with current usage pattern
#
# Can I launch another instance?
# ✅ t3.medium ($0.80/day): Yes, $14 projected addition = $104 total (slightly over)
# ✅ t3.small ($0.40/day): Yes, $7 projected addition = $97 total ✅
# ❌ r5.xlarge ($2.40/day): No, $36 projected addition = $126 total ⚠️

Current workaround: Sarah does mental math and Excel calculations Impact: Decision paralysis - hesitant to launch workspaces even when budget allows

❌ Problem 4: No Month-End Reporting¶

Scenario: End of month, PI asks "How much did you spend and on what?"

What should happen (MISSING):

cws budget report --month september

# Output (markdown + PDF):
# 📊 CloudWorkstation Monthly Report - September 2024
#
# Budget: $100.00
# Actual Spend: $87.50 ✅
# Savings: $12.50
#
# Workspace Usage:
# ┌────────────────────┬──────────┬──────────┬────────────┬──────────┐
# │ Workspace           │ Template │ Hours    │ Cost       │ Savings  │
# ├────────────────────┼──────────┼──────────┼────────────┼──────────┤
# │ rnaseq-analysis    │ Bioinfo  │ 72h      │ $87.50     │ $45.30   │
# │ (hibernated: 96h)  │          │          │            │          │
# └────────────────────┴──────────┴──────────┴────────────┴──────────┘
#
# Top Cost Drivers:
# 1. Compute (r5.xlarge): $87.50
# 2. Storage (EFS): $0.00 (no persistent storage used)
#
# Efficiency Metrics:
# - Hibernation rate: 57% (excellent!)
# - Average session: 4.2 hours
# - Cost per research day: $5.83

Current workaround: Sarah exports AWS billing data to Excel, manually categorizes Impact: 2 hours/month of administrative work, prone to errors

🎯 Ideal Future State: Complete Walkthrough¶

Day 0: Setup with Budget Protection¶

# Install and configure
brew install scttfrdmn/tap/cloudworkstation
cws init

# Interactive setup wizard:
#
# 🎯 CloudWorkstation Setup Wizard
#
# AWS Configuration:
#   AWS Profile: my-aws
#   Region: us-west-2 ✅
#
# Budget Configuration:
#   Monthly budget: $100
#   Alert thresholds: 50%, 75%, 90%, 100%
#   Alert email: sarah.chen@university.edu
#   Hard budget cap: [ ] Enable (stops all workspaces at 100%)
#                    [x] Warn only
#
# Cost Safety:
#   Default hibernation: 15 minutes idle
#   Pre-launch warnings: [x] Expensive workspaces (>$5/day)
#                        [x] GPU workspaces
#                        [x] Budget impact preview
#
# Setup complete! ✅

# Verify budget configuration
cws budget show

# Output:
# 📊 Personal Budget
#    Monthly limit: $100.00
#    Current spend: $0.00 (Day 1 of 30)
#    Remaining: $100.00
#    Alerts: sarah.chen@university.edu (50%, 75%, 90%, 100%)
#    Rollover policy: Enabled (unused budget carries to next month, max 2 months)
#
# 💡 Budget Rollover: Your lab's discretionary funds roll over month-to-month!
#    If you only spend $80 this month, you'll have $120 available next month.
#    This aligns with grant year budgets and encourages efficient usage.

💡 GUI Note: Budget configuration available in GUI Settings (Budget tab) - coming soon in v0.6.0

Day 1: Launch with Budget Awareness¶

# Launch workspace with budget preview
cws launch bioinformatics-suite rnaseq-analysis --size M

# CloudWorkstation output:
# 📊 Budget Impact Preview
#
#    Instance: r5.xlarge (4 vCPU, 32GB RAM)
#    Cost: $2.40/day ($72/month if running 24/7)
#    With hibernation (estimated 50% savings): ~$36/month
#
#    💡 Effective Cost Comparison:
#       24/7 cost: $2.40/hour (what most people assume for cloud)
#       Your actual cost: ~$1.20/hour (with hibernation savings)
#       You're NOT paying for idle time - only actual compute!
#
#    Your Budget:
#    Current: $0 / $100 (0%)
#    Projected with this workspace: ~$36 / $100 (36%) ✅
#    Remaining buffer: ~$64
#
#    💡 Tip: This workspace will use ~36% of your monthly budget.
#            Hibernation will activate after 15 minutes of idle time.
#
# Proceed? [Y/n]: y
#
# ✅ Workspace launching: rnaseq-analysis
# ⚙️  Hibernation: budget-safe (15min idle)
# 🔗 SSH ready in ~90 seconds...

