diff --git a/lib/render.js b/lib/render.js
index d026a6d4fb..4e9cc52989 100644
--- a/lib/render.js
+++ b/lib/render.js
@@ -4,6 +4,10 @@ const { urlJoin } = require('./utils')
 const { getContext } = require('./utils')
 
 exports.render = function (req, res) {
+  if (!this.renderer && !this.dev) {
+    console.error('> No build files found, please run `nuxt build` before launching `nuxt start`')
+    process.exit(1)
+  }
   if (!this.renderer) {
     setTimeout(() => {
       this.render(req, res)
@@ -87,3 +91,33 @@ exports.renderRoute = function (url, context = {}) {
     }
   })
 }
+
+// Function used to do dom checking via jsdom
+exports.renderAndGetWindow = function renderAndGetWindow (jsdom, url) {
+  const virtualConsole = jsdom.createVirtualConsole().sendTo(console)
+  url = url || 'http://localhost:3000'
+  return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
+    jsdom.env({
+      url: url,
+      features: {
+        FetchExternalResources: ['script', 'link'],
+        ProcessExternalResources: ['script']
+      },
+      virtualConsole,
+      done (err, window) {
+        if (err) return reject(err)
+        // If Nuxt could not be loaded (error from the server-side)
+        if (!window.__NUXT__) {
+          return reject({
+            message: 'Could not load the nuxt app',
+            body: window.document.getElementsByTagName('body')[0].innerHTML
+          })
+        }
+        // Used by nuxt.js to say when the components are loaded and the app ready
+        window.onNuxtReady(() => {
+          resolve(window)
+        })
+      }
+    })
+  })
+}