The Dune keypad meeting controller from San Francisco and Bangalore-based startup Project Mirage aims to solve one of remote work’s most persistent small frustrations: every video-conferencing app buries its mute button somewhere different, and muscle memory never quite catches up.
The device is a three-key aluminium keypad roughly the size of a stick of gum. It plugs directly into a MacBook’s USB-C port, draws power from the laptop, and needs no separate battery or charger. Project Mirage, founded by Apoorv Shankar in 2025, builds each unit to the dimensions of a specific Mac model, so it sits flush against the chassis with no gap underneath.
Context-Aware Keys That Change With Every App
The Dune keypad’s central idea is context-sensitivity. In a meeting app, the three keys default to toggling the microphone, toggling the camera, and bringing the window to the front. Switch to a spreadsheet and the same keys become copy, paste, and undo. Open Chrome and they shift to refresh, jump to the URL bar, and paste. The companion app displays the current function of each key in the bottom-left corner of the screen, updating automatically whenever the user switches apps, according to Forbes.
For developers, the integration runs deeper. Each key can trigger shortcuts across Apple Silicon-optimised workflows in GitHub and VS Code, or fire agentic scripts through the Dune Marketplace, according to GearBrigade. One-click meeting controls cover Zoom, Teams, and Google Meet out of the box.
The companion app also syncs with your calendar and surfaces the next meeting a few minutes before it starts. From there, a single key press can join the call, dismiss the notification, or send an ‘I’m running late’ message.
Claude Integration Lowers the Barrier to Custom Shortcuts
The Dune keypad’s deeper customisation layer connects to Anthropic‘s Claude Desktop. Users describe what they want in plain language; Claude writes the script and assigns it to a key for that specific app, with no manual configuration. The reviewer built a shortcut that pulls up a competitive brief on any startup’s website, covering investors, rivals, and potential interview questions. Another converts images to JPG for quick upload to WordPress or social platforms. Both required some back-and-forth with Claude to debug, but neither needed any hand-written code.
Users who do code can write and run Python scripts directly. Everyone else can browse the Dune Marketplace, a library of shortcuts built by other owners. The marketplace has potential as a retention mechanism: each new skill gives existing owners another reason to keep the device plugged in. For now, though, the library is thin, and there is no way to preview a skill before committing it to a physical button.
A Few Rough Edges Worth Knowing
The keypad’s key resistance is lower than it should be. On more than one occasion, a hand brushing the device while reaching for a drink was enough to unmute the microphone or cut the camera feed mid-meeting. Project Mirage will need to address this before the device earns a place on every professional’s desk.
Compatibility is currently limited to M2 Air or later and M1 Pro or later MacBooks running macOS 15 Sequoia or a newer version. Users whose ports are already occupied can connect through a dongle, though that somewhat undermines the clean flush-fit aesthetic.
On price, Digital Trends confirms the current introductory price is $119, rising to $149 once that window closes. Against the competition, MuteMe handles only mute and unmute, and Elgato’s Stream Deck skews toward broadcast and business macros. Dune sits between them: more flexible than the former, easier to customise than the latter, and built around AI-assisted scripting that neither rival offers.
Whether the Marketplace grows quickly enough to justify the full $149 price tag is the question Project Mirage has to answer next. If it does, the hardware becomes almost secondary.
