CloudKit Synchronized "User Defaults"

I have a CoreData-based application, set up with a private CloudKit container and using NSPersistentCloudKitContainer.

However, I need additional CloudKit-synchronized data that lives in this container, but not as part of a CoreData scheme. (I.e., I need to read/write some data to the CloudKit container BEFORE initializing the NSPersistentCloudKitContainer.

(1) Is this possible? [I'm assuming that the answer is YES.]

(2) Since I'm a complete neophyte with CloudKit, can you give me some guidance as to how to set this all up? One way to think about what I want to do is to create a cloud-synchronized UserDefaults that provides consistent default data to all of a user's devices.

CloudKit Synchronized "User Defaults"
 
 
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