I’m planning to install Fedora for a family member who will be a new Linux user, and am leaning toward Silverblue since it seems harder to accidentally break than the default Workstation edition. However, the stock install is quite barebones out of the box. Can I programmatically layer some packages using rpm-ostree in the new deployment before the first boot?
Casey, I recently discussed this in another thread. I also thought I needed a bunch of overlays but it turned out I did not. Mostly everything needed was already in Flatpaks, but in my case I had to use the FF in the Flathub remote instead of the Fedora remote because the latter does not handle media well.
What applications are you looking to use on your desktop?
I was thinking of utilities like dash-to-dock.
Oh okay, isn’t that an extension though? To be completely honest I don’t really use extensions so I’m not 100%, but I think you can find what you need in the Gnome Extensions flatpak.
First if you have not go to the link below and enable Flathub remote. Just click on the Flathub repository file link and then open with system handler (default option). Then just open a terminal and run the command:
flatpak install flathub org.gnome.Extensions
Also I wanted to say welcome Casey 
I hope you enjoy Silverblue!
Thanks. A related question I have is: Can one layer packages using rpm-ostree onto an ostree commit other than the currently booted commit?
You may be able to create a kickstart file for your particular customization ideas. Check here https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/fedora/rawhide/install-guide/advanced/Kickstart_Installations/ to see what is necessary and if it can be applied to silverblue. There is also a dated article here on using Ansible Using Ansible to set up a workstation - Fedora Magazine to setup a workstation.
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