How Habit Links Work
Chain habits together and turn isolated actions into powerful routines.
What Are Habit Links?
A Habit Link is habits grouped into a single sequence — shown in-app as a Routine (your chains appear under “Focus Routines,” and auto-created ones are named after their first habit, like “Meditate Routine”). Instead of treating each habit as standalone, a Habit Link connects them in a set order and tracks its own streak for completing the whole thing.
This Is a MainQuest Pro Feature
The free plan allows zero habit chains — creating a new one, or moving an existing standalone habit into a chain, requires MainQuest Pro. One carve-out stays free: creating a brand-new habit directly into a chain you already have. If your Pro subscription lapses, existing chains keep working; you just can't create new ones until you resubscribe.
Think of a Habit Link as a daily protocol. A morning chain might be Meditate → Exercise → Journal. Each habit still awards its own XP when checked in, exactly as it would standalone — what the chain adds is order, momentum, and a streak number that tracks the whole routine, not an extra reward on top (more on that below).
Creating a Habit Link
Chains grow out of the habit form itself — there's no separate chain-builder screen. When creating a habit, choose “Do After Habit...” and pick which habit it follows. If that habit was standalone, a chain is created automatically and named after it (“Meditate Routine”). From there you can rename the chain and reorder its steps — Pro required to create one, as above.
Example chains:
Arrange the habits in the order you want to perform them — and mean it. Tapping a step out of order raises a warning you can push through (“Complete Anyway” on mobile, “Override & Execute” on web) — but once you've broken the sequence, the remaining unfinished steps hard-lock for the day, with a message telling you what to finish first. Same behavior on both platforms.
What You Actually Earn
Every habit in the chain pays its own normal XP when checked in — the same 10/20/30 XP by intensity it would earn standalone. Completing the whole chain on the same day does not add any extra XP on top. What it does instead:
How It Works
Check in on each habit in the chain, in order, throughout the day. Once the last one is checked in, the chain's own streak advances and you get a completion celebration — a “CHAIN COMPLETED” modal on mobile, a “Chain Strength Increased” overlay on web. Remember that the day boundary is 3 AM, so late-night check-ins still count for the current day.
One related bonus worth knowing lives in the regular habit system, not in chains: holding three separate habits at a 30-day individual streak each unlocks the one-time “Chain of Iron” achievement (+200 XP) — “chain” there means streak, and it doesn't require a Habit Link at all.
This system rewards consistency and routine-building. Completing three isolated habits is good, but completing a deliberate chain is better — the momentum and the streak reflect that, even without a bonus number attached to every single day.
Chain Streaks
Just like individual habits track streaks, each Habit Link tracks its own chain streak. The chain streak counts how many consecutive days you have completed the entire chain — every habit in the link, checked in on consecutive days.
Missing a habit in the chain outright on a given day ends the run — your next full chain completion starts a fresh streak at day 1. Individual habit streaks are tracked independently, though: if you complete three out of four habits in a chain, those three habits still maintain their own individual streaks — only the chain streak's run is over.
The Skip Exception
A deliberate, budgeted Skip on one habit is not the same as missing it. The chain still completes around a skipped step, and the chain streak freezes at its current value instead of breaking — it just doesn't advance that day either. Missing a habit outright, with no Skip spent on it, is what actually resets the counter to zero.
Chain streaks use the same 3 AM day boundary as individual habit streaks. A chain completed at 1 AM counts for the previous day. You need to complete the full chain again after 3 AM to extend the chain streak to the next day.
Designing Effective Chains
The best Habit Links follow the principle of habit stacking — each completed habit naturally leads into the next. This reduces the friction of starting each subsequent habit because you already have momentum from the previous one.
If your chain feels overwhelming, remember that each habit can have a microversion. On tough days, completing the microversion of each habit still counts and keeps your chain streak alive.
Chain Streaks vs Individual Streaks
It is important to understand the difference between these two types of streaks, as they are tracked independently:
This means you can break a chain streak without breaking any individual habit streaks. If your morning chain has four habits and you complete three of them, those three maintain their individual streaks — but the chain streak resets.
Building Routines with Habit Links
Habit Links are the foundation of routine building in MainQuest. By chaining habits together, you transform scattered daily behaviors into structured protocols that compound over time.
Start small. Create a chain of two habits you already do consistently, then add a new habit you want to build. The existing habits create momentum, and the new habit benefits from being attached to an established routine.
As your chains become second nature, you can extend them or create additional chains for different parts of your day. Combine Habit Links with attribute growth from Classes to see how your daily routines translate into long-term character development.