Because they now use cloud-init as part of the initial boot process, it could have been very easy to do so but it turns out they decided to make it complicated. Maybe still possible though...
Still it's possible to add a few scripts in the boot partition but I guess you have to execute them manually like a regular post-install script.
They just rewrote Imager. I expected they would add a custom feature for this (based on the new cloud-init adoption) - like a field where you can enter a list of extra packages to install from regular depos - but sadly this did not happen.
I think it's also possible to use your own images (this what I do) so you can deploy exactly what you need. Obviously this is more for clients than servers... The way I do it is based on prototyping a system with all the apps and settings I want. Back it up as an image and flash it as a custom image with imager so I can choose the hostname name on the fly.
You can also check SDM which I don't use but seems to be what you're looking for
https://github.com/gitbls/sdm
There's also rpi-image-gen to generate highly customised software images
https://github.com/raspberrypi/rpi-image-gen
As well as Pi-Gen : the tool used to create the official Raspberry Pi OS images
https://github.com/RPi-Distro/pi-gen
Maybe more ? Idk
But you already have directions to work with I guess
Still it's possible to add a few scripts in the boot partition but I guess you have to execute them manually like a regular post-install script.
They just rewrote Imager. I expected they would add a custom feature for this (based on the new cloud-init adoption) - like a field where you can enter a list of extra packages to install from regular depos - but sadly this did not happen.
I think it's also possible to use your own images (this what I do) so you can deploy exactly what you need. Obviously this is more for clients than servers... The way I do it is based on prototyping a system with all the apps and settings I want. Back it up as an image and flash it as a custom image with imager so I can choose the hostname name on the fly.
You can also check SDM which I don't use but seems to be what you're looking for
https://github.com/gitbls/sdm
There's also rpi-image-gen to generate highly customised software images
https://github.com/raspberrypi/rpi-image-gen
As well as Pi-Gen : the tool used to create the official Raspberry Pi OS images
https://github.com/RPi-Distro/pi-gen
Maybe more ? Idk
But you already have directions to work with I guess
Statistics: Posted by dwam — Tue Nov 25, 2025 8:03 am