Prepare for rclone's shared OAuth client ID retirement (2026): make bring-your-own credentials the default

[giuliocsr]

Context

rclone has announced that Google will start charging for API requests made through rclone's shared OAuth client ID for Google Drive and Google Photos. Because shared-client usage is far over the free quota, rclone is retiring the shared client ID entirely later in 2026, following a 90-day notice period (not yet started as of July 2026).

After retirement, every user will need to use their own OAuth credentials (client_id / client_secret). Service-account users are unaffected.

• rclone announcement: https://forum.rclone.org/t/google-drive-and-google-photos-users-action-required/54005

Impact on rclone4gdrive

Today the tool defaults to, and recommends, rclone's shared credentials:

• init prompts "Use rclone's shared credentials (recommended for most users)?" defaulting to yes
• the README positions shared creds as the zero-setup selling point ("no Google Cloud setup")

Bringing your own credentials is already supported today (--client-id / --client-secret, or the interactive prompt), so there is no breakage right now — but the current default and recommendation are on borrowed time.

Proposed work

• Add an explicit heads-up in init and the README that rclone's shared credentials are being retired later in 2026, and that bring-your-own credentials will become the normal path.
• Flip the recommendation so bring-your-own credentials is the primary path, with shared (--bundled) kept as an explicit opt-in fallback while it still works.
• Smooth the bring-your-own UX: link to / walk through creating a Google Cloud OAuth client (per rclone docs) so users aren't left at the manual Cloud Console step.
• Consider detecting shared-credential usage and warning (mirroring what rclone itself will do in its next release).
• Decide on a follow-up to remove shared-creds support once rclone retires it.

References

• rclone "action required" thread: https://forum.rclone.org/t/google-drive-and-google-photos-users-action-required/54005
• Project announcement thread: https://forum.rclone.org/t/rclone-wrapper-tool-for-google-drive/53144

Raised in response to community feedback on the forum thread.