diff --git a/bin/fws2dot b/bin/fws2dot
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..67f36948ce054826100e4cb47b60f925661cc5ac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/fws2dot
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+"""converter from fireworks to graphviz dot for visualization purposes"""
+import argparse
+from fireworks.fw_config import LAUNCHPAD_LOC
+from fireworks.fw_config import CONFIG_FILE_DIR
+from fireworks.scripts.lpad_run import get_lp
+from fireworks.utilities.dagflow import DAGFlow
+
+
+def id_type(value):
+    """check the type of fw_id"""
+    rvalue = int(value)
+    if rvalue < 0:
+        msg = f'{value} must have non-negative int value'
+        raise argparse.ArgumentTypeError(msg)
+    return rvalue
+
+
+def parse_clargs():
+    """parse the command line arguments for the script"""
+    m_description = 'Converts a FireWorks workflow to graphviz DOT format'
+    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description=m_description)
+    parser.add_argument('-c', '--config_dir',
+                        help='path to configuration file (if -l unspecified)',
+                        default=CONFIG_FILE_DIR)
+    parser.add_argument('-l', '--launchpad_file',
+                        help='path to launchpad file', default=LAUNCHPAD_LOC)
+    parser.add_argument('-f', '--filename', required=False,
+                        help='filename for output', default='wf.dot')
+    parser.add_argument('-v', '--view', default='combined', required=False,
+                        help='View: one of controlflow, dataflow, combined')
+    parser.add_argument('-i', '--fw_id', default=False, required=True,
+                        help='firework id', type=id_type)
+    return parser.parse_args()
+
+
+def main():
+    """main function"""
+    clargs = parse_clargs()
+    dag = DAGFlow.from_fireworks(get_lp(clargs).get_wf_by_fw_id(clargs.fw_id))
+    dag.to_dot(filename=clargs.filename, view=clargs.view)
+
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    main()
diff --git a/docs/basics.rst b/docs/basics.rst
index 1330a0952e3092d6f7d2542e3a5bbb91e6da0acb..6717bac07ecb453a6818fd152c8711c05fb1fd9e 100644
--- a/docs/basics.rst
+++ b/docs/basics.rst
@@ -126,6 +126,21 @@ If a workflow has been added without such a check, it can be checked later with:
 **NOTE:** The correctness check is recommended for all exercises in this tutorial.
 
 
+Visualize workflows
+-------------------
+
+Already added workflows can be converted into graphviz DOT format and viewed
+graphically using the tool provided in this tutorial in the **bin** folder::
+
+    fws2dot -i <firework ID> [-v <controlflow | dataflow | combined>] [-f <filename>]
+
+After the dot file is produced it can be converted to PDF and the workflow graph 
+can be viewed::
+
+    dot -Tpdf -o workflow.pdf workflow.dot
+    evince workflow.pdf
+
+
 Launch fireworks
 ----------------