diff --git a/app/controllers/video_chats_controller.rb b/app/controllers/video_chats_controller.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..09f86ac63
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/controllers/video_chats_controller.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+class VideoChatsController < ApplicationController
+  before_action :authenticate_user!
+
+  def show
+    account_sid = ApplicationConfig["TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID"]
+    api_key = ApplicationConfig["TWILIO_VIDEO_API_KEY"]
+    api_secret = ApplicationConfig["TWILIO_VIDEO_API_SECRET"]
+
+    token = Twilio::JWT::AccessToken.new(
+      account_sid,
+      api_key,
+      api_secret,
+      [],
+      identity: current_user.id,
+    )
+
+    grant = Twilio::JWT::AccessToken::VideoGrant.new
+    grant.room = params[:id]
+    token.add_grant(grant)
+
+    @token = token.to_jwt
+  end
+end
diff --git a/app/javascript/packs/videoChat.jsx b/app/javascript/packs/videoChat.jsx
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c7a47fd89
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/javascript/packs/videoChat.jsx
@@ -0,0 +1,119 @@
+import { h, Component, render } from 'preact';
+import PropTypes from 'prop-types';
+
+const root = document.getElementById('chat')
+
+
+export default class VideoChat extends Component {
+
+  componentDidMount() {
+    this.setupCallChannel(root.dataset.token)
+  }
+
+  setupCallChannel = token => {
+    const component = this;
+    const activeChannelId = root.dataset.channel
+    console.log()
+    import('twilio-video').then(({ connect, createLocalVideoTrack }) => {
+      connect(
+        token,
+        {
+          name: `private-video-channel-${activeChannelId}`,
+          audio: true,
+          type: 'peer-to-peer',
+          video: { width: 640 },
+        },
+      ).then(
+        function onConnectSuccess(room) {
+          console.log(room)
+          component.setState({ token: token, room });
+          createLocalVideoTrack().then(track => {
+            const localMediaContainer = document.getElementById(
+              'videolocalscreen',
+            );
+            localMediaContainer.appendChild(track.attach());
+          });
+          const roomParticipants = [];
+          room.participants.forEach(participant => {
+            component.triggerRemoteJoin(participant);
+            roomParticipants.push(participant);
+          });
+          component.setState({ participants: roomParticipants });
+          room.on('participantConnected', function onParticipantConnected(
+            participant,
+          ) {
+            console.log('participant joined')
+            component.triggerRemoteJoin(participant);
+            room.participants.forEach(p => {
+              roomParticipants.push(p);
+            });
+            component.setState({ participants: roomParticipants });
+            room.on(
+              'participantDisconnected',
+              function onParticipantDisconnected() {
+                console.log('disconnected')
+              },
+            );
+            participant.on('dominantSpeakerChanged', dominantSpeaker => {
+              // eslint-disable-next-line no-console
+              console.log(
+                'The new dominant speaker in the Room is:',
+                dominantSpeaker,
+              );
+            });
+          });
+        },
+        function onConnectFailure(error) {
+          document.getElementById('videoremotescreen').innerHTML = '';
+          // eslint-disable-next-line no-console
+          console.error(`Unable to connect to Room: ${error.message}`);
+        },
+      );
+    });
+  };
+
+  triggerRemoteJoin = participant => {
+    participant.on('trackSubscribed', track => {
+      console.log(track)
+      if (!document.getElementById(`${track.kind}-${track.id}`)) {
+        const trackDiv = document.createElement('div');
+        trackDiv.className = `chat__videocalltrackdiv--${track.kind}`;
+        trackDiv.id = participant.sid;
+        trackDiv.appendChild(track.attach());
+        document.getElementById('videoremotescreen').appendChild(trackDiv);
