diff --git a/lib/build.js b/lib/build.js
index a5e5299e6b..5ad93f10ab 100644
--- a/lib/build.js
+++ b/lib/build.js
@@ -97,8 +97,9 @@ export function options () {
 }
 
 export async function build () {
+  this._nuxtPages = typeof this.createRoutes !== 'function'
   // Check if pages dir exists and warn if not
-  if (typeof this.createRoutes !== 'function') {
+  if (this._nuxtPages) {
     if (!fs.existsSync(join(this.srcDir, 'pages'))) {
       if (fs.existsSync(join(this.srcDir, '..', 'pages'))) {
         console.error('> No `pages` directory found. Did you mean to run `nuxt` in the parent (`../`) directory?') // eslint-disable-line no-console
@@ -128,7 +129,7 @@ async function buildFiles () {
     debug('Adding webpack middleware...')
     createWebpackMiddleware.call(this)
     webpackWatchAndUpdate.call(this)
-    watchPages.call(this)
+    watchFiles.call(this)
   } else {
     debug('Building files...')
     await webpackRunClient.call(this)
@@ -172,6 +173,7 @@ async function generateRoutesAndFiles () {
       base: this.options.router.base,
       middleware: this.options.router.middleware,
       linkActiveClass: this.options.router.linkActiveClass,
+      linkExactActiveClass: this.options.router.linkExactActiveClass,
       scrollBehavior: this.options.router.scrollBehavior
     },
     env: this.options.env,
@@ -215,20 +217,22 @@ async function generateRoutesAndFiles () {
 
   // -- Routes --
   debug('Generating routes...')
-  // Format routes for the lib/app/router.js template
-  if (typeof this.createRoutes !== 'function') {
-    // Use internal createRoutes
+  // If user defined a custom method to create routes
+  if (this._nuxtPages) {
+    // Use nuxt.js createRoutes bases on pages/
     const files = await glob('pages/**/*.vue', {cwd: this.srcDir})
     templateVars.router.routes = createRoutes(files, this.srcDir)
   } else {
-    templateVars.router.routes = this.createRoutes.call(this, this.srcDir)
+    this.createRoutes = this.createRoutes.bind(this)
+    templateVars.router.routes = this.createRoutes(this.srcDir)
   }
+  // router.extendRoutes method
   if (typeof this.options.router.extendRoutes === 'function') {
     // let the user extend the routes
-    this.options.router.extendRoutes.call(this, templateVars.router.routes, r)
+    this.options.router.extendRoutes.call(this, templateVars.router.routes || [], r)
   }
   // Routes for generate command
-  this.routes = flatRoutes(templateVars.router.routes)
+  this.routes = flatRoutes(templateVars.router.routes || [])
 
   // -- Store --
   // Add store if needed
@@ -239,13 +243,13 @@ async function generateRoutesAndFiles () {
   // Resolve template files
   const customTemplateFiles = this.options.build.templates.map(t => t.dst || basename(t.src || t))
   templatesFiles = templatesFiles.map(file => {
+    // Skip if custom file was already provided in build.templates[]
+    if (customTemplateFiles.indexOf(file) !== -1) {
+      return
+    }
     // Allow override templates using a file with same name in ${srcDir}/app
     const customPath = r(this.srcDir, 'app', file)
     const customFileExists = fs.existsSync(customPath)
-    // Skip if custom file was already provided in build.templates[]
-    if (customTemplateFiles.indexOf(file) !== -1 && !customFileExists) {
-      return
-    }
     return {
       src: customFileExists ? customPath : r(__dirname, 'app', file),
       dst: file,
@@ -264,7 +268,7 @@ async function generateRoutesAndFiles () {
   }))
 
   // Interpret and move template files to .nuxt/
-  return Promise.all(templatesFiles.map(async ({src, dst, options, custom}) => {
+  return Promise.all(templatesFiles.map(async ({ src, dst, options, custom }) => {
     // Add template to watchers
     this.options.build.watch.push(src)
     // Render template to dst
@@ -513,17 +517,19 @@ function createRenderer (bundle, manifest) {
   this.renderToStream = this.renderer.renderToStream
 }
 
-function watchPages () {
+function watchFiles () {
   const patterns = [
-    r(this.srcDir, 'pages'),
     r(this.srcDir, 'layouts'),
     r(this.srcDir, 'store'),
     r(this.srcDir, 'middleware'),
-    r(this.srcDir, 'pages/*.vue'),
-    r(this.srcDir, 'pages/**/*.vue'),
     r(this.srcDir, 'layouts/*.vue'),
     r(this.srcDir, 'layouts/**/*.vue')
   ]
+  if (this._nuxtPages) {
+    patterns.push(r(this.srcDir, 'pages'))
+    patterns.push(r(this.srcDir, 'pages/*.vue'))
+    patterns.push(r(this.srcDir, 'pages/**/*.vue'))
+  }
   const options = Object.assign({}, this.options.watchers.chokidar, {
     ignoreInitial: true
   })
@@ -532,10 +538,10 @@ function watchPages () {
     await generateRoutesAndFiles.call(this)
   }, 200)
   // Watch for internals
-  this.pagesFilesWatcher = chokidar.watch(patterns, options)
+  this.filesWatcher = chokidar.watch(patterns, options)
   .on('add', refreshFiles)
   .on('unlink', refreshFiles)
   // Watch for custom provided files
   this.customFilesWatcher = chokidar.watch(_.uniq(this.options.build.watch), options)
-    .on('change', refreshFiles)
+  .on('change', refreshFiles)
 }
diff --git a/lib/nuxt.js b/lib/nuxt.js
index 8cb245dcc3..a2c8f3c316 100644
--- a/lib/nuxt.js
+++ b/lib/nuxt.js
@@ -120,12 +120,12 @@ class Nuxt {
     this.module = new Module(this)
     // Install all modules in sequence and then return `this` instance
     return utils.sequence(options.modules, this.module.addModule.bind(this.module))
-      .then(() => this)
-      .catch(/* istanbul ignore next */ (err) => {
-        console.error('[nuxt] error while initializing modules') // eslint-disable-line no-console
-        console.error(err) // eslint-disable-line no-console
-        process.exit(1)
-      })
+    .then(() => this)
+    .catch(/* istanbul ignore next */ (err) => {
+      console.error('[nuxt] error while initializing modules') // eslint-disable-line no-console
+      console.error(err) // eslint-disable-line no-console
+      process.exit(1)
+    })
   }
 
   close (callback) {
@@ -145,8 +145,8 @@ class Nuxt {
       promises.push(p)
     }
     /* istanbul ignore if */
-    if (this.pagesFilesWatcher) {
-      this.pagesFilesWatcher.close()
+    if (this.filesWatcher) {
+      this.filesWatcher.close()
     }
     /* istanbul ignore if */
     if (this.customFilesWatcher) {
diff --git a/lib/server.js b/lib/server.js
index 53cc60379f..5ad4439529 100644
--- a/lib/server.js
+++ b/lib/server.js
@@ -23,9 +23,9 @@ class Server {
     // Require if needed
     if (typeof m === 'string') {
       let src = m
-      // Using ~ shorthand to resolve from project srcDir
-      if (src.indexOf('~') === 0) {
-        src = path.resolve(this.nuxt.options.srcDir, src.substr(1))
+      // Using ~ or ./ shorthand to resolve from project srcDir
+      if (src.indexOf('~') === 0 || src.indexOf('./') === 0) {
+        src = path.join(this.nuxt.options.srcDir, src.substr(1))
       }
       // eslint-disable-next-line no-eval
       m = eval('require')(src)