diff --git a/lib/carto/renderer_js.js b/lib/carto/renderer_js.js
index dd88cee..906086b 100644
--- a/lib/carto/renderer_js.js
+++ b/lib/carto/renderer_js.js
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ CartoCSS.Layer.prototype = {
   },
 
   /**
-   * return the symbolizers that need to be rendered with 
+   * return the symbolizers that need to be rendered with
    * this style. The order is the rendering order.
    * @returns a list with 3 possible values 'line', 'marker', 'polygon'
    */
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ CartoCSS.Layer.prototype = {
 
   //
   // given a geoemtry type returns the transformed one acording the CartoCSS
-  // For points there are two kind of types: point and sprite, the first one 
+  // For points there are two kind of types: point and sprite, the first one
   // is a circle, second one is an image sprite
   //
   // the other geometry types are the same than geojson (polygon, linestring...)
@@ -202,12 +202,15 @@ CartoCSS.prototype = {
         var layer = layers[key] = (layers[key] || {
           symbolizers: []
         });
+
         for(var u = 0; u<def.rules.length; u++){
-            if(def.rules[u].name === "marker-file" || def.rules[u].name === "point-file"){
-                var value = def.rules[u].value.value[0].value[0].value.value;
-                this.imageURLs.push(value);
+          var rule = def.rules[u];
+            if(rule.name === "marker-file" || rule.name === "point-file"){
+              var value = rule.value.value[0].value[0].value.value;
+              this.imageURLs.push(value);
             }
-        } 
+        }
+
         layer.frames = [];
         layer.zoom = tree.Zoom.all;
         var props = def.toJS(parse_env);
@@ -235,6 +238,14 @@ CartoCSS.prototype = {
       var done = {};
       for(var i = 0; i < defs.length; ++i) {
         var def = defs[i];
+
+        if (this.options.strict) {
+          def.toXML(parse_env, {});
+          if (parse_env.errors.message) {
+            throw new Error(parse_env.errors.message);
+          }
+        }
+
         var k = defKey(def);
         var layer = layers[k];
         if(!done[k]) {
@@ -271,12 +282,13 @@ CartoCSS.prototype = {
 carto.RendererJS = function (options) {
     this.options = options || {};
     this.options.mapnik_version = this.options.mapnik_version || 'latest';
+    this.reference = this.options.reference || require('./torque-reference').version.latest;
+    this.options.strict = this.options.hasOwnProperty('strict') ? this.options.strict : false;
 };
 
 // Prepare a javascript object which contains the layers
 carto.RendererJS.prototype.render = function render(cartocss, callback) {
-    var reference = require('./torque-reference');
-    tree.Reference.setData(reference.version.latest);
+    tree.Reference.setData(this.reference);
     return new CartoCSS(cartocss, this.options);
 }
 
