"Cordova can have issues when restoring a local plugin from config.xml"

Just stumbled over these quite elaborate lengths Ionic Appflow goes in its documentation to work around a problem with Cordova CLI: https://ionic.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360009519314-Managing-local-cordova-plugins-using-a-npmrc-file

I couldn't quickly find an issue that properly reports these problems, especially with a reproduction, so this knowledge base article might be our best pointer to start an investigation.

The issue points to Cordova CLI restoring a local plugin declared in config.xml and to Ionic Appflow's external workaround using an npmrc file. Start by reading that article and reproducing the reported restoration path; done means the behavior has a reliable reproduction and its expected resolution is established.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.