In development, the framework usually serves static files (CSS, JS, Images) dynamically. In production, this is a performance killer.
Phase 2 involves implementing environment-aware configuration using your framework's native configuration system, setting up multiple environment files such as appsettings.Development.json , appsettings.Staging.json , and appsettings.Production.json . Phase 3 introduces a secrets management solution, never committing secrets to version control, and integrating the application with a secrets manager like Vault or cloud key management services. production-settings
This means your code should not ask "Am I in production?" but rather "What is the value of this setting?" letting the configuration layer provide the answer based on the environment. In development, the framework usually serves static files