[JS API] `PM2.start` returns empty array, possibly related to caching

What's going wrong?

When running PM2 start from the JavaScript API, an empty array is returned with no error. The process does not start, nor is there a record of it using pm2 list. Running PM2 as a different user resolves this. Deleting the PM2 cache using rm -rf ~/.pm2 does not resolve this. Running the PM2 command directly resolves this (instead of via PM2 JS API). Running via CLI resolves this. Killing all processes with pm2 in the name does not resolve this.

/*
    {
      "interpreter": "node",
      "interpreter_args": " \"/home/user/cli.js\" server --trace-warnings --is-daemon=true --daemon-name=payments  ",
      "name": "payments",
      "script": "\"/home/user/cli.js\" server --trace-warnings --is-daemon=true --daemon-name=payments  ",
      "cwd": "/home/user/payments",
      "time": true,
      "output": "/home/user/.logs/payments.log",
      "error": "/home/user/.logs/payments.err.log",
      "exec_mode": "fork",
      "exp_backoff_restart_delay": 100,
      "max_memory_restart": "150M",
      "autorestart": false,
      "restart_delay": 10000,
      "kill_timeout": 10000,
      "shutdown_with_message": false,
      "env": {},
      "instances": 1
    }
*/
pm2.start(options, handler); // returns empty array and no error in handler

However, using the CLI, this works:

pm2 start --name=payments "node \"/home/user/cli.js\" server --trace-warnings --is-daemon=true --daemon-name=payments"

How could we reproduce this issue?

Hard to repro. I imagine this is a caching issue.

Supporting information

v5.1.2
Node v19.5.0

No source file or test is named. Start by reproducing PM2.start(options, handler) on PM2 v5.1.2 with Node v19.5.0, then compare it with the equivalent CLI command and inspect the API path involved in process registration or caching. Done means the process starts through the JavaScript API and returns the expected result or an actionable error.