Not overthinking, just discussing. :D
Fitz, the caliper you have is probably just like this picture.
The entire caliper slides as the pads wear, so the outer pad moves with the whole sliding assembly. (Caliper body)
The inner pad of course is moved by the piston.
The bracket for the caliper that bolts to the hub has two machined areas that the caliper mates to with to matching machined areas on the calipers. (marked as slides in the pic)
The retainers basically just keep the caliper from popping up out of the slides, and the anti rattle clips use spring type pressure to hold the pads from rattling around in there when the brakes are not in use. (like the pads not having pressure on them and going over bumps, holes or cracks in the road surface.)
The calipers themselves really only have forward and backward pressures on them so those light metal caliper retainers are plenty to keep the caliper from popping up, and out of the slide grooves.
Those slide surfaces are what some/most believe should be lubed on assembly, and they are correct.
Personally, I don't like anything on there that can collect dust and cause the caliper to get stuck or bound up when dust or dirt does get added to the mix.
Anti seize (like the stuff for spark plug threads is just about the only thing I would ever use on those surfaces if anything other than a good wire brushing)
I do a wheels off inspection and cleaning 3-4 times a year where I check pads, seals and the grease in the bearings so maybe that's the main reason I never have a problem doing nothing to the slide surfaces but a good cleaning.
But after going back and looking again at your picture, it looks like bolt slides.
The same info applies for those also, but the caliper is allowed to slide on lubed bolt instead of a machined mating surface, and those clean metal tabs on your caliper act as anti rattle devices by pressing down on the pad by using the bolt head at one end and the bolt shaft at the other.
