diff --git a/client/src/components/app.js b/client/src/components/app.js
index eb46d3a6..e1ec6ea4 100644
--- a/client/src/components/app.js
+++ b/client/src/components/app.js
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import LeftSideBar from "./leftSidebar";
 import RightSideBar from "./rightSidebar";
 import Legend from "./continuousLegend";
 import Graph from "./graph/graph";
+import Dotplot from "./dotplot";
 import MenuBar from "./menubar";
 import Autosave from "./autosave";
 import Embedding from "./embedding";
@@ -19,6 +20,7 @@ import actions from "../actions";
   loading: state.controls.loading,
   error: state.controls.error,
   graphRenderCounter: state.controls.graphRenderCounter,
+  layoutChoice: state.layoutChoice,
 }))
 class App extends React.Component {
   componentDidMount() {
@@ -39,7 +41,7 @@ class App extends React.Component {
   }
 
   render() {
-    const { loading, error, graphRenderCounter } = this.props;
+    const { loading, error, graphRenderCounter, layoutChoice } = this.props;
     return (
       <Container>
         <Helmet title="cellxgene" />
@@ -77,7 +79,11 @@ class App extends React.Component {
                 <Autosave />
                 <TermsOfServicePrompt />
                 <Legend viewportRef={viewportRef} />
-                <Graph key={graphRenderCounter} viewportRef={viewportRef} />
+                {layoutChoice.dotplot ? (
+                  <Dotplot viewportRef={viewportRef} />
+                ) : (
+                  <Graph key={graphRenderCounter} viewportRef={viewportRef} />
+                )}
               </>
             )}
             <RightSideBar />
diff --git a/client/src/components/dotplot/index.js b/client/src/components/dotplot/index.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4ae65719
--- /dev/null
+++ b/client/src/components/dotplot/index.js
@@ -0,0 +1,342 @@
+import React from "react";
+import { connect, shallowEqual } from "react-redux";
+// import _regl from "regl";
+import Async from "react-async";
+import memoize from "memoize-one";
+
+import * as globals from "../../globals";
+import { createCategorySummaryFromDfCol } from "../../util/stateManager/controlsHelpers";
+
+import {
+  createColorTable,
+  createColorQuery,
+} from "../../util/stateManager/colorHelpers";
+
+@connect((state) => ({
+  annoMatrix: state.annoMatrix,
+  layoutChoice: state.layoutChoice,
+  colors: state.colors,
+  genesets: state.genesets.genesets,
+  differential: state.differential,
+  pointDilation: state.pointDilation,
+}))
+class Dotplot extends React.Component {
+  static watchAsync(props, prevProps) {
+    return !shallowEqual(props.watchProps, prevProps.watchProps);
+  }
+
+  createCategorySummaryFromDfCol = memoize(createCategorySummaryFromDfCol);
+
+  constructor(props) {
+    super(props);
+    const viewport = this.getViewportDimensions();
+
+    this.state = {
+      viewport,
+    };
+  }
+
+  componentDidMount() {
+    window.addEventListener("resize", this.handleResize);
+  }
+
+  componentWillUnmount() {
+    window.removeEventListener("resize", this.handleResize);
+  }
+
+  //   handleResize = () => {};
+
+  getViewportDimensions = () => {
+    const { viewportRef } = this.props;
+    return {
+      height: viewportRef.clientHeight,
+      width: viewportRef.clientWidth,
+    };
+  };
+
+  createDot = (
+    metadataField,
+    categoryData,
+    // colorAccessor,
+    colorData,
+    categoryValue
+    // width,
+    // height
+  ) => {
+    /*
+      Knowing that colorScale is based off continuous data,
+      createHistogramBins fetches the continuous data in relation to the cells relevant to the category value.
+      It then separates that data into 50 bins for drawing the mini-histogram
+    */
+    // const groupBy = categoryData.col(metadataField);
+    const col = colorData.icol(0);
+    const mean = this.average(col.asArray());
+
+    console.log(
+      categoryValue,
+      mean
+    ); /* 
+
+    // const histogramMap = col.histogram(
+    //   50,
+    //   [range.min, range.max],
+    //   groupBy
+    // ); /* Because the signature changes we really need different names for histogram to differentiate signatures  */
+
+    // const bins = histogramMap.has(categoryValue)
+    //   ? histogramMap.get(categoryValue)
+    //   : new Array(50).fill(0);
+
+    // const xScale = d3.scaleLinear().domain([0, bins.length]).range([0, width]);
+
+    // const largestBin = Math.max(...bins);
+
+    // const yScale = d3.scaleLinear().domain([0, largestBin]).range([0, height]);
+
+    // return {
+    //   xScale,
+    //   yScale,
+    //   bins,
+    // };
+    return null;
+  };
+
+  createDots = (
+    metadataField,
+    categoryData,
+    categorySummary,
+    colorAccessor = "tissue",
+    colorData,
+    width,
+    height
+  ) => {
+    if (!colorData) return null;
+
+    return categorySummary.categoryValues.map((val) => {
+      return this.createDot(
+        metadataField,
+        categoryData,
+        colorAccessor,
+        colorData,
+        val,
+        width,
+        height
+      );
+    });
+  };
+
+  average = (array) => array.reduce((a, b) => a + b) / array.length;
+
+  fetchAsyncProps = async (props) => {
+    const { viewport, annoMatrix, colors } = props.watchProps;
+
+    const [categoryData, categorySummary, colorData] = await this.fetchData(
+      annoMatrix,
+      "tissue",
+      colors
+    );
+
+    const { width, height } = viewport;
+    return {
+      width,
+      height,
+      categoryData,
+      categorySummary,
+      colorData,
+    };
+  };
+
+  async fetchData(annoMatrix, metadataField, colors) {
+    /*
+    fetch our data and the color-by data if appropriate, and then build a summary
+    of our category and a color table for the color-by annotation.
