[nk-o]

After a wp-env's WordPress core version is switched (for example 7.1 to 7.2-beta1), the database stays at the old version. wp-admin then redirects to upgrade.php, and the E2E global setup's requestUtils.activateTheme fails with "The theme ... is not installed". nk-activate-plugins now runs wp core update-db --quiet in each container before activating plugins. On a current database it does nothing. A failed upgrade counts as a failed attempt, so the existing retry loop covers a site that is still coming up.

The self-test runs the script against a fake wp-env and checks the call order in both sites. The check fails on the previous script, which never called update-db.

Scripted proof on ghostkit (start on 7.1, switch core to 7.2-beta1 via .wp-env.override.json, restart):

# afterStart = nk-activate-plugins 0.6.0
tests site core: 7.2-beta1 db_version: 61833
GET /wp-admin/ (logged out): 302 .../wp-admin/upgrade.php?_wp_http_referer=%2Fwp-admin%2F
activateTheme(empty-theme): FAILED: The theme "empty-theme" is not installed

# afterStart = this branch's activate-plugin.js, same env restarted
tests site db_version: 64486, dev: 64486
GET /wp-admin/ (logged out): 302 .../wp-login.php?redirect_to=...
activateTheme(empty-theme): OK

Publishing a new version and bumping it in the plugins is a separate step.