php mysqli_connect: authentication method unknown to the client [caching_sha2_password]

I solve this by SQL command:

ALTER USER 'mysqlUsername'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_native_password BY 'mysqlUsernamePassword';

which is referenced by https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.0/en/alter-user.html

if you are creating new user

 CREATE USER 'jeffrey'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_native_password BY 'password';

which is referenced by https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.0/en/create-user.html

this works for me

As of PHP 7.4, this is no longer an issue. Support for caching_sha2 authentication method has been added to mysqlnd.

Currently, PHP mysqli extension do not support new caching_sha2 authentication feature. You have to wait until they release an update.

Check related post from MySQL developers: https://mysqlserverteam.com/upgrading-to-mysql-8-0-default-authentication-plugin-considerations/

They didn't mention PDO, maybe you should try to connect with PDO.