diff --git a/lib/build.js b/lib/build.js
index 4f255db972..7ebb48ff79 100644
--- a/lib/build.js
+++ b/lib/build.js
@@ -98,13 +98,15 @@ export function options () {
 
 export async function build () {
   // Check if pages dir exists and warn if not
-  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
-    } else {
-      console.error('> Couldn\'t find a `pages` directory. Please create one under the project root') // eslint-disable-line no-console
+  if (typeof this.createRoutes !== 'function') {
+    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
+      } else {
+        console.error('> Couldn\'t find a `pages` directory. Please create one under the project root') // eslint-disable-line no-console
+      }
+      process.exit(1)
     }
-    process.exit(1)
   }
   debug(`App root: ${this.srcDir}`)
   debug('Generating .nuxt/ files...')
@@ -214,9 +216,12 @@ async function generateRoutesAndFiles () {
   // -- Routes --
   debug('Generating routes...')
   // Format routes for the lib/app/router.js template
-  if (fs.existsSync(resolve(this.srcDir, 'pages'))) {
+  if (typeof this.createRoutes !== 'function') {
+    // Use internal createRoutes
     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)
   }
   if (typeof this.options.router.extendRoutes === 'function') {
     // let the user extend the routes