diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 8ab36ea..2c24b99 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "vega-dataflow",
-  "version": "3.0.2",
+  "version": "3.0.3",
   "description": "Reactive dataflow processing.",
   "keywords": [
     "vega",
diff --git a/src/dataflow/Dataflow.js b/src/dataflow/Dataflow.js
index 1e15b47..6446757 100644
--- a/src/dataflow/Dataflow.js
+++ b/src/dataflow/Dataflow.js
@@ -22,7 +22,11 @@ export default function Dataflow() {
 
   this._clock = 0;
   this._rank = 0;
-  this._loader = loader();
+  try {
+    this._loader = loader();
+  } catch (e) {
+    // do nothing if loader module is unavailable
+  }
 
   this._touched = UniqueList(id);
   this._pulses = {};