Not many examples that I could find, this is from way back in 2014… still accurate??
https://theaveragedev.com/generating-a-wordpress-plugin-activation-link-url/
Too complicated, this is simpler:
$path = 'akismet/akismet.php'; $link = wp_nonce_url(admin_url('plugins.php?action=activate&plugin='.$path), 'activate-plugin_'.$path);
source
Generate a Link to Activate a Plugin in WordPress
Enter the destination URL
Or link to existing content