+        document.getElementById(
+          'videoremotescreen',
+        ).lastChild.id = `${track.kind}-${track.sid}`;
+      }
+    });
+    participant.on('trackRemoved', track => {
+      if (document.getElementById(track.id)) {
+        document.getElementById(track.id).outerHTML = '';
+      }
+    });
+    // participant.on('trackDisabled', track => {
+    //   console.log('disabled')
+    //   console.log('TODO: Show track status on video')
+    //   console.log(track.mediaStreamTrack.id)
+    // });
+    // participant.on('trackEnabled', track => {
+    //   console.log('enabled')
+    //   console.log('TODO: Show track status on video')
+    //   console.log(track.mediaStreamTrack.id)
+    // });
+  };
+
+
+  render() {
+
+    return <div>
+             <div id="videoremotescreen"></div>
+             <div id="videolocalscreen"></div>
+           </div>
+  }
+
+}
+
+
+render(<VideoChat />, root, root.firstElementChild);
+
diff --git a/app/models/message.rb b/app/models/message.rb
index 5f1dcf597..e8bfd4c6e 100644
--- a/app/models/message.rb
+++ b/app/models/message.rb
@@ -118,6 +118,14 @@ class Message < ApplicationRecord
             #{user.name}
           </h1>
           </a>".html_safe
+      elsif anchor["href"].include?("/video_chats/")
+        html += "<a href='#{anchor['href']}'
+          class='chatchannels__richlink'
+          target='_blank' data-content='sidecar-video'>
+          <h1 data-content='sidecar-video'>
+            👾 Experimental Video Chat Started
+          </h1>
+          </a>".html_safe
       end
     end
     html
diff --git a/app/views/video_chats/show.html.erb b/app/views/video_chats/show.html.erb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a385459ea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/views/video_chats/show.html.erb
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+<div class="video-chat-wrapper" id="chat" data-token="<%= @token %>" data-channel="<%= params[:id] %>">
+
+</div>
+<h1>This is an experiment</h1>
+<h3>It's only a partially implemented view.</h3>
+<h4>But this could be a more straightforward way to do video chat within /connect.</h4>
+<%# TODO Make paramsp[:id] map to a chat channel and ensure the users have permission %>
+<%# That part is pretty straightforward %>
+<%# Then close the loop on the JavaScript part of it. %>
+<%# Also should be *fairly* straightforward in terms of following a basic tutorial. %>
+<%# Then we drop a link in chat rather than trying to make video work with complicated state in chat. %>
+<%# The complicated part has always been chat state/channels etc. Doing in sidecar means more containerization of logic. %>
+<%= javascript_packs_with_chunks_tag "videoChat", defer: true %>
diff --git a/config/routes.rb b/config/routes.rb
index bb7470dac..0b44d3dc6 100644
--- a/config/routes.rb
+++ b/config/routes.rb
@@ -214,6 +214,7 @@ Rails.application.routes.draw do
   resources :user_blocks, param: :blocked_id, only: %i[show create destroy]
   resources :podcasts, only: %i[new create]
   resources :article_approvals, only: %i[create]
+  resources :video_chats, only: %i[show]
   resolve("ProMembership") { [:pro_membership] } # see https://guides.rubyonrails.org/routing.html#using-resolve
   namespace :followings, defaults: { format: :json } do
     get :users
diff --git a/spec/requests/video_chats_spec.rb b/spec/requests/video_chats_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..cc887d6c6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/requests/video_chats_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+require "rails_helper"
+
+RSpec.describe "VideoChats", type: :request do
+  let(:user) { create(:user) }
+
+  describe "GET /video_chats/:id" do
+    context "with user signed in" do
+      before do
+        sign_in user
+      end
+
+      it "displays basic html for working" do
+        get "/video_chats/1"
+        expect(response.body).to include("<div class=\"video-chat-wrapper")
+      end
+    end
+
+    context "without user signed in" do
+      it "asks to sign in" do
+        get "/video_chats/1"
+        expect(response).to redirect_to("/enter")
+      end
+    end
+  end
+end