If you run:

wp core download --skip-content

It creates what I would call an unusable installation.

My expectation would be a working installation without themes or plugins... not an installation that does not create needed folders in the wp-content folder.

The probleme is that I installed WordPress from WP CLI. Then, I logged in and tried to install a plugin and it gave an error because the plugins folder does not exist.

That being said, if I would've installed a plugin with WP CLI, the folders would have been created correctly.

I would argue this is a bug even if that was the original intention as it leaves the installation in an unusable status.