diff --git a/data-workflows/categories/__init__.py b/data-workflows/categories/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e69de29bb
diff --git a/data-workflows/categories/category_model.py b/data-workflows/categories/category_model.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..60d7d26a5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/data-workflows/categories/category_model.py
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+import os
+import logging
+
+from pynamodb.attributes import ListAttribute, NumberAttribute, UnicodeAttribute
+from pynamodb.models import Model
+from utils.utils import get_current_timestamp
+
+STACK_NAME = os.getenv("STACK_NAME", "local")
+
+LOGGER = logging.getLogger()
+
+
+class CategoryModel(Model):
+    class Meta:
+        host = os.getenv("LOCAL_DYNAMO_HOST")
+        region = os.getenv("AWS_REGION", "us-west-2")
+        table_name = f"{STACK_NAME}-category"
+
+    name = UnicodeAttribute(hash_key=True)
+    version_hash = UnicodeAttribute(range_key=True)
+    version = UnicodeAttribute()
+    formatted_name = UnicodeAttribute()
+    dimension = UnicodeAttribute()
+    hierarchy = ListAttribute()  # List[str]
+    label = UnicodeAttribute()
+    last_updated_timestamp = NumberAttribute(default_for_new=get_current_timestamp)
diff --git a/data-workflows/categories/processor.py b/data-workflows/categories/processor.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..addc865ff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/data-workflows/categories/processor.py
@@ -0,0 +1,91 @@
+import os
+import time
+import hashlib
+import logging
+
+from categories.category_model import CategoryModel
+from slugify import slugify
+from typing import Dict
+from utils.env import get_required_env
+from utils.s3 import S3Client
+
+STACK_NAME = os.getenv("STACK_NAME", "local")
+
+LOGGER = logging.getLogger()
+
+
+def _hash_category(category: Dict[str, str]) -> str:
+    """
+    Hashes a category object using the MD5 hash algorithm. This works by
+    creating a hash from the string and string array fields in the category
+    object.
+    """
+
+    label = category.get("label", "")
+    dimension = category.get("dimension")
+    hierarchy = category.get("hierarchy", [])
+
+    category_hash = hashlib.new("md5")
+    category_hash.update(label.encode("utf-8"))
+    category_hash.update(dimension.encode("utf-8"))
+
+    for value in hierarchy:
+        category_hash.update(value.encode("utf-8"))
+
+    return category_hash.hexdigest()
+
+
+def seed_s3_categories_workflow(version: str, categories_path: str):
+    """
+    Runs data workflow for populating the category dynamo table from an S3
+    source on the same depoyment stack.
+
+    :param version: The categories version
+    :type version: str
+    :param categories_path: The categories path in S3
+    :type categories_path: str
+    :raises ValueError: If params are not defined
+    """
+
+    if not all([version, categories_path]):
+        LOGGER.error(
+            f"Missing required values version={version} s3_path={categories_path}"
+        )
+        raise ValueError()
+
+    bucket = get_required_env("BUCKET")
+    s3_prefix = os.getenv("BUCKET_PATH", "")
+
+    LOGGER.info(
+        f"Seeding {version} category data from S3 "
+        f"prefix={STACK_NAME} s3_path={categories_path} bucket={bucket} table={CategoryModel.Meta.table_name}"
+    )
+
+    client = S3Client(
+        bucket=bucket,
+        prefix=s3_prefix,
+    )
+    data = client.load_json_from_s3(categories_path)
+
+    batch = CategoryModel.batch_write()
+    start = time.perf_counter()
+    count = 0
+
+    for name, categories in data.items():
+        for category in categories:
+            item = CategoryModel(
+                name=slugify(name),
+                version_hash=f"{version}:{_hash_category(category)}",
+                version=version,
+                formatted_name=name,
+                dimension=category.get("dimension", ""),
+                hierarchy=category.get("hierarchy", []),
+                label=category.get("label", ""),
+            )
+            batch.save(item)
+            count += 1
+
+    batch.commit()
+    duration = (time.perf_counter() - start) * 1000
+
+    LOGGER.info(f"Finished seeding category data count={count} duration={duration}ms")
diff --git a/data-workflows/handler.py b/data-workflows/handler.py
index 9daed82b8..52461c765 100644
--- a/data-workflows/handler.py
+++ b/data-workflows/handler.py
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 import logging
 
 import activity.processor
+import categories.processor
 
 
 LOGGER = logging.getLogger()
@@ -9,16 +10,22 @@
 
 
 def handle(event, context) -> None:
-
-    for record in event.get('Records', []):
-        if 'body' not in record:
+    for record in event.get("Records", []):
+        if "body" not in record:
             continue
 
