diff --git a/src/components/app.js b/src/components/app.js
index a4a1ec30..56ed2754 100644
--- a/src/components/app.js
+++ b/src/components/app.js
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import PulseLoader from "halogen/PulseLoader";
 
 import LeftSideBar from "./leftsidebar";
 import Parallel from "./continuous/parallel";
+import Legend from "./continuousLegend";
 import Joy from "./joy/joy";
 import Graph from "./graph/graph";
 import * as globals from "../globals";
@@ -92,6 +93,7 @@ class App extends React.Component {
             }}
           >
             <Graph />
+            <Legend />
             {/*<Parallel/>*/}
           </div>
         </div>
diff --git a/src/components/continuousLegend/index.js b/src/components/continuousLegend/index.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e3f6f14a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/components/continuousLegend/index.js
@@ -0,0 +1,142 @@
+// jshint esversion: 6
+import React from "react";
+import _ from "lodash";
+import { connect } from "react-redux";
+import * as globals from "../../globals";
+
+// create continuous color legend
+// http://bl.ocks.org/syntagmatic/e8ccca52559796be775553b467593a9f
+const continuous = (selector_id, colorscale) => {
+  var legendheight = 200,
+    legendwidth = 80,
+    margin = { top: 10, right: 60, bottom: 10, left: 2 };
+
+  var canvas = d3
+    .select(selector_id)
+    .style("height", legendheight + "px")
+    .style("width", legendwidth + "px")
+    // .style("position", "relative")
+    .append("canvas")
+    .attr("height", legendheight - margin.top - margin.bottom)
+    .attr("width", 1)
+    .style("height", legendheight - margin.top - margin.bottom + "px")
+    .style("width", legendwidth - margin.left - margin.right + "px")
+    // .style("border", "1px solid #000")
+    .style("position", "absolute")
+    .style("top", margin.top + 1 + "px")
+    .style("left", margin.left + 1 + "px")
+    .style(
+      "transform",
+      "scale(1,-1)"
+    ) /* flip it! dark is high value light is low. we flip the color scale as well [1, 0] instead of [0, 1] */
+    .node();
+
+  var ctx = canvas.getContext("2d");
+
+  var legendscale = d3
+    .scaleLinear()
+    .range([1, legendheight - margin.top - margin.bottom])
+    .domain([
+      colorscale.domain()[1],
+      colorscale.domain()[0]
+    ]); /* we flip this to make viridis colors dark if high in the color scale */
+
+  // image data hackery based on http://bl.ocks.org/mbostock/048d21cf747371b11884f75ad896e5a5
+  var image = ctx.createImageData(1, legendheight);
+  d3.range(legendheight).forEach(function(i) {
+    var c = d3.rgb(colorscale(legendscale.invert(i)));
+    image.data[4 * i] = c.r;
+    image.data[4 * i + 1] = c.g;
+    image.data[4 * i + 2] = c.b;
+    image.data[4 * i + 3] = 255;
+  });
+  ctx.putImageData(image, 0, 0);
+
+  // A simpler way to do the above, but possibly slower. keep in mind the legend width is stretched because the width attr of the canvas is 1
+  // See http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4899799/whats-the-best-way-to-set-a-single-pixel-in-an-html5-canvas
+  /*
+  d3.range(legendheight).forEach(function(i) {
+    ctx.fillStyle = colorscale(legendscale.invert(i));
+    ctx.fillRect(0,i,1,1);
+  });
+  */
+
+  var legendaxis = d3
+    .axisRight()
+    .scale(legendscale)
+    .tickSize(6)
+    .ticks(8);
+
+  var svg = d3
+    .select(selector_id)
+    .append("svg")
+    .attr("height", legendheight + "px")
+    .attr("width", legendwidth + "px")
+    .style("position", "absolute")
+    .style("left", "0px")
+    .style("top", "0px");
+
+  svg
+    .append("g")
+    .attr("class", "axis")
+    .attr(
+      "transform",
+      "translate(" +
+        (legendwidth - margin.left - margin.right + 3) +
+        "," +
+        margin.top +
+        ")"
+    )
+    .call(legendaxis);
+};
+
+@connect(state => {
+  return {
+    colorAccessor: state.controls.colorAccessor,
+    colorScale: state.controls.colorScale,
+    responsive: state.responsive
+  };
+})
+class ContinuousLegend extends React.Component {
+  constructor(props) {
+    super(props);
+    this.state = {};
+  }
+  componentWillReceiveProps(nextProps) {
+    if (nextProps.colorAccessor !== this.props.colorAccessor) {
+      /* always remove it, if it's not continuous we don't put it back. */
+      d3
+        .select("#continuous_legend")
+        .selectAll("*")
+        .remove();
+    }
+
+    if (nextProps.colorAccessor && nextProps.colorScale) {
+      /* fragile! continuous range is 0 to 1, not [#fa4b2c, ...], make this a flag? */
+      if (nextProps.colorScale.range()[0][0] !== "#") {
+        continuous(
+          "#continuous_legend",
+          d3
+            .scaleSequential(d3.interpolateViridis)
+            .domain(nextProps.colorScale.domain())
+        );
+      }
+    }
+  }
+  drawScale() {}
+  render() {
+    return (
+      <div
+        id="continuous_legend"
+        style={{
+          position: "fixed",
+          display: this.props.colorAccessor ? "inherit" : "none",
+          right: 0,
+          top: this.props.responsive.height / 2
+        }}
+      />
+    );
+  }
+}
+
+export default ContinuousLegend;