diff --git a/REQUIRE b/REQUIRE
index 88756ff1..c71e2796 100644
--- a/REQUIRE
+++ b/REQUIRE
@@ -6,4 +6,7 @@ Tables
 SpecialFunctions
 NearestNeighbors
 Distances
-MetaGraphs
\ No newline at end of file
+MetaGraphs
+DataStructures
+CategoricalArrays
+Lazy
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/docs/src/library.md b/docs/src/library.md
index f28be266..109ead47 100644
--- a/docs/src/library.md
+++ b/docs/src/library.md
@@ -41,7 +41,13 @@ kl_mutual_information
 kl_cond_mi
 kl_perm_mi_test
 kl_perm_cond_mi_test
+cat_H
+cat_MI
+cat_CMI
+perm_cat_MI_test
+perm_cat_CMI_test
 ```
+
 ## FCI algorithm
 ```@docs
 has_marks
diff --git a/src/CausalInference.jl b/src/CausalInference.jl
index 7dd3a27d..e03f1df8 100644
--- a/src/CausalInference.jl
+++ b/src/CausalInference.jl
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ export n_ball
 export fcialg, is_collider, is_triangle, is_parent
 export is_discriminating_path, has_marks, set_marks!, is_uncovered_circle_path
 export is_uncovered_PD_path, @arrow_str
+export cat_H, cat_MI, cat_CMI, perm_cat_MI_test, perm_cat_CMI_test
 export plot_pc_graph, plot_fci_graph
 export orient_unshielded, orientable_unshielded, apply_pc_rules
 
diff --git a/src/klentropy.jl b/src/klentropy.jl
index 2f79c4c9..6d24fb0f 100644
--- a/src/klentropy.jl
+++ b/src/klentropy.jl
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
-using SpecialFunctions, NearestNeighbors, Distances, Distributions, Random
-
+using SpecialFunctions, NearestNeighbors, Distances, Distributions, Random, CategoricalArrays
+using DataStructures: counter
+using Lazy: @>>
 """
     n_ball(n::Number)
 Computes the volume of a n-dimensional unit sphere.
@@ -225,3 +226,84 @@ function kl_perm_cond_mi_test(x, y, z; k=5, B=100, kp=5, bias_correction=true)
     
     return p
 end
+
+"""
+    cat_H(x)
+
+estimate entropy of categorical variable x
+
+For further information, see:
+
+"Entropy Estimates from Insufficient Samplings"
+Peter Grassberger
+https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0307138v2
+"""
+function cat_H(x)
+    N = length(x)
+    counts = values(counter(x))
+    return log(N) - 1/N * sum(map(n->n*(digamma(n) + (-1)^n * 1/(n*(n+1))), counts))
+end
+
+"""
+    cat_MI(x, y)
+
+estimate mutual information of categorical variables x and y
+"""
+function cat_MI(x, y)
+    return cat_H(x) + cat_H(y) - cat_H(zip(x,y))
+end
+
+"""
+    cat_MI(x, y, z)
+
+estimate conditional mutual information of categorical variables x and y given z
+"""
+function cat_CMI(x, y, z)
+    return cat_H(zip(x,z)) + cat_H(zip(y,z)) - cat_H(zip(x,y,z)) - cat_H(z)
+end
+
+"""
+    perm_cat_MI_test(x, y; B=100)
+
+perform permutation-based independence test of x and y
+"""
+function perm_cat_MI_test(x, y; B=100)
+    samples = Float64[]
+    MI = cat_MI(x,y)
+    
+    for i in 1:B
+        push!(samples, cat_MI(shuffle(x), y))
+    end
+
+    p = length(filter(d->MI<d, samples))/B 
+    return p
+end
+
+"""
+    perm_cat_CMI_test(x, y, z; B=100)
+
+perform permutation-based conditional independence test of x and y given z
+"""
+function perm_cat_CMI_test(x, y, z; B=100)
+    samples = Float64[]
+    CMI = cat_CMI(x,y,z)
+
+    xz = collect(zip(x,z))
+    
+    for i in 1:B
+        x_shuffle_dict = Dict()
+        for level in unique(z)
+            x_shuffle_dict[level] = @>> xz filter(d->d[2]==level) map(d->d[1]) shuffle
+        end
+        
+        x_shuffle = []
+        for zs in z
+            push!(x_shuffle, pop!(x_shuffle_dict[zs]))
+        end
+        
+        push!(samples, cat_CMI(x_shuffle, y, z))
+    end
+
+    p = length(filter(d->CMI<d, samples))/B 
+    return p
+end
diff --git a/src/pc.jl b/src/pc.jl
index 79042b02..4048bd81 100644
--- a/src/pc.jl
+++ b/src/pc.jl
@@ -295,13 +295,14 @@ conditional independeces using a conditional mutual information permutation test
 """
 function pcalg(t, p::Float64, test::typeof(cmitest); kwargs...)
     @assert Tables.istable(t)
-    @assert all(t->t==Float64, Tables.schema(t).types)
+    # @assert all(t->t==Float64, Tables.schema(t).types)
 
+    
     c = Tables.columns(t)
     sch = Tables.schema(t)
     n = length(sch.names)
 
-    return pcalg(n, cmitest, c, p; kwargs...)
+    return pcalg(n, cmitest, c, sch, p; kwargs...)
 end
 
 
diff --git a/src/skeleton.jl b/src/skeleton.jl
index d7aca6da..c58abb71 100644
--- a/src/skeleton.jl
+++ b/src/skeleton.jl
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ end
 
 
 """
-    cmitest(i,j,s,data,crit; kwargs...)
+    cmitest(i, j, s, data, [schema,] crit; kwargs...)
 
