Every job knows who's next.

For editorial, design and print teams that run the same process on every job. Chains moves each job from brief to print and updates its status as work is handed off and approved — nobody has to remember to.

Start free

Which one is the final?

layout.pdflayout_review.pdflayout_final.pdflayout_final_v2.pdflayout_final_v2_FINAL.pdf

The real status survives only in file names, in a review label that outlived its review, and in the one person who's out today. So every handoff starts with the same question: which version is current, and who has it now?

Issue 9 · Composites

Cover1–2Design
Contents3Review
Opener4–5Layout
Wind blades6–11DesignReview
Interview12–15Proof
Thermoplastics16–19Layout
Pultrusion20–21Proof
Fiberglass22–25Layout
Aviation26–29Design
Profile30–31Layout
Science32–35Proof

Approved

Contents3Review
Wind blades6–11Review

Wind blades6–11Review

Your desk, not the whole board.

When a layout is handed off or a proof is signed off, the job moves to the next person on its own. On you now gives everyone one list of what’s waiting on them — across every project — so nobody scans a board or asks in chat.

Mark up the proof together.

Mark up PDFs together, live, right on the page. Every version and every review round stays in place, so each comment lands on the version it was made for — not in a dozen chat threads.

And the details that keep it honest

Roles per phase
Choose who does the work and who signs it off in each phase.
Review rounds
Send work back for another pass until it's signed off — every round is kept.
Parallel branches
Copy and design run side by side; the job moves on when both are done.
Manual overrides
Skip ahead, reopen a phase, or close out a job when reality doesn't match the plan.

Built for small teams without a project manager

Chains is for newsrooms, design agencies, and editorial or print teams that run the same process over and over — and are too small to hire a project manager or set up Jira just to see who’s up next.

A four-person team at a monthly industry magazine has planned every issue in Chains since autumn 2024 — 60 pages a month, and once a year a 140‑page special where every page is a separate story.

“We used to lay the issue out on paper squares. Now I think of Chains every day.”

— Managing editor, monthly magazine

Andrey on a sofa in front of bookshelves, with two plush unicorns perched on the shoulders and a plush bull alongside — The rest of the team.

Hi, I’m Andrey.

For almost twenty years I worked in print and design — from a copy shop to a corporate newspaper, where I went from laying out pages to running the process around editors and copywriters, and later to a city wayfinding project with hundreds of templated signs.

In every team I saw the same thing: one person spending an hour a day updating a spreadsheet of who’s done what and which PDF is current — or dragging Trello cards so the board would tell the truth.

In 2022 I moved to Spain and started over as a developer. Chains is the tool I wished those teams had. I build it on my own.

andrey@chains.design LinkedIn Telegram

Free for teams of up to 5 people.

No trial clock, no credit card. Includes 5 projects, 5 templates and 1 GB of storage — plenty for a small team’s day-to-day work.

Need more than 5? Write to me

Start with your next job.

Chains is in public beta — sign up with your email and take a guided first run with sample teammates. Invite your team when you're ready.

Start free