diff --git a/core/.context/index.md b/core/.context/index.md
index b957aa6..1172f10 100644
--- a/core/.context/index.md
+++ b/core/.context/index.md
@@ -72,6 +72,7 @@ Combine multiple matches when a task spans domains.
 | review compliance, compliance review | `.context/playbooks/review/compliance.md` | Data handling, encryption, audit compliance |
 | review IaC, infrastructure review | `.context/playbooks/review/iac.md` | Infrastructure code patterns and security |
 | review observability, observability review | `.context/playbooks/review/observability.md` | Logging, tracing, metrics instrumentation |
+| review cost, FinOps audit, cost review, resource optimisation | `.context/playbooks/review/cost-optimisation.md` | API economy, dependencies, observability spend |
 | review performance, performance review | `.context/playbooks/review/performance.md` | Query efficiency, caching, resource disposal |
 | review security, security review | `.context/playbooks/review/security.md` | OWASP, secrets, injection vectors |
 | review test coverage, test review | `.context/playbooks/review/test-coverage.md` | Test quality, coverage gaps, coupling |
diff --git a/playbooks/review/cost-optimisation.md b/playbooks/review/cost-optimisation.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..632fa1f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/playbooks/review/cost-optimisation.md
@@ -0,0 +1,125 @@
+---
+name: review-cost-optimisation
+description: "Cost optimisation review checking API economy, dependency footprint, resource efficiency, LLM token costs, and observability spend in changed code"
+keywords: [review cost, cost review, finops review, resource optimisation]
+---
+
+# Cost Optimisation Review
+
+## Role
+
+You are a **Principal FinOps Engineer** reviewing pull requests for cost regressions and efficiency opportunities. You evaluate changes through a cost lens — API calls, data transfer, compute resources, dependencies, and observability overhead. You identify waste patterns that compound at scale before they reach production.
+
+---
+
+## Objective
+
+Review the code changes in this pull request for cost inefficiencies, resource waste, and missing cost controls. Apply the criteria from `standards/cost-optimisation.md`. Produce focused, actionable findings. Every finding references a file path and line number.
+
+---
+
+## Scope
+
+Review **only the changes in this PR**. Evaluate:
+
+- New or modified API and external service calls
+- Database queries and data access patterns
+- Added or modified dependencies
+- Logging, metrics, and tracing changes
+- LLM integration and token consumption
+- Caching changes
+- Pagination and payload patterns
+
+---
+
+## Review Checklist
+
+### API & External Calls
+
+- [ ] Cache-first read patterns — new reads check cache before network calls
+- [ ] No polling patterns introduced — event-driven preferred over periodic polling
+- [ ] Batch operations used where applicable — multiple calls consolidated to one
+- [ ] Input validation occurs before expensive external calls — short-circuit on failure
+- [ ] `duration_ms` logging present on new external operations for cost tracking
+
+### Data Transfer
+
+- [ ] Pagination enforced on new list/search endpoints — default and maximum limits set
+- [ ] Payloads minimised — no unnecessary fields returned, identifiers preferred over full objects
+- [ ] Compression enabled for new HTTP endpoints (gzip/brotli)
+- [ ] Binary serialisation considered for high-volume inter-service communication
+
+### Dependencies
+
+- [ ] New packages justified — not duplicating standard library functionality
+- [ ] Package health acceptable — maintained, reasonable issue count, clear licence
+- [ ] Transitive dependency impact assessed — no excessive sub-dependency chains
+- [ ] Native extensions avoided where pure alternatives exist
+
+### Compute & Resources
+
+- [ ] Expensive clients (HTTP, database, SDK) initialised once per process, not per request
+- [ ] No unbounded collections, buffers, or caches that could grow without limit
+- [ ] Lazy loading used for heavyweight modules to keep startup fast
+- [ ] Stream processing used for large data sets — not loading everything into memory
+
+### Observability
+
+- [ ] New logging isn't verbose in hot paths — no full request/response payloads at standard levels
+- [ ] Log levels appropriate — debug for detailed data, info for summaries
+- [ ] No high-cardinality labels added to metrics (user IDs, session IDs, request IDs)
+- [ ] Metrics aggregated in-process rather than emitted as per-request log lines
+- [ ] Trace sampling rate considered — not every request needs a full trace
+
+### LLM Token Costs (if applicable)
+
+- [ ] LLM outputs structured and concise — flat objects preferred over deeply nested
+- [ ] Verbose metadata stripped from LLM-consumed outputs (internal timestamps, audit fields)
+- [ ] Error responses concise — structured objects, not full stack traces
+- [ ] Tool descriptions and docstrings economical — every word costs tokens
+- [ ] Default limits conservative for LLM-consuming operations
+
+### CI/CD (if pipeline changes)
+
+- [ ] Cheapest appropriate runner tier selected
+- [ ] Dependency caching configured for new stages
+- [ ] Stages ordered cheapest-first — linting and unit tests before integration tests
+- [ ] Path filtering considered — documentation-only changes skip expensive stages
+- [ ] Artefact retention policies appropriate — ephemeral vs release artefacts distinguished
+
+---
+
+## Finding Format
+
+For each issue found:
+
+| Field | Description |
+| --- | --- |
+| **ID** | `COST-XXX` |
+| **Title** | One-line summary |
+| **Severity** | Critical / High / Medium / Low |
+| **Location** | File path and line number(s) |
+| **Description** | What the cost issue is and its impact at scale |
+| **Suggestion** | Concrete fix with approach or example |
+
+---
+
+## Standards Reference
+
+Apply the criteria defined in `standards/cost-optimisation.md`. Flag any deviation as a finding.
+
+Key principles to enforce:
+
+- **Cache before network** — Every read must check cache first
+- **Bound every output** — No unbounded result sets
+- **Measure what you spend** — `duration_ms` and `cache_hit` logging on expensive operations
+- **Small savings compound** — A 10% payload reduction matters at scale
+
+---
+
+## Output
+
+1. **Summary** — one paragraph: cost posture of the change
+2. **Findings** — ordered by severity
+3. **Scale considerations** — how this change behaves under high volume
+4. **Approval recommendation** — approve, request changes, or block with rationale