How to prevent WP-CLI shell from exiting when an exception occurs?

This is the default behavior of WP-CLI’s built-in PHP REPL. If you look at the wp shell documentation, it shows that you can also use the Boris or PsySH PHP REPLs.

The Boris REPL does not seem to be actively maintained; however the PsySH REPL has fairly recent maintenance, and it fixes the problem that you’re experiencing.

The easiest way to integrate PsySH with WP-CLI is to use the wp-cli-psysh plugin:

# Make sure WP-CLI is up to date
wp cli update

# Install the plugin
wp package install [email protected]:schlessera/wp-cli-psysh.git

After installing the plugin, running wp shell should show you a PsySH header that’s similar to this:

$ wp shell

Psy Shell v0.9.9 (PHP 7.3.1-1+ubuntu18.04.1+deb.sury.org+1 — cli) by Justin Hileman

>>>

Hata!: SQLSTATE[HY000] [1045] Access denied for user 'divattrend_liink'@'localhost' (using password: YES)