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Fix child theme activation failure on subsequent runs with different slug and name #369

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Merged
swissspidy merged 9 commits into from
Feb 16, 2026
Merged

Fix child theme activation failure on subsequent runs with different slug and name #369

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5cbbab2
Initial plan
Copilot Feb 2, 2026
6a7e45e
Fix theme activation when slug and name differ by refreshing theme cache
Copilot Feb 2, 2026
bef9b61
Refactor theme cache refresh into dedicated method with improved docs
Copilot Feb 2, 2026
eb06c25
Apply suggestion from @swissspidy
swissspidy Feb 4, 2026
ca7d210
Add wp_cache_delete to clear theme object cache
Copilot Feb 4, 2026
dbdf48f
Add clearstatcache() to refresh PHP filesystem cache
Copilot Feb 4, 2026
5835b9a
Clear individual theme caches to prevent stale WP_Theme objects
Copilot Feb 16, 2026
8e52a63
Merge branch 'main' into copilot/fix-theme-activate-issue
swissspidy Feb 16, 2026
80c8473
Simply use `WP_Theme::cache_delete`
swissspidy Feb 16, 2026
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38 changes: 38 additions & 0 deletions features/scaffold.feature
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -58,6 +58,44 @@ Feature: WordPress code scaffolding
Success: Network enabled the 'Zombieland' theme.
"""

Scenario: Scaffold a child theme and activate it with different slug and name
Given a WP install

When I run `wp theme install twentytwentyone --force`
Then STDOUT should not be empty

And I run `wp theme path`
And save STDOUT as {THEME_DIR}

When I run `wp scaffold child-theme first-run --parent_theme=twentytwentyone --theme_name="First Run Name" --activate`
Then STDOUT should contain:
"""
Success: Created '{THEME_DIR}/first-run'.
"""
And STDOUT should contain:
"""
Success: Switched to 'First Run Name' theme.
"""

When I run `wp theme list --fields=name,status --format=csv`
Then STDOUT should contain:
"""
First Run Name,active
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"""

# Now delete the theme and create it again to test the fix for the caching issue
When I run `rm -rf {THEME_DIR}/first-run`
And I run `wp theme activate twentytwentyone`
And I run `wp scaffold child-theme first-run --parent_theme=twentytwentyone --theme_name="First Run Name" --activate`
Then STDOUT should contain:
"""
Success: Created '{THEME_DIR}/first-run'.
"""
And STDOUT should contain:
"""
Success: Switched to 'First Run Name' theme.
"""

Scenario: Scaffold a child theme with invalid slug
Given a WP install
When I try `wp scaffold child-theme . --parent_theme=simple-life`
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14 changes: 14 additions & 0 deletions src/Scaffold_Command.php
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -539,12 +539,26 @@ public function child_theme( $args, $assoc_args ) {
$this->log_whether_files_written( $files_written, $skip_message, $success_message );

if ( Utils\get_flag_value( $assoc_args, 'activate' ) ) {
$this->refresh_theme_cache();
WP_CLI::run_command( [ 'theme', 'activate', $theme_slug ] );
} elseif ( Utils\get_flag_value( $assoc_args, 'enable-network' ) ) {
$this->refresh_theme_cache();
WP_CLI::run_command( [ 'theme', 'enable', $theme_slug ], [ 'network' => true ] );
}
}

/**
* Refreshes WordPress theme cache.
*
* Clears the theme_roots transient and rebuilds the theme directory cache.
* This ensures newly created themes are recognized by WordPress before
* attempting to activate or enable them.
*/
private function refresh_theme_cache() {
delete_site_transient( 'theme_roots' );
search_theme_directories( true );
}

private function get_output_path( $assoc_args, $subdir ) {
if ( $assoc_args['theme'] ) {
$theme = $assoc_args['theme'];
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