Repository: Automattic/wp-calypso

Issue #70091: Logged-out sign-up flows are broken for users that already have an account
Created: 2022-11-17T00:27:02Z
Quick summary
This definitely affects the sign-up flow for logged-out theme showcase and probably affects other similar sign-up flows too.
Users who already have an account but aren't logged in can go through various sign-up routes, including theme selection (via wordpress.com/themes). As part of this sign-up process users are prompted to register. There is no option for users to login until they enter their email address in the registration field, which will prompt them to login. After logging in the process will resume, but ultimately get stuck on a calypso screen saying something like ‘Step 5 of 5: Planning the next chess move’
Initial finding: pekYwv-K-p2#comment-22 initial discussion: p1668639625213129-slack-C048CUFRGFQ
Steps to reproduce

Go to wordpress.com/themes while logged out
Choose a theme
Choose a free domain
Choose a free plan
Enter the email address of an existing account on the registration page
Follow link to login on the error message
Login (with 2fa)
Get stuck on ‘Step 5 of 5: Planning the next chess move’ for five minutes
Refresh page, watch it zip straight through to Step 5 and get stuck again

What you expected to happen
I expected to have an option to login (rather than using the registration form and following a link) and to ultimately get a new site using the theme I selected
What actually happened
I got stuck on ‘Step 5 of 5: Planning the next chess move’ for many minutes until I ran out of patience
Context
Exploratory testing
Platform (Simple, Atomic, or both?)
No response
Theme-specific issue?
No, tried with multiple themes.
Browser, operating system and other notes
No response
Reproducibility
Consistent
Severity
Some (< 50%)
Available workarounds?
Yes, difficult to implement
Workaround details
Go back in your browser history and start the whole process from scratch losing any work you have entered.

Duplicate issue #68562: [Bug]: When clicking `Add new site` sometimes the user is redirected to `/start/user` and must press continue, even if already signed in
Created: 2022-10-04T07:42:54Z
Quick summary
Even when signed in, if you click Add new site you sometimes get redirected to the /start/user page and must press Continue to get to /start/domains.

Note: after some debugging, it seems to be related to the current siteId being missing. This endpoint is called just before the redirect to /start/user and it returns unauthorised because null is used in the path.


Working back further there is also a React error complaining about a missing site prop.

Steps to reproduce

From the Admin Menu, click Add new site
If you're sent to the domain route /start/domains then hit back and try again
Sometimes you will see /start/user which is an unnecessary step in the flow.

What you expected to happen
You should go directly to /start/domains if you're already signed in
What actually happened
Sometimes you're sent to /start/user before /start/domains.
Browser
Google Chrome/Chromium
Context
Found by dev when testing a PR
Platform (Simple, Atomic, or both?)
No response
Other notes
No response
Reproducibility
Intermittent
Severity
Some (< 50%)
Available workarounds?
No response
Workaround details
You can just hit "Continue" and you're able to continue adding the site as expected.

Closing comment (2022-11-21T08:41:35Z): Could be related to #70091