What causes "No console from which to read password" in prestodb/presto?

Supply the password non-interactively: use --password or set the password config so the prompt is skipped

prestodb/presto · error · RuntimeException

No console from which to read password

Error message

No console from which to read password

What it means

When --password is passed without a value (prompting mode) and no default password is configured, the CLI needs an interactive console to read the password securely. System.console() returns null in non-interactive environments (piped stdin, no TTY), so getPassword throws.

Source

Thrown at presto-cli/src/main/java/com/facebook/presto/cli/Console.java:171

            return true;
        }
        finally {
            exited.countDown();
            interruptor.close();
        }
    }

    private String getPassword()
    {
        checkState(clientOptions.user != null, "Username must be specified along with password");
        String defaultPassword = System.getenv("PRESTO_PASSWORD");
        if (defaultPassword != null) {
            return defaultPassword;
        }

        java.io.Console console = System.console();
        if (console == null) {
            throw new RuntimeException("No console from which to read password");
        }
        char[] password = console.readPassword("Password: ");
        if (password != null) {
            return new String(password);
        }
        return "";
    }

    private static void runConsole(QueryRunner queryRunner, AtomicBoolean exiting)
    {
        try (TableNameCompleter tableNameCompleter = new TableNameCompleter(queryRunner);
                LineReader reader = new LineReader(getHistory(), commandCompleter(), lowerCaseCommandCompleter(), tableNameCompleter)) {
            tableNameCompleter.populateCache();
            StringBuilder buffer = new StringBuilder();
            while (!exiting.get()) {
                // read a line of input from user
                String prompt = PROMPT_NAME;
                String schema = queryRunner.getSession().getSchema();

View on GitHub (pinned to 55bb57d202)

Solutions

Supply the password non-interactively: use --password <value> or set the password config so the prompt is skipped
Allocate a TTY: run interactively or use docker exec -t / ssh -tt
Use a keystore/token auth alternative that doesn't need a console prompt

Example fix

// before (CI, no TTY)
presto --user admin --password --execute "SELECT 1"
// after
presto --user admin --password "$PRESTO_PASSWORD" --execute "SELECT 1"

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

// Only prompt for password when a TTY exists
if [ ! -t 0 ] && [ -z "$PRESTO_PASSWORD" ]; then
  echo "No TTY: set PRESTO_PASSWORD or pass --password explicitly" >&2; exit 1;
fi

Try / catch

try { runCli(args); } catch (RuntimeException e) { if (e.getMessage().equals("No console from which to read password")) { /* fall back to env/config-provided credentials */ } else throw e; }

Prevention

In CI/cron, always supply credentials via config or flag value, never the prompt
Use docker exec -t or a pseudo-TTY when interactive input is required
Keep secrets out of logs when passing --password with a value

When it happens

Trigger: Running presto with a password-requiring --user and prompting --password flag while stdin is not a terminal: CI jobs, cron, subprocess with redirected stdin, docker exec without -t.

Common situations: Automated pipelines invoking the CLI non-interactively; Docker/supervisor contexts lacking a TTY; scripts piping SQL in via stdin while relying on password prompt.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of prestodb/presto@55bb57d202 (2026-09-04). Data as JSON: /api/errors/03243da475f68b95. Report an issue: GitHub.