diff --git a/index.ts b/index.ts
index 135c6fb..29420a4 100644
--- a/index.ts
+++ b/index.ts
@@ -28,6 +28,12 @@ interface esbuildSvelteOptions {
      */
     cache?: boolean | "overzealous";
 
+    /**
+     * Skip including and bundling an external CSS file.
+     * By default css is processed according to compilerOptions.css
+     */
+    skipCss?: boolean;
+
     /**
      * Should esbuild-svelte create a binding to an html element for components given in the entryPoints list
      * Defaults to `false` for now until support is added
@@ -94,6 +100,11 @@ export default function sveltePlugin(options?: esbuildSvelteOptions): Plugin {
                 options.cache = true;
             }
 
+            // process css by default
+            if (options.skipCss == undefined) {
+                options.skipCss = false;
+            }
+
             // disable entry file generation by default
             if (options.fromEntryFile == undefined) {
                 options.fromEntryFile = false;
@@ -223,8 +234,9 @@ export default function sveltePlugin(options?: esbuildSvelteOptions): Plugin {
 
                     let contents = js.code + `\n//# sourceMappingURL=` + toUrl(js.map.toString());
 
-                    //if svelte emits css seperately, then store it in a map and import it from the js
-                    if (!compilerOptions.css && css.code) {
+                    // if svelte emits css seperately, then store it in a map and import it from the js
+                    // unless we want to skip css entirely
+                    if (!compilerOptions.css && css.code && !options?.skipCss) {
                         let cssPath = args.path
                             .replace(".svelte", ".esbuild-svelte-fake-css") //TODO append instead of replace to support different svelte filters
                             .replace(/\\/g, "/");