CLI site creation fails when generating default admin password

[chubes4]

Summary

studio site create --no-start can fail in the Node-based CLI when Studio generates the default WordPress admin password.

The shared password helper currently imports generatePassword from @automattic/generate-password. That package calls window.crypto.getRandomValues(...), which is valid in browser-like runtimes but not in the Node CLI, where window is undefined.

Impact

A new site can reach the port-assignment step and then fail before saving the site:

✔ Port assigned: 9457
✖ Failed to create site: window is not defined

This also blocks reliable local Homeboy evidence runs for other Studio CLI/site-startup investigations because fresh site creation fails before the benchmark can proceed.

Root cause

Current trunk code path:

studio site create
→ apps/cli/commands/site/create.ts
→ createPassword()
→ tools/common/lib/passwords.ts
→ @automattic/generate-password
→ window.crypto.getRandomValues(...)
→ ReferenceError: window is not defined

The password is the default WordPress admin password generated when the caller does not provide one.

Homeboy evidence

Trunk failure

• Studio SHA: ad48e06bc8cdbf3a35e9cbf9486d0dcde27c23d2
• Homeboy run: dc2858ae-b983-4cfe-8a7c-ad4d88dbfd34
• Artifact: /Users/chubes/.local/share/homeboy/artifacts/dc2858ae-b983-4cfe-8a7c-ad4d88dbfd34/cc43b89c-e68d-438e-b850-d69cb14a8b1f-trace.json
• Reproduction command captured by Homeboy:

homeboy observe \
  --path /var/folders/lr/c_cmmt7s0592m4njz99v5yb40000gn/T/opencode/studio-trunk-password-evidence \
  --duration 1s \
  --probe '{"type":"cmd.run","command":"node","args":["apps/cli/dist/cli/main.mjs","site","create","--name","Homeboy Password Evidence Trunk","--path","/var/folders/lr/c_cmmt7s0592m4njz99v5yb40000gn/T/opencode/studio-password-evidence-trunk-site","--no-start","--skip-browser","--skip-log-details"]}'

Observed trace excerpt:

✔ Port assigned: 9457
✖ Failed to create site: window is not defined
exit_code: 1
success: false

Candidate success

• Candidate PR: Generate CLI passwords without window #3416
• Candidate SHA: 7290bb06ccd8a8325bb89c21854bd3b58a0786a0
• Homeboy run: b398ab5b-0749-483b-a4e2-659b5c60a239
• Artifact: /Users/chubes/.local/share/homeboy/artifacts/b398ab5b-0749-483b-a4e2-659b5c60a239/4fecf13b-3fed-4e23-b430-68a821bef220-trace.json

Observed trace excerpt:

✔ Port assigned: 9457
✔ Site created successfully
exit_code: 0
success: true

Expected behavior

The CLI should be able to generate a default WordPress admin password without requiring a browser window global.

Notes

A runtime-neutral implementation can use globalThis.crypto.getRandomValues(...), which is available in the Node CLI runtime and browser-like runtimes.

Related

• Candidate fix: Generate CLI passwords without window #3416

[chubes4]

Upstream root-cause fix has landed in Calypso: Automattic/wp-calypso#110621

Merged commit: Automattic/wp-calypso@562f1d6

This keeps the Studio-side issue open until the fixed @automattic/generate-password package is published/consumed by Studio, but the upstream code change and Node regression coverage are now merged.

[wojtekn]

@chubes4 thanks for fixing that. FYI, we have a patch for that in apps/studio/patches as this issue popped up a long time ago. I'm unsure why we haven't fixed that upstream at that point.

I opened a PR to bump the version (Automattic/wp-calypso#111381) so we can release it, and update in Studio, removing the patch.

[wojtekn]

It's published: https://www.npmjs.com/package/@automattic/generate-password