diff --git a/test/rendering_js-strict.test.js b/test/rendering_js-strict.test.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4e15de9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/rendering_js-strict.test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,148 @@
+var assert = require('assert');
+var carto = require('../lib/carto');
+var tree = require('../lib/carto/tree');
+
+describe('RendererJS Strict Mode', function() {
+
+  var style = [
+    '#world {',
+      'polygon-fill: red;',
+      'line-width: 2;',
+      'line-color: #f00;',
+      '[frame-offset = 1] {',
+        'line-width: 3;',
+      '}',
+      '[frame-offset = 2] {',
+        'line-width: 3;',
+      '}',
+    '}',
+    '',
+    '#worls[frame-offset = 10] {',
+        'line-width: 4;',
+    '}'
+  ].join('\n');
+
+  var reference = {
+    version: '1.0.0',
+    style: {},
+    layer: {},
+    colors: {},
+    filter: {},
+    symbolizers: {
+      line: {
+        "stroke": {
+              "css": "line-color",
+              "default-value": "rgba(0,0,0,1)",
+              "type": "color",
+              "default-meaning": "black and fully opaque (alpha = 1), same as rgb(0,0,0)",
+              "doc": "The color of a drawn line"
+          },
+          "stroke-width": {
+              "css": "line-width",
+              "default-value": 1,
+              "type": "float",
+              "doc": "The width of a line in pixels"
+          },
+          "stroke-opacity": {
+              "css": "line-opacity",
+              "default-value": 1,
+              "type": "float",
+              "default-meaning": "opaque",
+              "doc": "The opacity of a line"
+          },
+          "stroke-linejoin": {
+              "css": "line-join",
+              "default-value": "miter",
+              "type": [
+                  "miter",
+                  "miter-revert",
+                  "round",
+                  "bevel"
+              ],
+              "expression": true,
+              "doc": "The behavior of lines when joining.",
+              "default-meaning": "The line joins will be rendered using a miter look."
+          },
+          "stroke-linecap": {
+              "css": "line-cap",
+              "default-value": "butt",
+              "type": [
+                  "butt",
+                  "round",
+                  "square"
+              ],
+              "expression": true,
+              "doc": "The display of line endings.",
+              "default-meaning": "The line endings will be rendered using a butt look."
+          },
+          "comp-op": {
+              "css": "line-comp-op",
+              "default-value": "overlay",
+              "default-meaning": "Add the current symbolizer on top of other symbolizer.",
+              "doc": "Composite operation. This defines how this symbolizer should behave relative to symbolizers atop or below it.",
+              "type": [
+                  "multiply",
+                  "add",
+                  "overlay"
+              ],
+              "expression": true
+          },
+          "stroke-dasharray": {
+              "css": "line-dasharray",
+              "type": "numbers",
+              "expression": true,
+              "doc": "A pair of length values [a,b], where (a) is the dash length and (b) is the gap length respectively. More than two values are supported for more complex patterns.",
+              "default-value": "none",
+              "default-meaning": "The line will be drawn without dashes."
+          }
+      }
+    }
+  };
+
+  var expectedErrorMessageRegex = /Unrecognized rule: polygon-fill/;
+
+  before(function() {
+    this.referenceData = tree.Reference.data;
+  });
+
+  after(function() {
+    if (this.referenceData) {
+      tree.Reference.setData(this.referenceData);
+    }
+  });
+
+  it('should fail if a feature is not supported and strict is turned on', function () {
+    assert.throws(
+      function () {
+        var RendererJS = new carto.RendererJS({reference: reference, mapnik_version: '1.0.0', strict: true });
+        var shader = RendererJS.render(style);
+      },
+      expectedErrorMessageRegex
+    );
+  });
+
+  function rendererStrictModeOffTest(RendererJS) {
+    return function () {
+      var shader = RendererJS.render(style);
+
+      assert.ok(shader.layers);
+      assert.equal(shader.layers.length, 2);
+    };
+  }
+
+  it('should pass if a feature is not supported but strict mode is not specified', rendererStrictModeOffTest(
+    new carto.RendererJS({reference: reference, mapnik_version: '1.0.0' })
+  ));
+
+  it('should pass if a feature is not supported but strict is turned off', function () {
+    new carto.RendererJS({reference: reference, mapnik_version: '1.0.0', strict: false })
+  });
+
+  it('should pass if a feature is supported and strict is turned on', function () {
+    var RendererJS = new carto.RendererJS({reference: reference, mapnik_version: '1.0.0', strict: true });
+    var cartocss = '#layer { line-width: 10 }';
+    var shader = RendererJS.render(cartocss);
+    assert.ok(shader);
+  });
+
+});
diff --git a/test/rendering_js.test.js b/test/rendering_js.test.js
index e3e566d..17e7a91 100644
--- a/test/rendering_js.test.js
+++ b/test/rendering_js.test.js
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ describe('RenderingJS', function() {
 
   it ("symbolizers should be in rendering order", function() {
     var style = '#test { polygon-fill: red; line-color: red; }';
-    style += '#test2 { line-color: red;polygon-fill: red; line-witdh: 10; }';
+    style += '#test2 { line-color: red;polygon-fill: red; line-width: 10; }';
     var shader = (new carto.RendererJS({ debug: true })).render(style);
     var layer0 = shader.getLayers()[0];
     assert(layer0.getSymbolizers()[0] === 'polygon');