diff --git a/starfish/core/spots/DecodeSpots/__init__.py b/starfish/core/spots/DecodeSpots/__init__.py
index 691848f9c..2f8b8e679 100644
--- a/starfish/core/spots/DecodeSpots/__init__.py
+++ b/starfish/core/spots/DecodeSpots/__init__.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 from ._base import DecodeSpotsAlgorithm
+from .metric_decoder import MetricDistance
 from .per_round_max_channel_decoder import PerRoundMaxChannel
 
 # autodoc's automodule directive only captures the modules explicitly listed in __all__.
diff --git a/starfish/core/spots/DecodeSpots/metric_decoder.py b/starfish/core/spots/DecodeSpots/metric_decoder.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6cfaeea6b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/starfish/core/spots/DecodeSpots/metric_decoder.py
@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+from starfish.core.codebook.codebook import Codebook
+from starfish.core.intensity_table.decoded_intensity_table import DecodedIntensityTable
+from starfish.core.intensity_table.intensity_table_coordinates import \
+    transfer_physical_coords_to_intensity_table
+from starfish.core.spots.DecodeSpots.trace_builders import TRACE_BUILDERS
+from starfish.core.types import Number, SpotFindingResults, TraceBuildingStrategies
+from ._base import DecodeSpotsAlgorithm
+
+
+class MetricDistance(DecodeSpotsAlgorithm):
+    """
+    Normalizes both the magnitudes of the codes and the spot intensities, then decodes spots by
+    assigning each spot to the closest code, measured by the provided metric.
+
+    Codes greater than max_distance from the nearest code, or dimmer than min_intensity, are
+    discarded.
+
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+    codebook : Codebook
+        codebook containing targets the experiment was designed to quantify
+    max_distance : Number
+        spots greater than this distance from their nearest target are not decoded
+    min_intensity : Number
+        spots dimmer than this intensity are not decoded
+    metric : str
+        the metric to use to measure distance. Can be any metric that satisfies the triangle
+        inequality that is implemented by :py:mod:`scipy.spatial.distance` (default "euclidean")
+    norm_order : int
+        the norm to use to normalize the magnitudes of spots and codes (default 2, L2 norm)
+    trace_building_strategy: TraceBuildingStrategies
+        Defines the strategy for building spot traces to decode across rounds and chs of spot
+        finding results.
+    anchor_round : Optional[int]
+        Only applicable if trace_building_strategy is TraceBuildingStrategies.NEAREST_NEIGHBORS.
+        The imaging round against which other rounds will be checked for spots in the same
+        approximate pixel location.
+    search_radius : Optional[int]
+        Only applicable if trace_building_strategy is TraceBuildingStrategies.NEAREST_NEIGHBORS.
+        Number of pixels over which to search for spots in other rounds and channels.
+    """
+
+    def __init__(
+        self,
+        codebook: Codebook,
+        max_distance: Number,
+        min_intensity: Number,
+        norm_order: int = 2,
+        metric: str = "euclidean",
+        trace_building_strategy: TraceBuildingStrategies = TraceBuildingStrategies.EXACT_MATCH,
+        anchor_round: int = 1,
+        search_radius: int = 3,
+    ) -> None:
+        self.codebook = codebook
+        self.max_distance = max_distance
+        self.min_intensity = min_intensity
+        self.norm_order = norm_order
+        self.metric = metric
+        self.trace_builder = TRACE_BUILDERS[trace_building_strategy]
+        self.anchor_round = anchor_round
+        self.search_radius = search_radius
+
+    def run(
+        self,
+        spots: SpotFindingResults,
+        *args
+    ) -> DecodedIntensityTable:
+        """Decode spots by selecting the max-valued channel in each sequencing round
+
+        Parameters
+        ----------
+        spots : SpotFindingResults
+            A Dict of tile indices and their corresponding measured spots
+
+        Returns
+        -------
+        DecodedIntensityTable :
+            IntensityTable decoded and appended with Features.TARGET and Features.QUALITY values.
+
+        """
+
+        intensities = self.trace_builder(spot_results=spots,
+                                         anchor_round=self.anchor_round,
+                                         search_radius=self.search_radius)
+        transfer_physical_coords_to_intensity_table(intensity_table=intensities, spots=spots)
+        return self.codebook.decode_metric(
+            intensities,
+            max_distance=self.max_distance,
+            min_intensity=self.min_intensity,
+            norm_order=self.norm_order,
+            metric=self.metric,
+        )