Conflict between config password prompt and rcat stdin

What is the problem you are having with rclone?

If I have a config password enabled, and I want to enter it via the default interactive prompt, this conflicts with using the rcat command, presumably because they both read from stdin. Is there a way around this other than setting the RCLONE_CONFIG_PASSWORD environment variable first? Should I open this as a bug/feature request?

Run the command 'rclone version' and share the full output of the command.

rclone v1.69.2

  • os/version: linuxmint 22.1 (64 bit)
  • os/kernel: 6.8.0-58-generic (x86_64)
  • os/type: linux
  • os/arch: amd64
  • go/version: go1.24.2
  • go/linking: static
  • go/tags: none

Which cloud storage system are you using? (eg Google Drive)

N/A

The command you were trying to run (eg rclone copy /tmp remote:tmp)

echo "aaa" | rclone rcat  myremote:/test2919368159

Please run 'rclone config redacted' and share the full output. If you get command not found, please make sure to update rclone.

N/A

A log from the command that you were trying to run with the -vv flag

2025/05/06 12:18:18 DEBUG : rclone: Version "v1.69.2" starting with parameters ["rclone" "rcat" "myremote:/test2919368159" "-vv"]
2025/05/06 12:18:18 DEBUG : Creating backend with remote "myremote:/"
Enter configuration password:
password:2025/05/06 12:18:18 ERROR : Couldn't decrypt configuration, most likely wrong password.
Enter configuration password:
password:2025/05/06 12:18:18 CRITICAL: Failed to read line: EOF
echo "aaa" | rclone rcat myremote:test2919368159 --password-command="echo password"
rclone cat myremote:test2919368159               --password-command="echo password"
aaa

that is a simple example.
for more secure options, https://rclone.org/docs/#configuration-encryption