💡 GUI Note: Workspace launch with budget preview available in GUI Templates tab - coming soon in v0.6.0

Week 3: Budget Alert (80% threshold)¶

# Sarah receives email:
#
# Subject: ⚠️ CloudWorkstation Budget Alert: 80% Used
#
# Hi Sarah,
#
# You've reached 80% of your monthly CloudWorkstation budget.
#
# Current Status:
# - Spent: $80.00 / $100.00
# - Remaining: $20.00
# - Days left: 8
#
# Active Instances:
# - rnaseq-analysis: Currently hibernated
# - Projected remaining cost: $9.60 ✅
#
# You're on track! At current usage, you'll finish the month at ~$90.
#
# Actions:
# - View details: cws budget status
# - Adjust hibernation: cws idle profile edit budget-safe
# - Stop all instances: cws stop --all
#
# Best,
# CloudWorkstation

# Sarah checks status
cws budget status

# Output:
# 📊 Budget Status - September 2024
#
# Spent: $80.00 / $100.00 (80%) ⚠️
# Remaining: $20.00 (8 days left)
#
# Projection:
#   End-of-month estimate: $90.00 ✅ (within budget)
#   Based on: Current hibernation patterns, typical usage
#
# Active Instances:
#   rnaseq-analysis: Hibernated
#   └─ Recent usage: 4h/day average (96 hours compute time this month)
#   └─ Effective cost: $0.83/hour (vs $2.40/hour 24/7 assumption)
#   └─ Projected cost this week: $9.60
#
# 💡 Cost Reality Check:
#    If you bought a workstation: $3,000 upfront + depreciation
#    CloudWorkstation this month: $90 for 96 hours of actual compute
#    You're only paying for what you USE, not what you OWN!
#
# Recommendations:
#   ✅ You're on track!
#   💡 Consider stopping workspaces over weekend if not needed ($4.80 savings)

💡 GUI Note: Budget status available in GUI Dashboard (Budget tab) with real-time charts - coming soon in v0.6.0

Week 4: Attempting Over-Budget Launch¶

# Sarah tries to launch expensive GPU workspace
cws launch gpu-ml-workstation protein-folding --size L

# CloudWorkstation output:
# ⚠️  BUDGET WARNING: This launch may exceed your monthly budget
#
#    Instance: p3.2xlarge (8 vCPU, 61GB RAM, 1 GPU)
#    Cost: $24.80/day ($744/month if running 24/7)
#
#    Your Budget:
#    Current: $87.50 / $100.00 (87%)
#    Remaining: $12.50
#    Days left: 5
#
#    ⚠️  This workspace will exceed your budget in 12 hours
#        Even with hibernation, projected overage: $60.00
#
#    Options:
#    1. Launch with time limit (auto-terminate in X hours)
#    2. Choose smaller workspace (g4dn.xlarge: $3.90/day)
#    3. Cancel
#
# Choice [1-3]: 1
# Time limit (hours) [1-24]: 8
#
# Launching protein-folding with 8-hour limit...
# ✅ Workspace will auto-terminate at 11:30 PM tonight
# 📊 Estimated cost: $8.27 (within remaining budget ✅)

Month End: Automated Reporting¶

# First day of new month: Sarah receives email
#
# Subject: 📊 CloudWorkstation Monthly Report - September 2024
#
# Hi Sarah,
#
# Your September CloudWorkstation usage summary:
#
# Budget: $100.00
# Spent: $95.77 ✅ ($4.23 under budget)
#
# Efficiency:
# - Hibernation savings: $48.30 (33% of potential cost)
# - Effective cost: $1.33/hour (vs $2.40/hour 24/7 assumption)
# - Average session length: 4.2 hours
# - Total productive hours: 72
#
# 💡 Cost Reality: You paid $95.77 for 72 hours of actual compute
#    vs $1,728 if you ran 24/7 (you saved $1,632!)
#
# Top Instances:
# 1. rnaseq-analysis (r5.xlarge): $87.50 (15 days, 68 compute hours)
# 2. protein-folding (p3.2xlarge): $8.27 (8 hours)
#
# Next Month Budget:
# October budget: $104.23 ($100 base + $4.23 rollover)
# Rollover policy allows unused budget to carry forward (max 2 months)
#
# View detailed report: cws budget report --month september --pdf

