Padrail turns the edges of your MacBook trackpad into sliders: volume on the right, brightness on the left, keyboard light at the bottom, and a top edge that changes with the app (tabs, zoom, next track). Free, no account, lives in the menu bar.
I kept reaching for the function keys to change volume and brightness on my MacBook, and I noticed the trackpad has four edges I never touch. So I built Padrail: slide one finger along an edge and it becomes a slider.
Right edge for volume, left for brightness (external monitors too), bottom for the keyboard light. The top edge changes with the app you're in: tabs in Safari and Chrome, zoom in Figma, next track in Spotify.
A few things people asked for in the first week are already in: the edges ignore you while you type or hold a click, you can pause it in games, and there's a volume cap for headphones.
It's free, no account, signed and notarized by Apple. I'd love to know what you'd put on the top edge, and anything that feels off.
Four edges nobody touches turned into sliders is a lovely reuse of hardware. For the top edge: I'd put microphone mute when Zoom or Meet is in front, it's the control I hunt for most during calls. Does the top edge recognise a call running in a browser tab, or only the app in front?
The 'edges ignore you while typing' detail is the one that would make or break this for me — every trackpad gesture idea I've tried dies on accidental touches. I'd put seek on the top edge, since that's the one I reach for while watching something and don't want to hunt for the player controls.
Love that Padrail turns unused trackpad edges into sliders, such a clever way to reuse hardware you already own.
I haven't tried it yet - will test soon. Great idea! Personally, I would either leave the top edge as customisable or set it as seek forward/backward in media playback.
About Padrail on Product Hunt
“Turn your MacBook trackpad edges into controls”
Padrail launched on Product Hunt on November 11th, 2026 and earned 75 upvotes and 8 comments, placing #26 on the daily leaderboard. Padrail turns the edges of your MacBook trackpad into sliders: volume on the right, brightness on the left, keyboard light at the bottom, and a top edge that changes with the app (tabs, zoom, next track). Free, no account, lives in the menu bar.
Padrail was featured in Mac (103.9k followers), Productivity (665.4k followers) and Menu Bar Apps (12.3k followers) on Product Hunt. Together, these topics include over 193.2k products, making this a competitive space to launch in.
Who hunted Padrail?
Padrail was hunted by Ivan. A “hunter” on Product Hunt is the community member who submits a product to the platform — uploading the images, the link, and tagging the makers behind it. Hunters typically write the first comment explaining why a product is worth attention, and their followers are notified the moment they post. Around 79% of featured launches on Product Hunt are self-hunted by their makers, but a well-known hunter still acts as a signal of quality to the rest of the community. See the full all-time top hunters leaderboard to discover who is shaping the Product Hunt ecosystem.
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Ivan
Hey Product Hunt 👋
I kept reaching for the function keys to change volume and brightness on my MacBook, and I noticed the trackpad has four edges I never touch. So I built Padrail: slide one finger along an edge and it becomes a slider.
Right edge for volume, left for brightness (external monitors too), bottom for the keyboard light. The top edge changes with the app you're in: tabs in Safari and Chrome, zoom in Figma, next track in Spotify.
A few things people asked for in the first week are already in: the edges ignore you while you type or hold a click, you can pause it in games, and there's a volume cap for headphones.
It's free, no account, signed and notarized by Apple. I'd love to know what you'd put on the top edge, and anything that feels off.