diff --git a/bin/carto b/bin/carto
index 05946ae99..3da5f87d4 100755
--- a/bin/carto
+++ b/bin/carto
@@ -174,11 +174,8 @@ if (ext == '.mml') {
                 }
                 return { id: x, data: fs.readFileSync(path.join(path.dirname(input), x), 'utf8') }
             });
-            compileMML(null,data);
-        }
-        else {
-            console.error("Expecting a Stylesheet property containing an (array of) stylesheet object(s) of the form { id: 'x', 'data': 'y' }.");
         }
+        compileMML(null,data);
     }
 } else if (ext == '.mss') {
     compileMSS(null,data);
diff --git a/lib/carto/renderer.js b/lib/carto/renderer.js
index 0135d28d5..49c4cb8d2 100644
--- a/lib/carto/renderer.js
+++ b/lib/carto/renderer.js
@@ -78,11 +78,12 @@ carto.Renderer.prototype.render = function render(m) {
     carto.tree.Reference.setVersion(this.options.mapnik_version);
 
     var output = [];
+    var definitions = [];
 
     // Transform stylesheets into definitions.
     if (_.has(m, 'Stylesheet') && !_.isNil(m.Stylesheet)) {
         m.Stylesheet = _.castArray(m.Stylesheet);
-        var definitions = _(m.Stylesheet).chain()
+        definitions = _(m.Stylesheet).chain()
             .map(function(s) {
                 if (_.isString(s) || !_.has(s, 'id') || !_.has(s, 'data') || _.isNil(s.id) || _.isNil(s.data)) {
                     var e = new Error("Expecting a stylesheet object of the form { id: 'x', 'data': 'y' } for the Stylesheet property.\n");
@@ -102,11 +103,6 @@ carto.Renderer.prototype.render = function render(m) {
             .flatten()
             .value();
     }
-    else {
-        var e = new Error("Expecting a Stylesheet property containing an (array of) stylesheet object(s) of the form { id: 'x', 'data': 'y' }.\n");
-        e.stack = null; // do not show stack trace
-        throw e;
-    }
 
     function appliesTo(name, classIndex) {
         return function(definition) {
@@ -120,28 +116,31 @@ carto.Renderer.prototype.render = function render(m) {
     for (var i = 0; i < m.Layer.length; i++) {
         l = m.Layer[i];
         styles = [];
-        classIndex = {};
 
-        if (env.benchmark) console.warn('processing layer: ' + l.id);
-        // Classes are given as space-separated alphanumeric strings.
-        var classes = (l['class'] || '').split(/\s+/g);
-        for (var j = 0; j < classes.length; j++) {
-            classIndex[classes[j]] = true;
-        }
-        matching = definitions.filter(appliesTo(l.name, classIndex));
-        rules = inheritDefinitions(matching, env);
-        sorted = sortStyles(rules, env);
+        if (definitions.length > 0) {
+            classIndex = {};
 
-        for (var k = 0, rule, style_name; k < sorted.length; k++) {
-            rule = foldStyle(sorted[k]);
-            style_name = l.name + (rule.attachment !== '__default__' ? '-' + rule.attachment : '');
+            if (env.benchmark) console.warn('processing layer: ' + l.id);
+            // Classes are given as space-separated alphanumeric strings.
+            var classes = (l['class'] || '').split(/\s+/g);
+            for (var j = 0; j < classes.length; j++) {
+                classIndex[classes[j]] = true;
+            }
+            matching = definitions.filter(appliesTo(l.name, classIndex));
+            rules = inheritDefinitions(matching, env);
+            sorted = sortStyles(rules, env);
 
-            // env.effects can be modified by this call
-            var styleXML = carto.tree.StyleXML(style_name, rule.attachment, rule, env);
+            for (var k = 0, rule, style_name; k < sorted.length; k++) {
+                rule = foldStyle(sorted[k]);
+                style_name = l.name + (rule.attachment !== '__default__' ? '-' + rule.attachment : '');
 
-            if (styleXML) {
-                output.push(styleXML);
-                styles.push(style_name);
+                // env.effects can be modified by this call
+                var styleXML = carto.tree.StyleXML(style_name, rule.attachment, rule, env);
+
+                if (styleXML) {
+                    output.push(styleXML);
+                    styles.push(style_name);
+                }
             }
         }
 
diff --git a/test/errorhandling/no_stylesheet.result b/test/errorhandling/no_stylesheet.result
deleted file mode 100644
index eecfec1a8..000000000
--- a/test/errorhandling/no_stylesheet.result
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Expecting a Stylesheet property containing an (array of) stylesheet object(s) of the form { id: 'x', 'data': 'y' }.
diff --git a/test/rendering.test.js b/test/rendering.test.js
index 0cb0de12d..129b10ea0 100644
--- a/test/rendering.test.js
+++ b/test/rendering.test.js
@@ -1,11 +1,32 @@
 var path = require('path'),
     fs = require('fs'),
+    assert = require('assert'),
     semver = require('semver');
 
 var carto = require('../lib/carto');
 var helper = require('./support/helper');
 
 describe('Rendering', function() {
+
+    it('should support rendering without Stylesheet (for non-styling/vector tile usage)', function(done) {
+
+        // note: this intentionally does not have a `"Stylesheet":[]` property
+        // so we should skip trying to validate it
+        var opts = {"name":"","description":"",
+                    "attribution":"",
+                    "center":[0,0,3],
+                    "format":"pbf",
+                    "minzoom":0,
+                    "maxzoom":6,
+                    "srs":"+proj=merc +a=6378137 +b=6378137 +lat_ts=0.0 +lon_0=0.0 +x_0=0.0 +y_0=0.0 +k=1.0 +units=m +nadgrids=@null +wktext +no_defs +over",
+                    "Layer":[],
+                    "json":"{\"vector_layers\":[]}"};
+        var renderer = new carto.Renderer(null).render(opts);
+        assert.ok(renderer);
+        done();
+    });
+
+
 helper.files('rendering', 'mml', function(file) {
     var api = null,
         filename = path.basename(file);
diff --git a/test/errorhandling/no_stylesheet.mml b/test/rendering/no_stylesheet.mml
similarity index 100%
rename from test/errorhandling/no_stylesheet.mml
rename to test/rendering/no_stylesheet.mml
diff --git a/test/rendering/no_stylesheet.result b/test/rendering/no_stylesheet.result
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6b1862d60
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/rendering/no_stylesheet.result
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
+<!DOCTYPE Map[]>
+<Map>
+
+
+<Layer name="a"
+>
+      </Layer>
+
+</Map>