-        body = record.get('body')
-        LOGGER.info(f'Received message with body: {body}')
-        event_type = json.loads(body).get('type', '').lower()
+        body = record.get("body")
+        LOGGER.info(f"Received message with body: {body}")
+        event = json.loads(body)
+        event_type = event.get("type", "").lower()
 
         # TODO: Create a dict for event_type by method to be called
-        if event_type == 'activity':
+        if event_type == "activity":
             activity.processor.update_activity()
-            LOGGER.info(f'Update successful for type={event_type}')
+            LOGGER.info(f"Update successful for type={event_type}")
+        elif event_type == "seed-s3-categories":
+            version = event.get("version")
+            categories_path = event.get("categories_path")
+
+            categories.processor.seed_s3_categories_workflow(version, categories_path)
+            LOGGER.info(f"Update successful for type={event_type}")
diff --git a/data-workflows/requirements.txt b/data-workflows/requirements.txt
index 0766eccd0..cddf79145 100644
--- a/data-workflows/requirements.txt
+++ b/data-workflows/requirements.txt
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 snowflake-connector-python==3.0.0
 boto3==1.26.77
 pynamodb==5.4.1
+python-slugify==8.0.1
diff --git a/data-workflows/run_workflow.py b/data-workflows/run_workflow.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..49fcdb8e3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/data-workflows/run_workflow.py
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+"""
+Module containing functionality for running data workflows as a standalone script.
+"""
+
+import argparse
+import categories.processor
+import logging
+import activity.processor
+
+from typing import Dict
+
+LOGGER = logging.getLogger()
+
+
+def run_workflow(event: Dict):
+    """
+    Function for running a particular data workflow based on the event type. The
+    event dictionary should contain all of the necessary data to run the
+    specified data workflow.
+
+    Events:
+        activity: {}
+        seed-s3-categories: { version: string, categories_path: string }
+    """
+
+    event_type = event.get("type", "").lower()
+
+    if event_type == "activity":
+        activity.processor.update_activity()
+        LOGGER.info(f"Update successful for type={event_type}")
+    elif event_type == "seed-s3-categories":
+        version = event.get("version")
+        categories_path = event.get("categories_path")
+
+        categories.processor.seed_s3_categories_workflow(version, categories_path)
+        LOGGER.info(f"Update successful for type={event_type}")
+
+
+def _get_arg_parser():
+    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
+        prog="run-workflow",
+        description="CLI for running hub data workflows",
+    )
+    subparsers = parser.add_subparsers(required=True, dest="type")
+
+    seed_s3_categories_parser = subparsers.add_parser(
+        "seed-s3-categories", help="categories help"
+    )
+    seed_s3_categories_parser.add_argument("--version", required=True)
+    seed_s3_categories_parser.add_argument("--categories-path", required=True)
+
+    subparsers.add_parser("activity", help="activity help")
+
+    return parser
+
+
+def _main():
+    parser = _get_arg_parser()
+    run_workflow(vars(parser.parse_args()))
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    _main()
diff --git a/data-workflows/tests/test_handler.py b/data-workflows/tests/test_handler.py
index 2623ce9c0..c4ba60e99 100644
--- a/data-workflows/tests/test_handler.py
+++ b/data-workflows/tests/test_handler.py
@@ -48,4 +48,4 @@ def test_handle_invalid_json(self):
     def test_handle_invalid_event(self, event: Dict):
         from handler import handle
         handle(event, None)
-        self._verify()
+        self._verify()
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/data-workflows/utils/env.py b/data-workflows/utils/env.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c67a228ce
--- /dev/null
+++ b/data-workflows/utils/env.py
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+import os
+
+
+def get_required_env(key: str) -> str:
+    """
+    Utility for getting the value of an environment variable with the additional
+    constraint that it must be defined, otherwise the application will be unable
+    to run without it.
+
+    :param key: The key for the environment variable.
+    :type key: str
+    :raises ValueError: If environment variable is not defined.
+    :return The environment variable value.
+    :rtype str
+    """
+
+    value = os.getenv(key)
+
+    if not value:
+        raise ValueError(f"Required environment variable '{key}' is not defined")
+
+    return value
diff --git a/data-workflows/utils/s3.py b/data-workflows/utils/s3.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a898cf0e4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/data-workflows/utils/s3.py
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+import boto3
+import json
+import logging
+import time
+
+from os import path
+from typing import Any, Dict
+from utils.time import print_perf_duration
+
+
+class S3Client:
+    """
+    Client for accessing S3 resources.
+    """
+
+    _bucket: str
+    _prefix: str
+    _client: Any
+
+    def __init__(self, bucket: str, prefix: str = ""):
+        self._bucket = bucket
+        self._prefix = prefix
+        self._client = boto3.client("s3")
+
+    def _get_complete_path(self, s3_path: str):
+        return path.join(self._prefix, s3_path)
+
+    def _get_from_s3(self, s3_path: str):
+        start = time.perf_counter()
+        obj = self._client.get_object(
+            Bucket=self._bucket, Key=self._get_complete_path(s3_path)
+        )
+        print_perf_duration(start, f"_get_from_s3('{s3_path}')")
+
+        return obj["Body"].read().decode("utf-8")
+
+    def load_json_from_s3(self, s3_path: str) -> Dict:
+        """
+        Load JSON file from S3 path and convert to a Python dictionary.
+        """
+        start = time.perf_counter()
+        result = {}
+
+        try:
+            result = json.loads(self._get_from_s3(s3_path))
+        except Exception as e:
+            logging.error(e)
+
+        print_perf_duration(start, f"load_json_from_s3('{s3_path}')")
+
+        return result
diff --git a/data-workflows/utils/time.py b/data-workflows/utils/time.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..20ef7b7cf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/data-workflows/utils/time.py
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+import time
+import logging
+
+LOGGER = logging.getLogger()
+
+
+def get_perf_duration(start: float) -> float:
+    return (time.perf_counter() - start) * 1000
+
+
+def print_perf_duration(start: float, message: str):
+    duration = get_perf_duration(start)
+    logging.info(f"{message} duration={duration}ms")
diff --git a/data-workflows/utils/utils.py b/data-workflows/utils/utils.py
index ca94c6d95..492672e54 100644
--- a/data-workflows/utils/utils.py
+++ b/data-workflows/utils/utils.py
@@ -1,15 +1,18 @@
+import boto3
 import json
-import os
 import time
 from datetime import date, datetime, timezone
 
