diff --git a/src/components/tree/index.ts b/src/components/tree/index.ts
index 07218e725..2e08f3303 100644
--- a/src/components/tree/index.ts
+++ b/src/components/tree/index.ts
@@ -30,7 +30,8 @@ const Tree = connect((state: RootState) => ({
   tipLabelKey: state.controls.tipLabelKey,
   narrativeMode: state.narrative.display,
   animationPlayPauseButton: state.controls.animationPlayPauseButton,
-  showOnlyPanels: state.controls.showOnlyPanels
+  showOnlyPanels: state.controls.showOnlyPanels,
+  performanceToggles: state.controls.performanceToggles,
 }))(UnconnectedTree);
 
 export default Tree;
diff --git a/src/middleware/performanceToggles.js b/src/middleware/performanceToggles.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c8f8103ce
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/middleware/performanceToggles.js
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+import * as types from "../actions/types";
+
+/**
+ * Performance toggles (reduxState.controls.performanceToggles) represent flags
+ * for which we enable/disable certain functionality in Auspice. These flags
+ * shouldn't be depended on, i.e. Auspice should work just fine without them
+ * (but may be a little slow).
+ */
+
+
+export const performanceToggles = (_store) => (next) => (action) => {
+  let modifiedAction;
+  switch (action.type) {
+    case types.URL_QUERY_CHANGE_WITH_COMPUTED_STATE: /* fallthrough */
+    case types.CLEAN_START: {
+      modifiedAction = {...action};
+      modifiedAction.controls.performanceToggles = calculate(action.controls)
+    }
+  }
+  return next(modifiedAction || action); // send action to other middleware / reducers
+};
+
+function calculate(controlsState) {
+  const toggles = new Map();
+  return toggles;
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/reducers/controls.ts b/src/reducers/controls.ts
index 5fc96bb77..d9f080d53 100644
--- a/src/reducers/controls.ts
+++ b/src/reducers/controls.ts
@@ -139,7 +139,8 @@ export const getDefaultControlsState = () => {
     measurementsDisplay: undefined,
     measurementsShowOverallMean: undefined,
     measurementsShowThreshold: undefined,
-    measurementsFilters: {}
+    measurementsFilters: {},
+    performanceToggles: new Map(),
   };
 };
 
diff --git a/src/store.ts b/src/store.ts
index 4943b23ae..efa6d214f 100644
--- a/src/store.ts
+++ b/src/store.ts
@@ -3,10 +3,12 @@ import { changeURLMiddleware } from "./middleware/changeURL";
 import rootReducer from "./reducers";
 // import { loggingMiddleware } from "./middleware/logActions";
 import { keepScatterplotStateInSync } from "./middleware/scatterplot";
+import { performanceToggles } from "./middleware/performanceToggles";
 
 const middleware = [
   keepScatterplotStateInSync,
   changeURLMiddleware,
+  performanceToggles,
   // loggingMiddleware
 ];