# Sarah generates PDF report for PI
cws budget report --month september --pdf --output ~/Desktop/sept-cloudworkstation-report.pdf

# Output:
# ✅ Report generated: sept-cloudworkstation-report.pdf
#    - Monthly summary with cost breakdown
#    - Workspace usage timeline
#    - Hibernation savings analysis
#    - Cost efficiency metrics (effective $/hour vs 24/7)
#    - Budget rollover calculation
#    - Ready to attach to expense report

💡 GUI Note: Monthly reports available in GUI Dashboard (Reports tab) with export to PDF - coming soon in v0.6.0

📋 Feature Gap Analysis¶

Critical Missing Features (Blockers)¶

Feature	Priority	User Impact	Current Workaround	Effort
Budget Cap Enforcement	🔴 Critical	Prevents overspending	Manual monitoring	Medium
Budget Alerts	🔴 Critical	Reduces anxiety, prevents surprises	Phone alarms, Excel tracking	Low
Pre-launch Cost Preview	🟡 High	Informed decision making	Mental math	Low
Budget Forecasting	🟡 High	Planning confidence	Excel forecasts	Medium
Monthly Reporting	🟡 High	Reduces admin burden	Manual AWS billing export	Medium

Nice-to-Have Features (Enhancers)¶

Feature	Priority	User Impact	Benefit
Cost Optimization Recommendations	🟢 Medium	Helps save money	"Switch to spot instances?"
Budget Rollover	🟢 Medium	Flexibility	Unused $20 → next month
Multi-month Budgets	🟢 Low	Grant periods	"$1000 for 6 months"
Budget Sharing	🟢 Low	Collaboration	"Share $50 with postdoc"

🎯 Priority Recommendations¶

Phase 1: Budget Safety Net (v0.6.0)¶

Target: Solo researchers can confidently stay within budget

Budget Configuration (1 week)
cws budget set --monthly 100
Store in daemon state/config
Persistent across restarts
Budget Alerts (1 week)
Email notifications at 50%, 75%, 90%, 100%
CLI: cws budget alert add --threshold 80 --email user@example.com
Integration with daemon monitoring
Pre-launch Budget Check (3 days)
Intercept launch command
Show cost impact before proceeding
Optional --yes flag to skip prompt

Phase 2: Budget Intelligence (v0.6.1)¶

Target: Solo researchers can plan and optimize spending

Budget Forecasting (1 week)
cws budget forecast
ML-based prediction using historical patterns
"Can I afford this workspace?" tool
Monthly Reporting (1 week)
cws budget report --month september --pdf
Automated email on 1^st of month
Export to CSV/PDF for expense reports

Phase 3: Advanced Budget Features (v0.7.0+)¶

Target: Power users and special scenarios

Time-boxed Launches (3 days)
cws launch template name --hours 8
Auto-terminate after time limit
Prevents runaway costs
Cost Optimization Advisor (1 week)
Analyze usage patterns
Suggest spot instances, reserved capacity
"You could save 30% by..."

Success Metrics¶

User Satisfaction (Sarah's Perspective)¶

✅ Anxiety Reduction: "I sleep better knowing I can't accidentally overspend"
✅ Time Savings: "No more daily AWS billing checks - 30 min/week saved"
✅ Confidence: "I try new workspace types knowing I'll be warned if too expensive"
✅ Efficiency: "Monthly reports generate automatically for my PI"

Technical Metrics¶

Budget alerts reduce overspending by 95%
Average user stays within budget 98% of months
Budget forecasting accuracy: ±5%
Monthly report generation: < 5 seconds

Business Impact¶

Reduced Support Tickets: Fewer "How do I track costs?" questions
Increased Adoption: Budget-conscious researchers feel safe to try CloudWorkstation
Positive Reviews: "Finally, AWS for researchers who aren't made of money!"

Next Steps¶

Validate with Real Users: Interview 3-5 solo researchers about budget pain points
Prototype Budget UI: Mock up budget status in TUI/GUI
Technical Design: Budget storage schema, alert system architecture
Implementation Plan: Break down into 2-week sprints

Estimated Timeline: Budget Safety Net (Phase 1) → 3 weeks of development