-import boto3
+from .env import get_required_env
 
 
 def get_current_timestamp() -> int:
     return round(time.time() * 1000)
 
 
+LAST_UPDATED_TIMESTAMP_KEY = "last_activity_fetched_timestamp"
+
+
 def date_to_utc_timestamp_in_millis(timestamp: date) -> int:
     timestamp_datetime = datetime(timestamp.year, timestamp.month, timestamp.day)
     return datetime_to_utc_timestamp_in_millis(timestamp_datetime)
@@ -19,19 +22,23 @@ def datetime_to_utc_timestamp_in_millis(timestamp: datetime) -> int:
     return int(timestamp.replace(tzinfo=timezone.utc).timestamp() * 1000)
 
 
-LAST_UPDATED_TIMESTAMP_KEY = 'last_activity_fetched_timestamp'
-
-
 class ParameterStoreAdapter:
-
     def __init__(self):
-        self._parameter_name: str = f'/{os.getenv("STACK_NAME")}/napari-hub/data-workflows/config'
-        self._ssm_client = boto3.client('ssm')
+        self._parameter_name: str = (
+            f'/{get_required_env("STACK_NAME")}/napari-hub/data-workflows/config'
+        )
+        self._ssm_client = boto3.client("ssm")
 
     def get_last_updated_timestamp(self) -> int:
-        response = self._ssm_client.get_parameter(Name=self._parameter_name, WithDecryption=True)
-        return json.loads(response['Parameter']['Value']).get(LAST_UPDATED_TIMESTAMP_KEY)
+        response = self._ssm_client.get_parameter(
+            Name=self._parameter_name, WithDecryption=True
+        )
+        return json.loads(response["Parameter"]["Value"]).get(
+            LAST_UPDATED_TIMESTAMP_KEY
+        )
 
     def set_last_updated_timestamp(self, timestamp) -> None:
         value = json.dumps({LAST_UPDATED_TIMESTAMP_KEY: timestamp})
-        self._ssm_client.put_parameter(Name=self._parameter_name, Value=value, Overwrite=True, Type='SecureString')
+        self._ssm_client.put_parameter(
+            Name=self._parameter_name, Value=value, Overwrite=True, Type="SecureString"
+        )