The goal you dream about but never quite start. Chain is a focus timer that helps you build it, one session at a time.
Name your goal. Light the forge and focus. Every session lays stone beneath it.
Done? Bank the session. Twenty minutes secures the day and adds a link to your chain.
That’s the whole rule. The chain grows, and the stone climbs to meet the dream.
Day 30 · 30-link chain
Start a new one tomorrow.
Chain 30
Your levels, your titles and every stone you laid are yours for good.
Level 4 · 13 hours · all kept
Level up, earn titles, strike medals. What’s above the clouds, you find out yourself.
Build Chain.— Boris, the First Smith
I built Chain with Chain, one session at a time. Still building.
Why I built itThe app
Chain runs beside your work on Windows, with an Android playtest coming soon. It works offline, needs no account and is free while in beta.
Today. Your chain, the goal it serves, and one button to start.
Rewards
Timer finishes, chain metals, calling cards, sounds and celebrations, all unlocked by focus. Most stay sealed until you get there.
Refine your ring with materials you find while you focus. Try one.
Cast · default timer
Every completed 20 minutes earns a strike: a chance to find materials. Completed hours, two-hour blocks and three-hour blocks add extra strikes. More chances; unchanged rarity odds.
Save materials across sessions, then spend them on finishes. This recipe takes more than the website demo.
Some milestones unlock a card to wear beside your name.
WildfireCollectible calling cardFocusing on Build Chain · illustrative session
Sample profile
Earn Keeper of the Flame: on 20 different days, start a session while warmth from an earlier deep session remains. Days needn’t be consecutive.
Dress every link.
Faces, celebrations and sounds you only see once you’ve earned them.
The Guild
Add friends to see who’s focusing right now, what they’re working toward and the week’s hours.
Friends are optional. Your castle is yours either way.
1 friend focusing nowThis week
Focusing on Build Chain · illustrative session
Select a friend for details.
Free in beta · No account needed
Get Chain for Windows and turn your focus into something you can see.
Want to try Chain on desktop? The Windows beta is available now.
Download for WindowsCan’t use the Store? Direct installer
The playtest is open. Come help shape what’s next.
Join the playtestFresh from the forge
Chain is easier to start with and says things in plainer words. Every ring climbs to a Masterwork, every grain you collect counts, and your finished castles share one sky.
Windows 1.1.4
See what’s new
Why
I’d hooked myself on building the thing that was hooking me.
I've struggled with focus for as long as I can remember. At school, I never did my homework (seriously). Partly because I hated it, sure. But even the things I wanted to do — making videos, reading, building things — were hard to start and harder to finish. Somehow, entire days of games and YouTube required no such effort.
Chain started while I was finishing my bachelor's, with about twenty things I wanted to build and a tiny amount of focused time to divide between them. Plenty of ambition. Very little moving.
I'd read Deep Work and Atomic Habits. Watched every video about dopamine on the internet. Todoist and Notion organized everything I wanted to do. I understood the advice and I had the tools. Sitting down and doing it was the bit I couldn't manage.
So I built Chain around a desperate question: could I make focus as addictive as a game? I wanted that "one more round" feeling, but for something I cared about doing.
Then things got a little ridiculous. I started using Chain to build Chain. The better it got, the more I wanted to focus; the more I focused, the better it got. I'd hooked myself on building the thing that was hooking me.
— Boris, the First Smith
FAQ
Your streak resets. Your XP, levels, hours and rewards stay.
20 minutes secures today’s link. Longer sessions earn more progress, with a maximum of one link per day.
Free during beta — no ads, and nothing to buy inside the app today. Chain will have to pay for itself eventually; whatever you have already earned stays yours.
No. Focus offline without an account. Create one for sync and friends; delete it in Settings.
No. On Windows, Chain runs alongside your work. On Android, switching apps ends the session; locking your screen is fine.
Windows 10 and 11 from the Microsoft Store (or a direct installer if the Store is blocked), and an open Android playtest on Google Play: join the testers group, then opt in. Mac and iOS aren’t available.
Something else, feedback or business? hello@chainsmith.app
