The Dune keyboard can be your conference console and more

My biggest pet peeve with meeting apps is that each one has a different shortcut to mute your microphone or turn off your webcam. It’s hard to remember which keys do what when you’re in the middle of a meeting and trying to make a point or ask a question. I’ve always wanted a universal physical button to control volume and camera mute — something I could press without thinking. Project Mirage’s Dune, a small three-key aluminum keyboard — about the size of a piece of gum — that plugs into your MacBook’s USB-C port, does just that.

The $119 gadget has three buttons, and it changes context based on the app you’re looking at. For example, in meeting apps and sites, you can toggle the microphone, toggle the video, and bring the window to the front. For Excel or Sheets, you can copy, paste, and undo. For Chrome, you can refresh, go to the URL bar, and paste. You’ve got the gist. Developers can also use it with applications like VS Code or GitHub to merge, approve, or close a pull request.

The startup builds each unit to fit your specific Mac model, so it fits onto your laptop without a gap underneath. If your ports are already in use, you can connect them via a dongle instead. The Dune doesn’t have a battery and doesn’t need a separate charger, it draws power directly from your MacBook.

Currently, the startup supports the M2 Air or later and M1 Pro or later MacBooks running macOS 15 Sequoia or later.

The device looks nice, but I felt like the keys had more resistance. Nowadays, it’s easy to accidentally press a switch. Several times, I accidentally unmuted or killed my camera because my hand came into contact with the device while reaching for a water bottle or coffee mug. Flipping a switch shouldn’t be this easy.

Dune comes with a companion app for configuring shortcuts, both per-app and system-wide. Within a specific app, you can assign the Dune key to a keyboard shortcut, command, link that opens an app, or URL.

Through the app, Dune also syncs with your calendar and displays your next meeting a few minutes before it starts, so you can join, decline, or send an “I’m late” message with one tap.

If you want deeper customization, you can write and run your own Python script. If you don’t code, Dune has easy integration with Claude Desktop: you describe the shortcut you want in plain language, and Claude writes it and assigns it to a key for that application—no manual setup required.

I’ve created a shortcut that, when I’m on a startup’s website, shows a quick summary of the company: its competitors, investors, and questions I might ask if I booked a meeting with them. For anyone whose job involves scaling companies quickly — investors, founders, and operators — it’s a job tailored to Dune. I also designed a program that converts images to JPG so I can quickly upload them to WordPress or social media platforms. Both were easy to create and required no manual configuration, although getting a fully working shortcut still required some time with Claude, including debugging once it was actually up and running.

The app also has a marketplace where you can explore skills created by other Dune owners. If the market takes off, it could become core to Dune’s growth and retention strategy — devices as a thin front end to a skill ecosystem powered by Claude, where each new skill gives owners an extra reason to stick around.

However, at the moment, there are only limited skills. Additionally, there’s no way to test a skill without assigning it to a hardware button — and ideally, the app will allow you to preview the skill before committing it to the device. The startup also needs to proactively add more of its suggested skills for different applications to its users.

Retailing for $149 after its introductory price, the Project Mirage is a solid choice for anyone interested in productivity. MuteMe only covers muting/unmuting, and Stream Deck offers business-focused macros, but Dune is easier to customize on both hardware and software.