.NET 5 WorkerService HostingEnvironment.IsDevelopment() returns false while Environment Variable ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT is set to Development

Question

As the title says I have created a new .NET 5 WorkerService but when I call HostingEnvironment.IsDevelopment() it returns false even though Environment Variable ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT is set to Development.

Program.cs looks like this:

public class Program
{
    public static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        CreateHostBuilder(args).Build().Run();
    }

    public static IHostBuilder CreateHostBuilder(string[] args) =>
        Host.CreateDefaultBuilder(args)
             .ConfigureAppConfiguration((hostContext, builder) =>
             {
                 if (hostContext.HostingEnvironment.IsDevelopment())
                 {
                     builder.AddUserSecrets<Program>();
                 }
             })
            .ConfigureServices((hostContext, services) =>
            {
                var configuration = hostContext.Configuration;

                var settings = new MyAppSettings();
                configuration.GetSection("MyApp").Bind(settings);
                services.AddSingleton(settings);

                services.AddHttpClient();
                services.AddHttpClient<MyAppHttpClient>();
                services.AddHostedService<Worker>();
            })
            .ConfigureLogging(logging =>
            {
                logging.AddEventLog(eventLogSettings =>
                {
                    eventLogSettings.SourceName = "MyAppBooker";
                });
            });
}

Environment Variables is set under Debug properties like this:

I can confirm that Environment Variable is set correctly as well.

I'm following the guide for "Safe storage of app secrets in development" and the code is from there.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/aspnet/core/security/app-secrets?view=aspnetcore-5.0&tabs=windows#access-a-secret

I have also tried to set NETCORE_ENVIRONMENT but it made no difference.

https://github.com/dotnet/aspnetcore/issues/4150

It should work given the method descriptions I think:

Checks if the current hosting environment name is Development.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/microsoft.aspnetcore.hosting.hostingenvironmentextensions.isdevelopment?view=aspnetcore-5.0

According to documentation IHostingEnvironment.EnvironmentName Property should do this:

Gets or sets the name of the environment. The host automatically sets this property to the value of the "ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT" environment variable, or "environment" as specified in any other configuration source.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/microsoft.aspnetcore.hosting.ihostingenvironment.environmentname?view=aspnetcore-5.0

Given this description I do not understand why the program sets hostContext.HostingEnvironment.EnvironmentName to Production running locally in Debug.

Answer 1

Thanks to @Jack A. The missing link was DOTNET_ENVIRONMENT with value Development in Environment variables. The error occurred because launchSettings.json was not in Git and therefore the original Environment variable was never set.