How Momentum & Tiers Work in Dayprints

Momentum is Dayprints’ transparent record of eligible completed actions. It gives daily follow-through a visible longer arc without turning the Today list into a game screen. Internally the same value is XP, but the product calls it Momentum because the point is continued movement, not player status.

The guide to Momentum, progress, and Dayprints explains how the number sits beside Rhythm, transparent trends, and completed-day keepsakes. This article covers the exact earning rules and tier behavior.

The Momentum earning table

Dayprints’ approved economy is:

Sessions are available, but they intentionally earn no Momentum. Starting, pausing, finishing, or cancelling a session does not add points or complete a linked task; Session history measures attention separately from the reward economy.

Point values are not shown beside every work action. A completed task should first feel like completed work. The reward layer can summarize Momentum after the action without making the list resemble a points marketplace.

Normal and priority tasks

A normal task earns 3 Momentum once when completed. A priority task earns 5. Priority is meant for work with greater consequence or leverage, not a switch to increase every reward.

Undo reverses the corresponding Momentum entry. Completing the same task again restores the eligible award rather than creating repeated gains. Editing a completed task does not add more Momentum, and deleting and recreating tasks cannot be used to farm it.

This ledger approach keeps the total explainable. A user should be able to connect a change to a real action instead of trusting an opaque productivity score.

Habits and Rhythm

Completing a habit earns 2 Momentum for its scheduled occurrence. Habits also contribute to recent Rhythm, but the concepts remain separate.

Momentum is the longer-term accumulated record. Rhythm shows recent continuity: one completed task or any recorded habit progress keeps it active. A rest day can create a visible pause, but it does not subtract Momentum or lower a tier. Returning begins the Rhythm again without a “streak ruined” penalty.

The article on rest days, Rhythm, and returning explores that distinction in practical terms.

The +8 completed-plan outcome

The planned-day award follows a kept plan, not simply opening the app. A day must meet all three conditions:

1. every task remaining in that plan is complete;
2. at least one task you had planned — for any date, not only that day — was completed that day; and
3. no unresolved item remains under Needs attention.

Habits can appear in the completed-day summary, but they never block this outcome. Honest replanning is allowed: removing an incomplete item may let the day resolve if a task you had planned was completed that day and all other conditions are true.

The award is confirmed after the five-second task Undo window. Dayprints then writes one completed-day marker, the +8 event, and one Dayprint record for that local date. Undo during the window prevents confirmation. Later uncomplete-and-recomplete actions do not create a second day bonus.

The +3 end-of-day review action

A completed review earns 3 Momentum only when it contains at least one real input. Examples include deciding what to do with unfinished work, choosing tomorrow’s top priority, or answering an optional reflection prompt.

A bare tap does not earn the award. The review is also optional and never gates the completed-day outcome or Dayprint. That keeps reflection valuable without turning disclosure or journaling into required work.

The 50-per-day soft cap

At most 50 Momentum can be awarded for eligible actions on one local date. The cap limits farming and keeps a very busy day from distorting the longer arc.

“Soft cap” means work still completes normally after the award ceiling is reached. Tasks and habits remain useful records; they simply do not push that day’s Momentum beyond 50. The cap follows the user’s local date rather than server time.

Undo accounting must also preserve room correctly. Dayprints tracks awarded and reversed entries rather than using a number that can be inflated by repeating the same action.

The five collection tiers

Momentum supports five tiers:

Seed is the starting tier. Each later tier reflects accumulated eligible activity rather than a promised schedule, because real days contain different tasks, priorities, habits, and reviews. Masterwork is intentionally a long-term tier, not a quick onboarding prize.

These tiers organise Dayprint collection progression rather than data access. Free currently includes stored all-time Progress history and account export; its visible Progress and reflection views use bounded recent windows.

Momentum tiers do not gate appearance. Paper, Mist, Linen, Dark, Ocean, Lavender, Rose, Moss, Midnight, and System mode are currently available to every account, along with dark mode and accessibility settings.

Can a tier go backwards?

No. Momentum can adjust when an eligible action is undone, but Dayprints stores the highest tier reached as a ratchet. Crossing a threshold records that tier permanently, even if a later reversal places the current total below the boundary.

This avoids a punitive demotion for correcting a task. It also prevents duplicate tier celebrations: reaching the same threshold again after an undo does not mint another tier-change event.

A Dayprint keeps the tier associated with the day it was confirmed. Earlier records are not silently restyled to match a later tier.

Dayprints and the current artwork collection

A qualifying day now reveals a Dayprint selected from a shared, authored artwork catalogue and records it to the account. Progress shows up to thirty of the most recent Dayprints with available artwork. Selection uses the reader's own history to reduce repetition where the catalogue permits, but the same catalogue piece can appear for different people. The scarcity belongs to the completed day's occasion, not to the image.

The Dayprint cornerstone explains how the keepsake records the day. Animated motion provides the gather-and-reveal ceremony. Still and operating-system reduced motion expose resolved artwork without that choreography, while a fallback confirms that progress is saved if artwork is not ready.

Why these rules are intentionally plain

Momentum should answer “What changed this number?” The earning table, local-day cap, one-time awards, undo reversals, and tier thresholds make the answer auditable.

The system does not reward opening the app, creating busywork, importing historical tasks, or repeatedly editing completed items. It favors real follow-through while keeping the daily work layer calm.

Build the longer arc from real actions

You do not need to optimize points. Choose a realistic plan, complete useful work, keep a small habit when it fits, and close the day honestly. Momentum is the trace of those actions, not a substitute for deciding what matters.

Try Dayprints' visible progress loop: make a workable Today plan, follow through, and let transparent Momentum accumulate through real tasks, habits, and reflection—without a complicated scoring system in the way.

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