diff --git a/src/Plots.jl b/src/Plots.jl
index 8c4fd730..6f40334f 100644
--- a/src/Plots.jl
+++ b/src/Plots.jl
@@ -21,7 +21,11 @@ using Requires
 if isfile(joinpath(@__DIR__, "..", "deps", "deps.jl"))
     include(joinpath(@__DIR__, "..", "deps", "deps.jl"))
 else
-    error("Plots not build, please run Pkg.build(\"Plots\")")
+    # This is a bit dirty, but I don't really see why anyone should be forced
+    # to build Plots, while it will just include exactly the below line
+    # as long as now ENV["PLOTS_HOST_DEPENDENCY_LOCAL"] = "true" is given
+    # If the above env is set + plotly_local_file_path = "", it will warn in the __init__ functtion
+    const plotly_local_file_path = ""
 end
 
 export
diff --git a/src/backends/plotly.jl b/src/backends/plotly.jl
index 60d01669..5c12ba4b 100644
--- a/src/backends/plotly.jl
+++ b/src/backends/plotly.jl
@@ -862,26 +862,24 @@ plotly_series_json(plt::Plot) = JSON.json(plotly_series(plt))
 const ijulia_initialized = Ref(false)
 
 function html_head(plt::Plot{PlotlyBackend})
-    if isfile(plotly_local_file_path) && isijulia() && !ijulia_initialized[]
-        js_code = read(plotly_local_file_path, String)
-        # borrowed from https://github.com/plotly/plotly.py/blob/2594076e29584ede2d09f2aa40a8a195b3f3fc66/plotly/offline/offline.py#L64-L71 c/o @spencerlyon2
-        js_script = """
-            <script type='text/javascript'>
-                define('plotly', function(require, exports, module) {
-                    $(js_code)
-                });
-                require(['plotly'], function(Plotly) {
-                    window.Plotly = Plotly;
+    local_file = ("file://" * plotly_local_file_path)
+    plotly = use_local_dependencies[] ? local_file : plotly_remote_file_path
+    if isijulia() && !ijulia_initialized[]
+        # using requirejs seems to be key to load a js depency in IJulia!
+        # https://requirejs.org/docs/start.html
+        # https://github.com/JuliaLang/IJulia.jl/issues/345
+        display("text/html", """
+            <script type="text/javascript">
+                requirejs([$(repr(plotly))], function(p) {
+                    window.Plotly = p
                 });
             </script>
-        """
-        # if we're in IJulia call setupnotebook to load js and css
-        display("text/html", js_script)
+        """)
         ijulia_initialized[] = true
     end
-    local_file = ("file://" * plotly_local_file_path)
-    jsfilename = use_local_dependencies[] ? local_file : plotly_remote_file_path
-    "<script src=\"$jsfilename\"></script>"
+    # IJulia just needs one initialization
+    isijulia() && return ""
+    return "<script src=$(repr(plotly))></script>"
 end
 
 function html_body(plt::Plot{PlotlyBackend}, style = nothing)