flake: TestUserList/SessionAuthErrorHasHelperText (windows) - dbtestutil create database wsarecv aborted

[flake-investigator]

CI run: https://github.com/coder/coder/actions/runs/21133032582
Commit: d176714f90f2c4dffa4c182722f6b16deface38a (Cian Johnston)
Job: test-go-pg (windows-2022)

What failed

Go test failures in the cli package:

• TestUserList/SessionAuthErrorHasHelperText (and the parent TestUserList)

Key log excerpt:

Received unexpected error:
create database:
  - create db with template:
    github.com/coder/coder/v2/coderd/database/dbtestutil.createDatabaseFromTemplate
        coderd/database/dbtestutil/postgres.go:204
  - read tcp 127.0.0.1:50677->127.0.0.1:5432: wsarecv: The I/O operation has been aborted because of either a thread exit or an application request.

Initial assessment

This looks like an infrastructure / embedded-postgres stability issue on Windows during test database creation (connection abruptly aborted). It may be intermittent and environment-dependent.

Files implicated by stack trace:

• coderd/database/dbtestutil/broker.go
• coderd/database/dbtestutil/postgres.go (createDatabaseFromTemplate)
• cli/userlist_test.go

Ownership / assignment rationale

Recent substantive work in coderd/database/dbtestutil/postgres.go and related dbtestutil plumbing was done by Spike Curtis (e.g. commits 596fdcba817e, e2076beb9f7a).

Assigning to: @spikecurtis

[spikecurtis]

There is also an issue reading and writing to the pseudoconsole in a different test:

    clitest.go:283: command "coder rename" exited with error: running command "coder rename": read |0: The handle is invalid.
    ptytest.go:132: 2026-01-19 10:03:41.431: cmd: "See: https://coder.com/docs/templates/resource-persistence#%EF%B8%8F-persistence-pitfalls"
    ptytest.go:132: 2026-01-19 10:03:41.431: cmd: ""
    clitest.go:194: 
        	Error Trace:	C:/actions-runner/coder/coder/cli/clitest/clitest.go:194
        	            				C:/hostedtoolcache/windows/go/1.24.11/x64/src/runtime/asm_amd64.s:1700
        	Error:      	Received unexpected error:
        	            	running command "coder rename": read |0: The handle is invalid.
        	Test:       	TestRename
    ptytest.go:169: 2026-01-19 10:03:41.431: cmd: matched "confirm rename:" = "WARNING: A rename can result in data loss if a resource references the workspace\nname in the template (e.g volumes). Please backup any data before proceeding.\n\nSee: https://coder.com/docs/templates/resource-persistence#%EF%B8%8F-persistence-pitfalls\n\n> Type \"splendid-wright346\" to confirm rename:"
    rename_test.go:38: 2026-01-19 10:03:41.431: cmd: stdin: "splendid-wright346\r\n"
    rename_test.go:38: 
        	Error Trace:	C:/actions-runner/coder/coder/pty/ptytest/ptytest.go:430
        	            				C:/actions-runner/coder/coder/cli/rename_test.go:38
        	Error:      	Received unexpected error:
        	            	write |1: The parameter is incorrect.
        	Test:       	TestRename
        	Messages:   	write line failed

These seem like very fundamental Windows, or at least Go-on-Windows errors. If reading and writing to TCP sockets or pseudoconsoles starts failing then we really are in a bad way.

I'm going to close this one, but if we see it again we might need to start digging really deep.