diff --git a/docs/overview/file_formats.md b/docs/overview/file_formats.md
index bbd0fce0..dae3a9e4 100644
--- a/docs/overview/file_formats.md
+++ b/docs/overview/file_formats.md
@@ -159,10 +159,14 @@ This file contains the configuration information about the dataset. See example
             ]
         }
     ],
-    "image_format": ".webp"
+    "image_format": ".webp",
+    "cell_layer_only": false
 }
 ```
 
+Setting `cell_layer_only` to `true` will render only the cell layer without
+transcripts, cell boundaries, or images.
+
 #### Gene Metadata
 The `gene_metadata.parquet` file contains gene level metadata including: average expression across all cells, standard deviation, max expression, proportion of cells with non-zero expression, and the color assigned to each gene. See example below:
 
diff --git a/js/deck-gl/core/calc_viewport.js b/js/deck-gl/core/calc_viewport.js
index 45422cf1..ce75fe20 100644
--- a/js/deck-gl/core/calc_viewport.js
+++ b/js/deck-gl/core/calc_viewport.js
@@ -9,8 +9,11 @@ export const calc_viewport = async (
   layers_obj,
   viz_state
 ) => {
-  const { tile_size } = viz_state.img.landscape_parameters;
-  const max_tiles_to_view = 50;
+  const { tile_size, cell_layer_only } =
+    viz_state.img.landscape_parameters;
+  // Setting max_tiles_to_view to 0 prevents close_up mode from
+  // being triggered, which avoids fetching sub-cellular parquet files
+  const max_tiles_to_view = cell_layer_only === true ? 0 : 50;
   const zoomFactor = Math.pow(2, zoom);
   const [targetX, targetY] = target;
   const halfWidthZoomed = width / (2 * zoomFactor);
diff --git a/js/viz/landscape_ist.js b/js/viz/landscape_ist.js
index f37eab62..7af52bde 100644
--- a/js/viz/landscape_ist.js
+++ b/js/viz/landscape_ist.js
@@ -273,6 +273,8 @@ export const landscape_ist = async (
 
   await set_landscape_parameters(viz_state.img, base_url, viz_state.aws);
 
+  const cell_layer_only =
+    viz_state.img.landscape_parameters.cell_layer_only === true;
   const tmp_image_info = viz_state.img.landscape_parameters.image_info;
 
   viz_state.vector_name_integer =
@@ -397,7 +399,12 @@ export const landscape_ist = async (
 
   update_trx_layer_radius(layers_obj, trx_radius);
 
-  if (viz_state.umap.state === true) {
+  if (cell_layer_only) {
+    toggle_background_layer_visibility(layers_obj, false);
+    toggle_visibility_image_layers(layers_obj, false);
+    toggle_trx_layer_visibility(layers_obj, false);
+    toggle_path_layer_visibility(layers_obj, false);
+  } else if (viz_state.umap.state === true) {
     toggle_background_layer_visibility(layers_obj, false);
     toggle_visibility_image_layers(layers_obj, false);
     toggle_trx_layer_visibility(layers_obj, false);