diff --git a/lib/env.js b/lib/env.js
index 322f629c6..97d3893f9 100644
--- a/lib/env.js
+++ b/lib/env.js
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ const Util = require("./common-util");
 module.exports.create = function (config) {
 
     const Env = {
+        OFFLINE_MODE: false,
         FRESH_KEY: '',
         FRESH_MODE: true,
         DEV_MODE: false,
@@ -117,6 +118,9 @@ module.exports.create = function (config) {
             //console.log("FRESH MODE ENABLED");
             Env.FRESH_KEY = +new Date();
         }
+
+        // Offline mode is mostly for development. It lets us test clientside cache and offline support
+        if (process.env.OFFLINE) { Env.OFFLINE_MODE = true; }
     }());
 
     Env.checkCache = function (channel) {
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 86c7fc67b..0d52d70fe 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@
     "start": "node server.js",
     "dev": "DEV=1 node server.js",
     "fresh": "FRESH=1 node server.js",
+    "offline": "FRESH=1 OFFLINE=1 node server.js",
     "package": "PACKAGE=1 node server.js",
     "lint": "jshint --config .jshintrc --exclude-path .jshintignore . && ./node_modules/lesshint/bin/lesshint -c ./.lesshintrc ./customize.dist/src/less2/",
     "lint:js": "jshint --config .jshintrc --exclude-path .jshintignore .",
diff --git a/server.js b/server.js
index 3869af509..9e26500ad 100644
--- a/server.js
+++ b/server.js
@@ -313,6 +313,7 @@ nThen(function (w) {
         Env.Log = _log;
         config.log = _log;
 
+        if (Env.OFFLINE_MODE) { return; }
         if (config.externalWebsocketURL) { return; }
 
         require("./lib/api").create(Env);