Namespaces

Namespaces are organizational containers for your CostFormation Dimension definitions. They let teams manage independent sets of definitions, control who can view or edit them, and organize cost allocation logic by team, project, or any other grouping that fits your workflow.

Each namespace has its own version history, and operations such as publishing, downloading, and restoring definitions are scoped to a specific namespace.

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Only Dimensions stored in the Default namespace (User:Defined) can be referenced by rules in other namespaces. Moving a shared Dimension into a custom namespace will break any cross-namespace rules that reference it. For details, see Cross-namespace references.

Create a namespace

Namespace names must begin with the User: prefix — for example, User:Finance or User:Platform. The prefix is enforced automatically if omitted.

To create a namespace:

1. In the CloudZero app, go to Settings > Namespaces.
2. Click + Create Namespace.
3. Enter a name for the namespace. The User: prefix is added automatically if you do not include it.
4. Click Create Namespace. The namespace appears in the list and is ready for use.

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You can also create namespaces directly from the VS Code CostFormation Toolkit.

Delete a namespace

To delete a namespace:

1. In the CloudZero app, go to Settings > Namespaces.
2. Click the Delete action to open the delete namespace confirmation window.
3. Type your namespace name in the confirmation window and click Delete Namespace.

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The Default namespace (User:Defined) cannot be deleted. Deleting a namespace permanently removes all Dimension definitions and version history it contains. This action cannot be undone.

You can also delete namespaces from the VS Code CostFormation Toolkit.

How namespaces affect Dimension selectors

Namespaces determine how your Custom Dimensions are grouped in Dimension selectors throughout CloudZero, such as the Group By drop-down in the Explorer, the Filters selectors, and the Group by (Principal Dimension) selector when creating Views.

Dimensions that belong to the same namespace are grouped together under that namespace's name in these selectors. For example, if you create three Dimensions in a User:Finance namespace, they appear together in a Finance group in the Explorer's Group By menu. Dimensions in the Default namespace (User:Defined) appear under your organization's Custom Dimensions group.

This grouping makes it easier to find related Dimensions when your organization has many Custom Dimensions spread across multiple namespaces.

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When you create the first Dimension in a new namespace, it may temporarily appear under your organization's Custom Dimensions group instead of its namespace group. The correct grouping appears after the Dimension's data has finished processing.

Manage namespace permissions

To control which users and roles can view or edit Dimension definitions within a namespace, see Namespace Access Control. That page covers setting up view and edit role assignments for each namespace.