 Test for conditional independence of variables i and j given variables in s with
 permutation test using nearest neighbor conditional mutual information estimates
@@ -125,6 +125,33 @@ at p-value crit.
 keyword arguments:
 kwargs...: keyword arguments passed to independence tests
 """
+@inline function cmitest(i, j, s, data, schema, crit; kwargs...)
+    if all(t -> t==Float64, schema.types)
+        x=collect(transpose(convert(Array, data[i])))
+        y=collect(transpose(convert(Array, data[j])))
+    
+        if length(s)==0
+            res = kl_perm_mi_test(x, y; kwargs...)
+        else 
+            z = reduce(vcat, map(c->collect(transpose(convert(Array, data[c]))), s))
+            res = kl_perm_cond_mi_test(x, y, z; kwargs...)
+        end
+
+        #@debug "CMI test for $(i)-$(j) given $(s): $(res) compared to $(crit)"    
+        return res>crit
+    elseif all(t -> t<:CategoricalValue, schema.types)
+        x = data[i]
+        y = data[j]
+
+        if length(s)==0
+            res = perm_cat_MI_test(x, y; kwargs...)
+        else 
+            z = zip(map(c->data[c], s)...)
+            res = perm_cat_CMI_test(x, y, z; kwargs...)
+        end
+        return res>crit
+    end
+end
 @inline function cmitest(i, j, s, data, crit; kwargs...)
     columns = Tables.columns(data)
 
diff --git a/test/klentropy.jl b/test/klentropy.jl
index 3d19a06d..54ddd697 100644
--- a/test/klentropy.jl
+++ b/test/klentropy.jl
@@ -53,3 +53,18 @@ end
                                collect(transpose(x)))>p
     
 end
+
+@testset "Categorical Variables" begin
+    Random.seed!(123)
+    N = 1000
+    p = 0.05
+    
+    x = rand(1:5, N)
+    @test abs((cat_H(x) - log(5))/log(5)) < 0.01
+
+    x = rand(1:4, N)
+    v = map(d->floor(d/2), x) .+ rand(1:2, N)
+    w = map(d->floor(d/2), x) .+ rand(1:2, N)
+    @test perm_cat_MI_test(v,w) < p
+    @test perm_cat_CMI_test(v,w,x) > p
+end
diff --git a/test/pc.jl b/test/pc.jl
index 6ea528d5..cd2ae533 100644
--- a/test/pc.jl
+++ b/test/pc.jl
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ using Test
 using Random
 using LightGraphs
 using Distributions
+using CategoricalArrays
 using CausalInference: disjoint_sorted
 
 @test disjoint_sorted([],[1,2])
@@ -58,7 +59,22 @@ println("Running Gaussian tests")
 println("Running CMI tests")
 @time cmi_g = pcalg(df, 0.1, cmitest)
 
-@testset "pcalg_edgde_test" begin
+@testset "continuous pcalg_edge_test" begin
     @test collect(LightGraphs.edges(cmi_g)) == collect(LightGraphs.edges(dg))
     @test collect(LightGraphs.edges(gaussci_g)) == collect(LightGraphs.edges(dg))
 end
+
+x = rand(1:5, N)
+v = x + rand(1:2, N)
+w = x + rand(1:2, N)
+z = ((v + w)/2) + rand(1:2, N)
+s = z + rand(1:2, N)
+
+df = (x=CategoricalArray(x), v=CategoricalArray(v),
+      w=CategoricalArray(w), z=CategoricalArray(z),
+      s=CategoricalArray(s))
+
+@time cmi_cat_g = pcalg(df, 0.1, cmitest)
+@testset "categorical pcalg_edge_test" begin
+    @test collect(LightGraphs.edges(cmi_cat_g)) == collect(LightGraphs.edges(dg))
+end
diff --git a/test/runtests.jl b/test/runtests.jl
index 64053e31..fdf7e3a1 100644
--- a/test/runtests.jl
+++ b/test/runtests.jl
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ using Test
 include("skeleton.jl")
 include("dsep.jl")
 include("pc.jl")
+include("dsep.jl")
+include("skeleton.jl")
 include("cpdag.jl")
 include("combinations.jl")
 include("witness.jl")
diff --git a/test/skeleton.jl b/test/skeleton.jl
index b8d8136c..001f2241 100644
--- a/test/skeleton.jl
+++ b/test/skeleton.jl
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-
 using CausalInference
 using LightGraphs
 using Test