Maybe something along these lines…
DietPi has several tools to help install software packages & configure them after install. They are managed by system commands that are stored inside /DietPi/dietpi/
‘dietpi-software’ is used to do the initial configuration based on the settings in /DietPi/dietpi.txt. These settings are applied on first boot and can be used to automate many parts of first setup, like adding wifi passwords, installing and configuring services etc.
‘dietpi-config’ can also edit the settings after initial setup, run dietpi-config to change config options or just edit the settings as you normally would on Debian.
‘dietpi-software’ can also install, remove and configure many common packages with general settings, even after installation has been completed. Run dietpi-software to select the packages.
If you want to use your own custom configuration you can still use apt-get install & all the other tools that come with Debian. You can also modify the DietPi scripts inside /Dietpi/. Just be aware that running ‘dietpi-update’ will overwrite your changes to the DietPi scripts. Please post a pull request on github if you have improvements to DietPi > GitHub - Fourdee/DietPi: Lightweight justice for your single-board computer!
I’m not sure if that is concise enough, hopefully it clarifies some of what this project can do. I’m new to this project, so maybe I have misunderstood parts of it?