+    */
+    const { schema } = annoMatrix;
+    const { colorAccessor, colorMode } = colors;
+    const { genesets, differential } = this.props;
+    let colorDataPromise = Promise.resolve(null);
+    if (colorAccessor) {
+      const query = createColorQuery(
+        colorMode,
+        colorAccessor,
+        schema,
+        genesets,
+        differential.diffExp
+      );
+      if (query) colorDataPromise = annoMatrix.fetch(...query);
+    }
+    const [categoryData, colorData] = await Promise.all([
+      annoMatrix.fetch("obs", metadataField),
+      colorDataPromise,
+    ]);
+
+    // our data
+    const column = categoryData.icol(0);
+    const colSchema = schema.annotations.obsByName[metadataField];
+
+    const categorySummary = this.createCategorySummaryFromDfCol(
+      column,
+      colSchema
+    );
+    return [categoryData, categorySummary, colorData];
+  }
+
+  updateColorTable(colors, colorDf) {
+    const { annoMatrix } = this.props;
+    const { schema } = annoMatrix;
+
+    /* update color table state */
+    if (!colors || !colorDf) {
+      return createColorTable(
+        null, // default mode
+        null,
+        null,
+        schema,
+        null
+      );
+    }
+
+    const { colorAccessor, userColors, colorMode } = colors;
+    return createColorTable(
+      colorMode,
+      colorAccessor,
+      colorDf,
+      schema,
+      userColors
+    );
+  }
+
+  createColorByQuery(colors) {
+    const { annoMatrix, genesets, differential } = this.props;
+    const { schema } = annoMatrix;
+    const { colorMode, colorAccessor } = colors;
+
+    return createColorQuery(
+      colorMode,
+      colorAccessor,
+      schema,
+      genesets,
+      differential.diffExp
+    );
+  }
+
+  render() {
+    const { viewport } = this.state;
+    const { annoMatrix, colors, pointDilation } = this.props;
+
+    return (
+      <div
+        id="dotplot-wrapper"
+        style={{
+          position: "relative",
+          top: 0,
+          left: 0,
+        }}
+      >
+        <Async
+          watchFn={Dotplot.watchAsync}
+          promiseFn={this.fetchAsyncProps}
+          watchProps={{
+            annoMatrix,
+            pointDilation,
+            colors,
+            viewport,
+          }}
+        >
+          <Async.Pending initial>
+            <StillLoading width={viewport.width} height={viewport.height} />
+          </Async.Pending>
+          <Async.Rejected>
+            {(error) => (
+              <ErrorLoading
+                width={viewport.width}
+                height={viewport.height}
+                error={error}
+              />
+            )}
+          </Async.Rejected>
+          <Async.Fulfilled persist>
+            {(asyncProps) => {
+              const {
+                colorAccessor,
+                categoryData,
+                width,
+                height,
+                categorySummary,
+                colorData,
+              } = asyncProps;
+              return (
+                <svg
+                  style={{
+                    position: "absolute",
+                    top: 0,
+                    left: 0,
+                    zIndex: 1,
+                  }}
+                  width={viewport.width}
+                  height={viewport.height}
+                >
+                  <circle r="5" cx="20" cy="20" />
+                  {this.createDots(
+                    "tissue",
+                    categoryData,
+                    categorySummary,
+                    colorAccessor,
+                    colorData,
+                    width,
+                    height
+                  )}
+                </svg>
+              );
+            }}
+          </Async.Fulfilled>
+        </Async>
+      </div>
+    );
+  }
+}
+
+const ErrorLoading = ({ error, width, height }) => {
+  console.log(error); // log to console as this is an unepected error
+  return (
+    <div
+      style={{
+        position: "fixed",
+        fontWeight: 500,
+        top: height / 2,
+        left: globals.leftSidebarWidth + width / 2 - 50,
+      }}
+    >
+      <span>Failure loading dotplot</span>
+    </div>
+  );
+};
+
+const StillLoading = ({ width, height }) => {
+  /*
+    Render a busy/loading indicator
+    */
+  return (
+    <div
+      style={{
+        position: "fixed",
+        fontWeight: 500,
+        top: height / 2,
+        width,
+      }}
+    >
+      <div
+        style={{
+          display: "flex",
+          justifyContent: "center",
+          justifyItems: "center",
+          alignItems: "center",
+        }}
+      >
+        <span style={{ fontStyle: "italic" }}>Loading dotplot</span>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+  );
+};
+
+export default Dotplot;
diff --git a/client/src/reducers/layoutChoice.js b/client/src/reducers/layoutChoice.js
index d1080f2c..6687af8e 100644
--- a/client/src/reducers/layoutChoice.js
+++ b/client/src/reducers/layoutChoice.js
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ function setToDefaultLayout(schema) {
 const LayoutChoice = (
   state = {
     available: [], // all available choices
+    dotplot: true /* todo(colinmegill) #632 wire up inputs */,
     current: undefined, // name of the current layout, eg, 'umap'
     currentDimNames: [], // dimension name
   },