As per the wp-cli valet README, the “Access Denied” error is because wp-cli needed a password to connect to the local (brewed) mysql.
I didn’t have one set as was able to login to mysql as root without one:
mysql -uroot
#
So I set one: $(brew --prefix mysql)/bin/mysqladmin -u root password apassword
Now I can spin up WP sites like:
wp valet new site --dbpass=apassword
Don't go anywhere, this should only take a second...
Success: site ready! https://site.test
Loading over https, too!
I even added the password to ~/.wp-cli/config.yml
and now don’t need to add the flag.
Now I have updated the configuration and project: bedrock
is working, too.