Thanks for your time. It turned out to be the Startup constructor
public Startup(IHostingEnvironment env)
{
var builder = new ConfigurationBuilder()
.SetBasePath(env.ContentRootPath)
.AddJsonFile("appsettings.json", optional: false, reloadOnChange: true)
.AddJsonFile($"appsettings.{env.EnvironmentName}.json", optional: true, reloadOnChange: true)
.AddEnvironmentVariables();
Configuration = builder.Build();
}
It would revert back to my appsettings.Development.json
auth section. I ended up created another environment: appsettings.Production.json
and putting the auth section in question in there.